Senior Digital System Designer

PsiQuantum; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

PsiQuantum is seeking a digital-hardware system-designer for its System-Architecture team in Palo Alto, California. Candidates will shape the digital-logic systems for photonic quantum computers. The role requires a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering, with over 5 years of experience in digital design. Key skills include SystemVerilog, FPGA design, and Python programming. Compensation includes a U.S. salary range of $145,000—$160,000, and a Bay Area range of $175,000—$195,000.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant work in digital design.
• Knowledge of SystemVerilog (or VHDL) for design and simulation.
• Experienced Python programmer.

Responsibilities

• Gather and translate high-level abstract requirements into concrete hardware requirements.
• Devise and implement low-latency algorithms for optical quantum computer tasks.
• Collaborate with physicists and digital designers.

Skills

SystemVerilog

FPGA design

Python programming

Digital design

Critical thinking

Communication

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Tools

Xilinx tools

High Level Synthesis tools

Job description

PsiQuantum's mission is to build the first useful quantum computers—machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems.

Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries.

Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry—including partners like GlobalFoundries—we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don't feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure.

In 2024, PsiQuantum announced government-funded projects to support the build-out of our first utility-scale quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia, and Chicago, Illinois. These initiatives reflect a growing recognition that quantum computing will be strategically and economically defining—and that now is the time to scale.

PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies—including Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical—to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact.

Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift—and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we have a clear path to make it real.

Come join us.

Job Summary

We are looking for a digital-hardware system-designer to join our System-Architecture team. You will work in a multi-technology environment and will contribute to shaping and defining the digital-logic systems which drive our photonic quantum computer.

Responsibilities

• Gather and translate high-level abstract requirements into concrete hardware requirements.
• Devise and implement low-latency algorithms and methods to solve various time-critical tasks that take place in the data-plane of an optical quantum computer.
• Work with other digital-design experts to integrate algorithms into FPGAs.
• Collaborate closely with physicists and digital designers to arbitrate design choices and optimize designs to meet algorithmic performance while matching latency, throughput and footprint constraints.
• Write requirements and documentation.
• Implement cycle-accurate Python models to be integrated in discrete-time-event simulations.
• Implement SystemVerilog implementations matching Python models.
• Write behavioral tests for implementations in Python.

Experience/Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related discipline.
• 5+ years of relevant work in digital design.
• Knowledge of SystemVerilog (or VHDL) for design and simulation.
• Experience working with FPGAs (Xilinx preferred) and associated tooling.
• Strong critical thinking skills to devise creative and analytical approaches to solving novel, loosely-defined complex problems.
• Team player with an ability to work effectively across departments and time-zones.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage a variety of audiences.
• Experienced Python programmer who strives to write clear code in the context of a small team of contributors.
• Pro-active with the ability to work independently with limited direction, in a fast-moving start-up environment nice-to-have:
• Distributed system experience: involving event correlation from multiple sources, under real-time constraints.
• Experience with High Level Synthesis tools (e.g. Xilinx Vitis).
• Experience with Python for verification (Cocotb).
• Knowledge of photonics and linear optics is a plus.

Compensation

U.S. Base Pay Range: $145,000—$160,000 USD

Bay Area Pay Range: $175,000—$195,000 USD