Staff DevOps Engineer

Ionq; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 187,944 - 246,068; Full time

Job summary

IonQ in Santa Clara, CA, seeks a Staff DevOps Engineer to join our Quantum Platform Network Security Engineering Team. You will own the software factory, set its roadmap, and guide architecture and tooling decisions so every product team ships securely through self-service pipelines.

You will stay hands-on by writing pipeline code, building IaC modules, configuring security scans, managing dependencies, and operating release infrastructure.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of production engineering experience with recent hands-on work.

Responsibilities

• Set the direction — own the software-factory roadmap and the architecture and tooling decisions behind it, and bring the organization along with you, so that every service builds, tests, scans, signs, and deploys through self-service, with no manual gates beyond code review and release approval.
• Make security the fast path — embed scanning and policy enforcement into every pipeline stage so secure delivery is the default, not a bottleneck.
• Run release management — operate the release train (versioning, environment promotion) and the release gate, and the expedited hotfix pipeline fast but fully gated.
• Keep dependencies and the supply chain healthy — automate dependency updates, track freshness, generate SBOMs, and verify artifact provenance.
• Build and improve the internal developer platform — deliver self-service capabilities that let product teams ship quickly and safely.
• Engineer infrastructure as code — write and test production modules with the same rigor product teams apply to application code.
• Operate security and compliance — run vulnerability scanning, drive findings to closure within security-based service-level targets and keep audit evidence continuously current.
• Automate with agents — build and operate agentic workflows for pipeline triage, dependency orchestration, and routine support, and enforce guardrails for autonomous actions.
• Scale the team and broaden impact — mentor engineers at different seniority level, raise the bar through standards, review, and golden paths, and align Architecture, SRE, Cloud Operations, and Product Development behind the roadmap.

Skills

CI/CD pipelines

Security in pipelines

Infrastructure as Code

Automation scripting

Job description

About IonQ:

IonQ, Inc (NYSE: IONQ) is the world’s leading quantum platform and merchant supplier—delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting‑edge systems that have been helping customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, and AstraZeneca achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance. Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before.

Location

This role is based onsite at our office in Santa Clara, CA. Travel: Up to 25%.

The Role

We are looking for a Staff DevOps Engineer to join our Quantum Platform Network Security Engineering Team. The Platform Engineering team builds, secures, and operates scalable infrastructure for cloud‑managed SaaS products with on‑premises components deployed at customer sites.

The DevSecOps discipline owns the "software factory" — the end‑to‑end system that takes code from commit to production securely, reliably, and fast, with security embedded into every stage.

As a Staff Engineer, you set the technical direction for the software factory. You own its roadmap, make the architecture and tooling decisions that shape how every product team ships, and raise the bar through standards, review, and mentorship. You remain deeply hands‑on by writing pipeline code, building and testing infrastructure‑as‑code modules, configuring security scanning, managing dependencies, operating release infrastructure, and, where on‑premises infrastructure is in scope, running physical and virtual systems. The work is automation‑first with every repetitive task a candidate for a pipeline or an agentic workflow.

Platform Engineering Scope

• CI/CD pipeline platform — the shared build, test, scan, sign, and deploy platform, with reusable templates and golden‑path standards.
• Pipeline security and policy — scanning strategy, security gates, risk thresholds, and automated go/no‑go decisioning.
• Release engineering and governance — the release train (versioning, environment promotion), the release gate with risk assessment, and an expedited, still‑gated hotfix pipeline for emergency production changes.
• Dependency management and supply‑chain security — dependency health, Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) generation, artifact signing, and provenance.
• Internal developer platform — self‑service environment provisioning, onboarding, documentation, and the developer support model.
• Infrastructure as Code — reusable, tested modules, policy‑as‑code enforcement, and environment consistency across cloud and hybrid deployments.
• Security operations and compliance — vulnerability scanning, continuous compliance evidence, identity and access operations, and secrets lifecycle management.
• On‑premises and hybrid operations — operational consistency between cloud and on‑premises systems, where applicable.
• Agentic automation and AI security — agentic automation across the software factory, with guardrails and security controls for autonomous actions.

Responsibilities

• Set the direction — own the software‑factory roadmap and the architecture and tooling decisions behind it, and bring the organization along with you, so that every service builds, tests, scans, signs, and deploys through self‑service, with no manual gates beyond code review and release approval.
• Make security the fast path — embed scanning and policy enforcement into every pipeline stage so secure delivery is the default, not a bottleneck.
• Run release management — operate the release train (versioning, environment promotion) and the release gate, and the expedited hotfix pipeline fast but fully gated.
• Keep dependencies and the supply chain healthy — automate dependency updates, track freshness, generate SBOMs, and verify artifact provenance.
• Build and improve the internal developer platform — deliver self‑service capabilities that let product teams ship quickly and safely.
• Engineer infrastructure as code — write and test production modules with the same rigor product teams apply to application code.
• Operate security and compliance — run vulnerability scanning, drive findings to closure within security‑based service‑level targets and keep audit evidence continuously current.
• Automate with agents — build and operate agentic workflows for pipeline triage, dependency orchestration, and routine support, and enforce guardrails for autonomous actions.
• Scale the team and broaden impact — mentor engineers at different seniority level, raise the bar through standards, review, and golden paths, and align Architecture, SRE, Cloud Operations, and Product Development behind the roadmap.

Requirements

• 8+ years of production engineering experience with recent hands‑on work.
• Hands‑on, recent experience building and operating CI/CD pipeline platforms at production scale.
• Security embedded into pipelines as a practitioner — has personally configured scanning and driven a real vulnerability to closure within a deadline.
• Infrastructure‑as‑Code authored and tested, with production modules to show, not only consumed.
• Demonstrated ownership of release, dependency, or vulnerability‑management outcomes with measurable results.
• Scripting and automation fluency, with a clear bias toward removing manual toil.

Preferred Qualifications

• Supply‑chain security depth (signing, SBOMs, provenance, SLSA).
• Internal developer platform or self‑service design, measured by adoption.
• Release‑gate or release‑train ownership, including expedited or emergency‑change delivery under pressure.
• Agentic delivery automation (AWS Agent Core or equivalent) and AI or LLM security practice.

Compensation

The approximate base salary range for this position is $187,944 - $246,068. The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site.

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. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment.

EEO Statement

At IonQ, we believe in fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all while striving to identify and eliminate barriers. We empower employees to thrive by fostering a culture of autonomy, productivity, and respect. We are dedicated to creating an environment where individuals can feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.

We are committed to equity and justice. We welcome different voices and viewpoints and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.

Export Control Notice

US Technical Jobs: The position you are applying for will require access to technology that is subject to U.S. export control and government contract restrictions. Employment with IonQ is contingent on either verifying "U.S. Person" (e.g., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum) status for export controls and government contracts work, obtaining any necessary license, and/or confirming the availability of a license exception under U.S. export controls. Please note that in the absence of confirming you are a U.S. Person for export control and government contracts work purposes, IonQ may choose not to apply for a license or decline to use a license exception (if available) for you to access export‑controlled technology that may require authorization, and similarly, you may not qualify for government contracts work that requires U.S. Persons, and IonQ may decline to proceed with your application on those bases alone. Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.

US Non‑Technical Jobs: Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.

Application

If you are interested in being a part of our team and mission, we encourage you to apply!