Senior Engineer, System Automation (Subsystems)

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. 

That approach has since been tested at the highest level of scrutiny the U.S. government applies to emerging technology, and it has held up. In 2025, PsiQuantum closed a $1 billion funding round that valued the company at $7 billion. In 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed a $100 million Letter of Intent under the CHIPS and Science Act, followed by a $125 million agreement with DARPA under Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, PsiQuantum's most valuable U.S. government agreement to date. This year, we also broke ground on our utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, Australia, and continued building out our Chicago site. Victor Peng, our CEO, and co-founder Jeremy O'Brien, now Executive Chairman, lead a team and board that reflects how seriously the world is taking this build, joined this year by Intel's Lip-Bu Tan and Atomico's Niklas Zennström. 

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 Airbus, 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 now have the funding, the government validation, and the sites under construction to make it real. 

Job Summary:

At PsiQuantum, we are developing prototype modules that will scale into a datacenter-sized, fault-tolerant quantum computer. These systems depend on photonic, optical, electronic, and electro-optic devices whose capabilities must be exposed reliably through software to enable control automation.

This role is for a senior automation engineer who will design and maintain high-level control software for photonic, optical, electronic, and electro-optic subsystems, including large laser systems and related instrumentation. The engineer will work with design leads and end users to understand workflows, operating conditions, constraints, and failure modes, then convert them into reusable Python APIs, automated routines, examples, and tests within the existing system automation framework.

Role Overview

Design, implement, test, and maintain high-level Python control software for complex subsystems, translating real hardware workflows into reusable automation routines that fit within the existing System Automation software framework.

Why is this role unique?

This role sits close to real hardware workflows and the engineers who depend on them. It combines hands-on software development, debugging, documentation, and cross-functional support in a complex hardware environment. The role is more than writing code: it requires understanding design intent and user workflows, then turning that understanding into maintainable subsystem control software that improves bring-up, calibration, validation, and operation.

What does success look like?

• Reusable subsystem control APIs and automation routines adopted by calibration, validation, commissioning, and operations engineers.
• Well-documented, maintainable code and control interfaces that follow existing framework patterns.
• Manual or prototype workflows converted into robust examples and automation routines.
• Regression and hardware-in-the-loop tests that accelerate development and reduce integration risk.

Responsibilities:

Automation Software Development

• Design subsystem control abstractions that make complex hardware easier to operate through the existing System Automation framework.
• Develop reusable Python APIs, functions, and automation routines that implement specified subsystem functionality and operating workflows.
• Own hardware control code quality so that it is readable, tested, documented, maintainable, and aligned with existing framework patterns.

Operational Workflow Support

• Work with design leads and engineers to understand manual workflows, operating conditions, constraints, and software pain points.
• Translate workflow needs into clear control software requirements, examples, and tests.
• Debug subsystem automation issues that involve Python code, hardware interfaces, instruments, data acquisition, or test setups.

Cross-Functional Participation

• Contribute to subsystem operating procedure definitions so manual steps can become reliable automated routines.
• Identify automation software needs early, communicate requirements and tradeoffs to design leads, and drive implementation details to closure.
• Support bring-up of new hardware generations by delivering practical improvements to subsystem control software.

Experience/Qualifications:

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of software engineering experience in hardware, scientific, automation, test, embedded, control, or laboratory systems.
• Strong Python software engineering skills, including ability to write readable, tested, maintainable software.
• Experience building APIs, automation workflows, instrument-control code, test code, or hardware-control software for complex systems.
• Experience working within existing software frameworks, following established design patterns, participating in code reviews, and incorporating feedback.
• Ability to translate ambiguous hardware workflows into clear software requirements, reusable routines, tests, documentation, and examples.
• Strong cross-functional communication and documentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience automating complex photonic, optical, laser, RF, electronic, or electro-optic hardware.
• Familiarity with configuration files, SQL, data models, logs, dashboards, topology-aware systems, or control-system state models.
• Experience integrating with services such as databases, observability tools, orchestration tools, internal APIs, or data acquisition systems.
• Experience with calibration workflows, validation workflows, commissioning, lab automation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or experimental control systems.
• Track record of improving software quality in concert with non-software engineers.

PsiQuantum provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. PsiQuantum does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable laws.

Note: PsiQuantum will only reach out to you using an official PsiQuantum email address and will never ask you for bank account information as part of the interview process. Please report any suspicious activity to[email protected] .

We are not accepting unsolicited resumes from employment agencies.

Base pay is one part of the total compensation package. Full-time roles are eligible for equity and benefits. Our compensation ranges reflect the cost of labor across multiple U.S. geographic markets, and we pay based on defined geographic zones. This position may be filled within one of the following U.S. geographic zones, each with its own salary range.

Actual compensation may vary outside of these ranges and is dependent on various factors including, but not limited to, a candidate's qualifications, relevant education and training, competencies, experience, geographic location, business needs, and internal equity. Your recruiter can share more details about the salary range applicable to your location during the hiring process.  

• Zone 1 - Bay Area and NYC 

• Zone 2 - Examples include Los Angeles and Washington DC 

• Zone 3 - Examples include Austin, Chicago, and Sacramento 

• Zone 4 - Examples include Nashville and Phoenix/Tempe and many remote locations 

This position includes the following benefits: competitive health coverage for you and your dependents, 401(k) with company match, equity grants, access to financial wellness tools and planning resources, wellness benefits, family support programs, life and disability insurance, paid leave programs, company-designated paid holidays, discretionary time off (DTO), and an end-of-year company shutdown. Some of these benefits have eligibility requirements and may vary based on location, role, or employment status. Many of these benefits are subsidized or fully paid for by the company. 

The estimated annual base salary range for this role is: 

Zone 1

$201,400—$236,600 USD

Zone 2

$181,200—$212,900 USD

Zone 3

$161,100—$189,300 USD

Zone 4

$140,900—$165,600 USD