Senior Director, Technology Partnerships

Entangled Future; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

PsiQuantum in Chicago, IL is seeking a Senior Director, Technology Partnerships to lead strategic collaborations with universities, national labs, and industry partners. This senior, full-time role sits in the Government Relations team within Business Operations and focuses on building multi-institution partnerships to accelerate quantum technology adoption.

Ideal candidates have a PhD, 10+ years in research, tech development or commercialization, and the ability to translate complex science for

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a relevant technical field.
• Minimum of 10 years of applicable professional experience, such as scientific research, advanced technology development, technology partnerships or commercialization, or similar.
• Strong technical fluency and credibility with researchers, faculty, senior institutional leaders, government stakeholders, and private-sector executives.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills and an exceptional ability to translate complex technical subject matter for scientific, government, business, and public audiences.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic, and sometimes ambiguous environment.
• Ability to travel as required.
• Familiarity with the research, educational, and innovation ecosystem in Chicago, Illinois, and the Midwest.
• Existing relationships with universities, national laboratories, research consortia, and other science and technology organizations in the region.

Skills

Communication skills

Travel willingness

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Ph.D. in a relevant technical field

Job description

Senior Director, Technology Partnerships at PsiQuantum, Chicago, Illinois, United States. A senior-level full time position in the Government Relations team, listed under business operations.

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: PsiQuantum is leading the U.S.'s la

Requirements

• Ph.D. in a relevant technical field.
• Minimum of 10 years of applicable professional experience, such as scientific research, advanced technology development, technology partnerships or commercialization, or similar.
• Strong technical fluency and credibility with researchers, faculty, senior institutional leaders, government stakeholders, and private-sector executives.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills and an exceptional ability to translate complex technical subject matter for scientific, government, business, and public audiences.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic, and sometimes ambiguous environment.
• Ability to travel as required.
• Familiarity with the research, educational, and innovation ecosystem in Chicago, Illinois, and the Midwest.
• Existing relationships with universities, national laboratories, research consortia, and other science and technology organizations in the region.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with the research, educational, and innovation ecosystem in Chicago, Illinois, and the Midwest.
• Existing relationships with universities, national laboratories, research consortia, and other science and technology organizations in the region.
• Experience developing multi-institutional research collaborations, joint proposals, or other funded technical projects.
• Understanding of fault-tolerant quantum computing, computational science, integrated photonics, or other related fields of advanced technology.
• Experience and comfort working across private sector, academic, national laboratory, and government settings.