Senior Software Engineer - Test Infrastructure

IonQ; United States; Hybrid; USD 146,000 - 209,000; Full time

Job summary

IonQ, Inc. in Bothell, WA and College Park, MD (remote) is seeking a Senior Software Engineer - Test Infrastructure to join the Release Engineering team.

This senior, full-time role focuses on building and maintaining the automated testing framework that validates IonQ’s quantum software and hardware integration. You will own end-to-end test signals across multi-component systems, design CI infrastructure, and drive test strategy in collaboration with software, hardware, and physics teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in test infrastructure or CI engineering.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/EE or related field or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong Python or another general-purpose language with experience building test frameworks.
• Hands-on experience designing, operating and scaling CI/CD systems for engineering teams.
• Experience implementing system-level integration tests for complex multi-component systems.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop or lab-based test environments and hardware interaction.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end integration testing of the system software and automated test suites.
• Extend automated test coverage for operator-facing tooling and workflows.
• Design, build and operate CI infrastructure to catch integration bugs early.
• Define and evolve system-level test strategy including performance characterization and electronics validation.
• Own integration-test triage and root-cause analysis across components.
• Manage test system fleet lifecycle across IonQ product lines and keep configuration records.
• Promote testability and test hooks across component teams.

Skills

Python

Test automation

CI/CD

Debugging

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering or related field

Job description

Senior Software Engineer - Test Infrastructure at IonQ, Bothell, Washington, United States; College Park, Maryland, United States (remote). A senior-level full time position in the Compute - Engineering team, listed under software engineering.

The Role

We are looking for a Software Engineer - Test Infrastructure to join our Release Engineering team. You'll be part of a cross-functional team whose mission is to lead IonQ on its journey to build the world's best quantum computers to solve the world's most complex problems.

In this role, you will own the quality signal for the integrated software that runs IonQ’s quantum computers. You will design and operate the automated testing that validates complete systems — from customer-scale circuit execution to the tools used to operate and calibrate the machines — on shared test environments that are themselves real quantum computing systems. You will build the CI infrastructure that catches integration problems early, set system-level test strategy, and manage the test system fleet that makes all of this possible, partnering daily with software, hardware, and physics teams.

The ideal candidate is a curious, collaborative engineer who is drawn to hardware-software integration testing, thinks in terms of coverage and infrastructure rather than individual test cases, and is comfortable defining the right test signal for first-of-their-kind systems.

The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site. If this role has a commission structure, the compensation range below just reflects the base compensation range.

$145,920 — $209,241 USD

Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications, and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location, and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Our benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401(k), unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end integration testing of our system software: design, develop, and maintain the automated test suites that validate complete quantum computing systems on shared test environments, including circuit execution under realistic customer workloads.
• Extend automated test coverage of operator-facing tooling and workflows, exercising the interfaces engineers and physicists use to operate and calibrate systems.
• Design, build, and operate the CI infrastructure that catches integration bugs before software is deployed onto systems, in partnership with software development teams — and keep it fast, reliable, and trusted.
• Define and evolve system-level test strategy: identify coverage gaps beyond functional job execution and build the tests and instrumentation to close them, including performance characterization and electronics-control validation where appropriate.
• Own integration-test triage and reporting: drive failures to root cause, attribute regressions to the responsible component, and deliver specific, actionable feedback to owning teams.
• Manage the lifecycle of the test system fleet across IonQ product lines: establish consistent hardware and software baselines across instances, coordinate upgrades and decommissioning with the product teams that define their requirements, and maintain an authoritative record of each system’s configuration and fitness for purpose.
• Champion testability across component teams, promoting the interfaces, test hooks, and practices that make our system software easier to validate.

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional experience in test infrastructure, software test automation, CI engineering, or a closely related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong programming skills in Python or another general-purpose language, with experience creating test frameworks and automation tooling, not just using them.
• Hands‑on background designing, operating, and scaling CI/CD systems that engineering teams depend on.
• Experience implementing system‑level integration tests for complex, multi‑component systems.
• Experience with hardware‑in‑the‑loop or lab‑based test environments, or demonstrated aptitude for working close to physical hardware.
• Excellent debugging skills, particularly across the boundary between software and hardware.
• Strong collaboration skills; this role works closely with engineers on multiple product teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience with performance testing methodology and workload characterization.
• Experience instrumenting and validating electronic control systems (e.g., capturing and asserting on signal output via oscilloscope or equivalent instrumentation).
• Experience managing test health at scale — flaky-test management, test observability, or quality metrics and dashboards.
• Familiarity with containerization and infrastructure‑as‑code for building reproducible test environments.
• Background in scientific or research computing environments.