Senior Software Engineer, Back end (Opal Platform)

About the role

As a Senior Back-end Software Engineer in the Opal Platform team you will be responsible for managing how users and partners can access the Q-CTRL products and how our own services interact with our platform.

You'll share ownership of the Python APIs and microservices that power Q-CTRL's quantum software products, used by customers worldwide. You'll work in an AI-native engineering team, where agentic tools handle the routine work so you can focus on design, quality and impact.

What you'll be doing:

• Designing, building, testing and documenting Python APIs (REST and GraphQL) and the microservices and client packages behind our product features
• Turning product intent into working software, using stories (AS A, WHEN, THEN) from the Product team as shared, testable specs
• Using AI coding assistants and agentic workflows daily (e.g. Copilot, Claude Code) for implementation, test generation, refactoring and documentation, while owning the quality of what ships
• Helping shape how the team uses AI: evaluating tools, writing prompts and guardrails, and sharing what works
• Reviewing pull requests with rigour and kindness, including AI-generated code
• Improving reliability, performance and security of our distributed systems
• Mentoring teammates and sharing knowledge openly

Ideally you'll have:

• 5+ years of professional software development, including 3+ years in Python
• Strong experience building web APIs (REST, GraphQL) with Django or FastAPI
• Fluent with AI tools in your development workflow, with good judgement about when to trust, verify or override them
• Experience with OIDC/OAuth2 (we use Keycloak)
• Sound testing habits (BDD, automated tests, CI/CD)
• Clear communication and the ability to communicate with different internal audiences
• Comfort moving fast with thought and empathy in a scaleup environment
• A degree in computer science or equivalent practical experience

It would be fantastic if you have these skills/experience but not essential:

• Experience building with LLMs, agents or MCP
• Microservices and distributed systems (we use Ray and RabbitMQ)
• Curiosity about quantum computing (no physics background required)