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Systems Engineer

Broomfield, Colorado, United States

About IonQ: 

IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world’s leading quantum company delivering solutions to solve the world’s most complex problems. IonQ’s newest generation quantum computers, IonQ Tempo and IonQ Forte Enterprise, are the latest in cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners such as Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve 20x performance results. The company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance in 2025.

The company is accelerating its technology roadmap and intends to deliver the world’s most powerful quantum computers with 2 million qubits by 2030 to accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. IonQ’s advancements in quantum networking position the company as a leader in building the quantum internet.

 

About Skyloom 

Skyloom, an IonQ company, is a telecommunications company founded with the mission to develop, deploy, and operate one of the fundamental pieces of tomorrow's space communication infrastructure to provide data transport services on a planetary scale. If you have a strong sense of purpose, focus, urgency, and willingness to compete, or if working on space lasers excites you, join our team to develop the future generation of space communication technology.

Skyloom is building the orbital infrastructure for the next renaissance in global connectivity. As Earth’s first space-based telecommunications company, we deliver fiberless, planetary-scale data transport that dramatically increases bandwidth, availability, and resiliency—while reducing latency and total cost of operations.

Our proprietary optical technology enables secure, ultra-high-capacity connections across our end-to-end, multi-orbit network or within your own infrastructure, unlocking a new standard for global communications.

Location: This role will be onsite in our Broomfield, Colorado office. 
Travel: Up to 5%
Job ID:  552 (1449)


The Role

As a System Engineer, you are expected to oversee and drive the conceptual and architectural design of Skyloom´s products, ensuring successful delivery aligned with business priorities. You will interact with various stakeholders to manage projects and product portfolios, fostering collaboration among cross-functional teams and acting as the primary contact for product-related inquiries and decisions.


Responsibilities

  • Manage budgets: link, pointing, power, mass, and time allocations 
  • Oversee memory, physical configuration, and other system parameters.
  • Define system architectures, interfaces, manage requirements definition, flow downs and traceability.
  • Identify key requirements for each subsystem.
  • Negotiate requirements between subsystems and perform trade-off analyses to optimize system performance.
  • Promote comprehensive requirement definition for subsystems.
  • Develop system and subsystem validation and verification (V&V) strategies.
  • Empower and lead system teams, encouraging Systems to take ownership of initiatives and tasks.
  • Lead decision-making processes and trade-off analyses. 
  • Review and reach consensus on subsystem schedules, understanding dependencies and inter-team interactions.
  • Approve required tasks for each subsystem, estimating time and resource allocations.
  • Conduct internal design reviews (similar to Critical Design Reviews) to ensure interface requirements are met.
  • Provide training and knowledge-sharing opportunities for Systems teams through internal courses or presentations.
  • Ensure subsystems define their design processes and perform flow-down of system requirements to lower-level subsystems (typically L3 to L4 and below).
  • Prepare typical documentation packages for each project phase and support project budgeting.
  • Oversee the organization of Systems teams, whether structured per project or product (e.g., OCTs, OGS), with designated responsible leaders for each subsystem.
  • Establish clear procedures and processes, enforce their use, and continuously improve system engineering practices.


Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in systems engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
  • Strong understanding of systems engineering principles and product management.
  • To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Skyloom employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce, as applicable. Learn more about ITAR here.


Preferred Qualifications

  • Master's degree in a related field.
  • Experience with disruptive technologies and product development.
  • Familiarity with regulatory compliance standards and quality assurance processes.
  • Excellent communication skills and proven ability to engage with cross-functional teams.
  • Fluency in English, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
  • Availability to travel to USA


Compensation 

The approximate base salary range for this position is $112,040 - $140,050. 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 401K, 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. 


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!


 

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