Quantum Engineer (Superconducting) - Member of Technical Staff
San Francisco, CA, US
Full-time
Visa Sponsorship
About the role
Conductor Quantum is building quantum superintelligence.
Quantum superintelligence is an AI that uses quantum computers to surpass the capabilities of humanity's greatest minds. We are closer to that inflection point than most people realise. Frontier models are approaching general intelligence, and AI can already generate quantum circuits faster than humans can write them. The question is no longer whether quantum and AI converge; it is who builds the infrastructure to make that convergence reliable, scalable, and useful.
That infrastructure starts with the hardware. The biggest bottleneck in quantum computing today is not qubit count; it is the manual configuration that keeps those qubits from being usable. Our software automates calibration and operations for spin and superconducting-qubit systems, turning raw cryogenic hardware into a stable, ready-to-run platform accessible through a simple chat interface. By solving that bottleneck, we are enabling thousands, and eventually billions, of qubits to operate reliably at scale.
The result is a quantum computer as easy to use as ChatGPT. The first billion users are coming. The majority, we believe, will be AI agents.
Why Now
Today, AI generates production code faster and more reliably than most of the world's software engineers. Code is math; math is an instruction set; an instruction set is a quantum circuit. AI is already generating quantum circuits. It just needs reliable hardware to run them on, well-calibrated qubits to utilise, and a feedback loop tight enough to discover new algorithms autonomously.
The world's most capable AI models are being pointed at B2B SaaS. We are pointing ours at the frontier of science.
Role Overview
Conductor Quantum has deep roots in automating spin-qubit calibration. Demand from partners and the market is pulling us into superconducting systems, and we are expanding our product and lab capabilities accordingly. You will work across the full quantum stack, from taking a superconducting-qubit device from early bring-up all the way to hosting it online as a platform human researchers and AI agents can build on.
We are looking for someone excited to lead superconducting efforts while remaining comfortable working across modalities. We reuse the best ideas across the stack.
Key Responsibilities
Device Packaging and Bring-Up
Take superconducting-qubit devices from post-fab packaging to operational readiness. Own chip mounting and cryogenic assembly including wirebonding, shielding, and thermalization. Design or adapt microwave-compatible PCBs and enclosures for clean signal routing, filtering, and integration with control electronics.
Experimental Setup and Measurement Infrastructure
Build and maintain dilution refrigerator measurement setups including fridge wiring, line commissioning, and system verification. Specify, install, and test microwave and cryogenic hardware such as attenuators, filters, isolators, circulators, switches, and low-noise amplifiers. Develop robust procedures for cooldowns, thermal cycling, and system diagnostics to maximise uptime and repeatability.
Qubit Calibration and Characterisation
Run core calibrations including resonator and qubit spectroscopy, Rabi/Ramsey/echo, T1/T2, readout optimisation, and two-qubit gate calibration. Track key metrics like coherence, readout performance, and calibration time, and drive them upward over time. Debug and mitigate issues such as spurs, crosstalk, leakage, TLS effects, thermal population, and wiring or component failures.
Lab Development and Instrument Control
Lead setup and scaling of the experimental lab environment from equipment selection to day-to-day reliability. Write or adapt control software to interface with AWGs, microwave sources, DC sources, digitizers, and FPGA-based controllers. Build experiment orchestration and data practices so calibrations are reproducible and automatable.
Collaboration and System Integration
Work closely with physicists, ML engineers, and backend developers to integrate hardware, software, and data into a unified quantum control stack. Provide fast, practical feedback on usability, stability, and performance. Help translate lab realities into product requirements and roadmaps.
First 30 / 60 / 90 Days
30 Days
Get fluent in the calibration software stack and understand how it maps to the hardware
Engage with customers and partners to understand how they use the platform today
Lead your first cooldown and characterisation run from resonator spectroscopy to single qubit randomized benchmarking.
60 Days
Own a qubit bring-up cycle independently, from packaging to spectroscopy
Ship your first contribution to the automated calibration routine
Have a concrete proposal for the highest leverage things the team can do in superconducting qubit quantum computing
90 Days
Lead superconducting operations at Conductor
Have at least one calibration improvement in production that has measurably moved a key metric
Drive the superconducting qubit control and calibration roadmap at the Conductor
The Team
We are a small, passionate founding team of quantum physicists, hardware engineers, and machine learning experts. Our founders, Brandon and Joel, met each other at Oxford during their PhDs working on AI for quantum computing, where they saw first-hand that calibration and control is a core bottleneck to scaling quantum computers.
This is your opportunity to do the best work of your life as part of that founding team.
Who We Are Looking For
High intelligence, high energy, and high integrity. People who are hungry to change the world and do not need to be told what to do next.
Perks
Free healthcare, dental, and vision
Work on the most important technical problem of our generation
About Conductor Quantum
Quantum computers will allow humanity to understand the world at its most fundamental level, enabling the acceleration of drug discovery and the development of new materials.
Currently, quantum engineers spend days, sometimes weeks, manually getting their silicon quantum chips to operational conditions to realize two qubits. A qubit is the information-carrying unit of a quantum computer, analogous to a bit in a classical computer.
We need billions of qubits to make a useful quantum computer. Therefore, automation software will be vital to realizing this goal.
Conductor Quantum will develop AI software to remove the human from the loop, enable the scaling of quantum technology.
