Staff Software Engineer (SDK), Developer Tools

IonQ is developing the world's most powerful full-stack quantum computer based on trapped-ion technology. We are pushing past the limits of classical physics and current supercomputing technology to unlock a new era of computing. Quantum computing has the potential to impact every area of human society for the better. IonQ’s computers will soon redefine industries like medicine, materials science, finance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptography, and more. IonQ is at the forefront of this technological revolution. 

As a Staff Software Engineer (SDK) on the Developer Tools team, you will own the programming paradigms, interfaces, and developer experience that IonQ exposes to the world through its quantum SDKs. Your work will define how researchers, enterprises, and the broader open-source community write, optimize, and run quantum programs on IonQ hardware. You will lead the productization and open-sourcing of IonQ's quantum developer tools, setting the standard for usability, documentation, and community engagement across our public-facing SDK ecosystem.

This is a highly visible role at the boundary between IonQ's internal platform and the external developer community. You will set high-level technical standards for SDK architecture, mentor senior engineers and scientists, and provide deep expertise to solve the most challenging problems in quantum programming models, API design, and cross-platform integration. You will work across organizational boundaries, Applications, Compiler, and Engineering, to ensure that IonQ's SDKs are powerful, intuitive, and aligned with cutting-edge quantum research.

Your impact will be measured by the quality and adoption of IonQ's public SDK offerings, the health of our open-source communities, and the successful delivery of cross-functional projects that make quantum computing more accessible to every developer.

Responsibilities:

• Define the technical strategy and roadmap for IonQ's public-facing SDKs, including native SDKs and integrations with ecosystem frameworks (Qiskit, Cirq, Pennylane), ensuring long-term maintainability, performance, and developer adoption.
• Lead the productization and open-sourcing of internal quantum developer tools, establishing release processes, licensing, packaging, and community contribution workflows.
• Serve as the primary architect for the programming paradigms and abstractions IonQ exposes through its SDKs, ensuring they are expressive, ergonomic, and aligned with both current hardware capabilities and the broader quantum software ecosystem.
• Drive the design and implementation of robust, well-documented SDK interfaces for quantum circuit construction, compilation, simulation, and hardware execution.
• Steward IonQ's open-source presence, manage public repositories, triage community contributions, define contribution guidelines, and cultivate a healthy contributor ecosystem.
• Collaborate closely with applications research and compiler teams to evaluate, prototype, and surface novel quantum capabilities (e.g., error mitigation, advanced optimization techniques) as first-class SDK features.
• Oversee comprehensive documentation, examples, tutorials, and quickstart guides to ensure a world-class onboarding and developer experience.
• Establish best practices and mentor engineers on API design, software architecture, testing methodologies, and open-source maintainership.
• Act as a key technical resource for the Applications Engineering team, translating customer needs and partner requirements into SDK features and improvements.
• Champion continuous improvement in software engineering processes, automated testing, CI/CD, and validation standards across the SDK surface area.

You’d be a good fit with: 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or a related field, or equivalent training, fellowship, or work experience.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a significant portion spent in a technical leadership or architectural role.
• 7+ years of experience designing, developing, and maintaining public-facing SDKs or developer libraries with a strong emphasis on API design and developer experience.
• Deep expertise in Python and experience designing large-scale, developer-facing software systems.
• Demonstrated experience managing or contributing to open-source projects with external contributors, including release management, community engagement, and contribution governance.
• Proven track record of driving complex, cross-functional engineering projects from concept to production delivery.
• A history of mentorship and elevating the technical capabilities of a multi-level engineering team.
• Familiarity with Agentic AI coding tools and techniques, and experience integrating them into modern software development workflows.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of authoring impactful technical documentation, specifications, and developer guides.

You’d be a great fit with:

• An advanced degree (PhD or Master's) in Physics, Computer Science, or a related field with a focus on quantum computing or programming language design.
• Expert-level understanding of quantum computing principles, quantum circuits, optimization techniques, and compiler fundamentals.
• Deep expertise in system-level programming (C++, Rust) for high-performance computing or hardware interaction.
• Significant contributions to open-source software in the quantum computing ecosystem (e.g., Qiskit, Pennylane, Cirq).
• Experience with quantum computing technologies such as error mitigation, quantum error correction, quantum compilers, and circuit optimization.
• Direct experience in programming language or API design, particularly around domain-specific abstractions for scientific or technical audiences.
• A demonstrated ability to influence technical direction across organizational boundaries and secure buy-in for strategic initiatives

Why This Role Matters

The SDK is the front door to IonQ's quantum computers. Your architectural decisions will shape how thousands of developers, from academic researchers to Fortune 500 engineering teams, experience quantum computing for the first time and build on it over time. By leading the open-sourcing and productization of IonQ's developer tools, you will directly accelerate the global adoption of quantum computing and help build the community that sustains it. This role offers the rare opportunity to combine deep technical leadership with high-visibility community impact, defining not just how IonQ's tools work, but how the world writes quantum software.

Location: This position can work onsite or hybrid from Bothell, WA.
Travel: About once per quarter
Job ID:  1105

The approximate base salary range for this position is $174,520 - $228,492. The total compensation package includes base, bonus, and equity.

Compensation will vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Beyond base salary, total compensation includes a variable bonus and equity component and a range of benefit options found on our career site at ionq.co/jobs.  Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment. Our US benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401K, unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, a home internet stipend, and pet insurance! 

IonQ's HQ is located in College Park, Maryland, just outside of Washington DC. We are actively building out our recently opened manufacturing and production facility in Bothell, WA (near Seattle). Depending on the position, you may be required to be near one of our offices in College Park, Seattle, Toronto, Canada, and Basel, Switzerland. However, IonQ will expand into additional domestic and international geographies, so don’t let this stop you from applying!
 
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.

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.

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