About Quandela:
Quandela is a European scale-up that provides photonic quantum computers that are modular, scalable, energy-efficient, and accessible both on the cloud and on-premise.
Our team of 140 employees specialises in the development of both software and hardware solutions for a variety of quantum applications. We offer a wide range of services: from building the brightest single-photon sources, to designing algorithms for quantum computers, to providing cloud quantum computing access.
Quandela plays a pivotal role as a strategic partner in the quantum transformation of industrial sectors such as energy, finance, pharmaceuticals, and transportation. We are also esteemed collaborators within the academic and research community
About your team:
You’ll join the QPU Prototyping team, part of QPU Integration.
- In parallel with the PIC (Photonic Integrated Circuits) team, you will design, build, and experiment on Quantum Processing Units (QPUs).
- You will work hand-in-hand with the Hard/Soft Integration & Operations department, ensuring new devices move from lab prototypes to production-ready systems.
Why This Role Matters?
- From ideas to hardware :
You turn hypotheses into prototypes, and prototypes into QPU modules that run. - Scaling the roadmap :
You shorten the path from design to stable operation. Every % of loss you cut or hour of uptime you secure brings us closer to scaling 6 → 12 → 24+ qubit systems with higher fidelity. - Shaping the system :
Your experiments, ground them in science, set the standards — from error budgets to control strategies and design trade-offs across the stack.
What will you do?
> Build & improve QPU modules:
- Prototype optical modules
Design, assemble, align, measure, stabilize — covering free-space, fiber, PICs, laser subsystems, and detection. - Integrate into the QPU
Bring modules online, debug, optimize, and validate against spec. Hand over with clean procedures, test plans, and BOMs (Bill of Materials). - Improve performance
Once integrated, track loss and drift, isolate noise sources, and implement fixes that hold — pushing qubit fidelity and system stability forward.
> Tools & knowledge sharing:
- Code for the lab
Develop pragmatic Python tools for acquisition, calibration, and analysis (scripts, utilities, quick plots) — tools your teammates actually reuse. - Document & collaborate
Work full-stack with peers (optics, electronics, semiconductors, software). Leave behind clear lab notes and protocols so others can run the system without you.
---
How You’ll Grow?
- 0–3 months: own a bench; deliver your first doc pack (procedure + checklist + Python tools), complete a characterization.
- 3–6 months: own one module from V0 to QPU integration; hit targets on loss/stability, standardize tests.
- 6-12 months: own multiple modules or a QPU area, contribute to planning, and trade-offs (Quality/Cost/Schedule).
--> Next steps ? mentor juniors, lead projects, step into Optics Lead.
---
What We’re Looking For ?
*Must-Have:
- Hands-on experimental optics (typically PhD or equivalent): complex design, alignment, metrology.
- Python for the lab: acquisition, calibration, analysis, plots (useful code that speeds up work).
- Documentation discipline: Feedback, procedures, test protocols.
*Important (can grow here):
- Basic electronics for the bench: safe operation, light soldering, DAQ, drivers.
- Semiconductor awareness: (quantum-dot sources, couplings, packaging)
*Bonus:
- Exposure to quantum optics (correlations/HOM), PICs, cryogenics, optimal control, or firmware/FPGA.
*Languages:
- English professional level required.
- French is a plus (peers, colleagues, partners).
---
Examples of backgrounds we value:
For this role, we’re looking for a PhD profile with proven experience in complex optical systems — someone who can master experimental design, alignment, and measurement, and turn that expertise into reliable hardware modules.
- Experimental quantum/photonic optics scientist (PhD) eager to land hardware in a product.
- Optical/laser systems scientist/engineer with robust bench skills and pragmatic Python.
- Research-trained profile who has delivered lab modules into operational handover.
Remuneration:
- €57.5k gross — indicative entry for PhD + 1–2 years (operational on bench + Python + documentation).
- €60–65k gross — PhD + 4–5 years (leading modules/projects, allocating resources, coordinating peers, shaping roadmap impact).
Profit-sharing & company savings plan, 100% health coverage (Alan), Swile meal vouchers, transport/mobility support, Gymlib
And above all ...
Quandela is where rigor meets vision: where experiments evolve into machines, and machines into breakthroughs.
What you create doesn’t vanish after the test — it endures in quantum processors that deliver stable qubits and enable the next generation of applications.
Above all, we seek a builder-scientist: someone who makes tomorrow’s quantum computing possible, one module at a time.
