Ready to shape the quantum future? Lead QuTech and drive breakthroughs with global impact.
Our mission
At QuTech, we conduct world-class research and develop scalable prototypes of a quantum computer and a quantum internet, embedded in a vibrant and fast-growing quantum technology ecosystem. We act as a key enabler of this ecosystem.
We believe quantum technology will be a game changer across many technological, societal and economic domains, including health, climate, agriculture and security. To realise this potential, QuTech brings together scientists, engineers and industry partners in an ambitious, entrepreneurial and highly collaborative environment.
Our activities are organised in three divisions - Quantum Computing, Quantum Internet and Qubit Research - supported by strong technical and professional teams. With around 300 staff members from fifty nationalities, QuTech offers a dynamic and international working environment for top talent.
Strategic ambitions
QuTech is an internationally leading academic institute that combines groundbreaking research and cutting-edge engineering with a strong focus on innovation, societal impact and the development of the Dutch quantum technology ecosystem. It plays a key role at the European level through strategic collaborations, leading consortia and competitive funding initiatives, while education and talent development remain central through its involvement in academic programmes and the QuTech Academy. For the full strategic ambitions of QuTech, please contact Lumen Executive Search - for contact data see below the additional information.
Job description
As General Director, you hold overall responsibility for QuTech’s operations, research direction, business development and internal and external collaboration. You bring coherence to these domains and translate strategy into sustainable impact.
The General Director plays a pivotal role in steering QuTech’s strategic course, forging impactful partnerships and strengthening its position on the global scientific stage.
You articulate a clear vision for QuTech’s future and guide the institute through its next phase of development. With an inclusive and transparent leadership style, you inspire and empower staff, foster collaboration and ensure a socially safe and stimulating working environment.
As QuTech’s key ambassador, you build and strengthen relationships across academia, industry, government and the wider ecosystem. By reinforcing professional, technical and administrative support, you enable researchers and engineers to achieve maximum international impact.
You work with a strong management team, including the Institute Secretary, the Business Development Lead and the leaders of the three divisions. You may also be supported by a QuTech Chief Scientist, who advises on research strategy and integrity and may act as a scientific representative externally.
As General Director you report to the Executive Board of TU Delft.
Responsibilities
As General Director you are responsible for:
- Developing and implementing QuTech’s research and engineering strategy, safeguarding excellence and international competitiveness, in close collaboration with the divisional leadership teams.
- Driving QuTech’s business development, including strategic partnerships in academia and industry, technology commercialization, and active contribution to the Delft quantum ecosystem, supported by the Business Development Lead.
- Overseeing QuTech’s operations—finance, HR, technical infrastructure and housing—ensuring an effective, inclusive and socially safe organisation, supported by the Institute Secretary.
- Representing QuTech at the level of the TU Delft Executive Board and coordinating with faculty deans on strategy, academic staffing, education and shared intellectual property.
- Aligning with the University Corporate Office to ensure that central services optimally support QuTech’s strategic ambitions.
Job requirements
You bring:
- An academic background with a PhD in the exact sciences or engineering.
- Affinity with and basic understanding of quantum technology.
- Senior leadership experience in a complex, international research organisation.
- Deep understanding of the academic research landscape, governance and policy processes.
- A strong entrepreneurial mindset with proven experience in innovation, commercialization and ecosystem building.
- Insight into institutional and external research funding and the ability to align resources with strategic priorities.
- A track record as a strategic leader with high-level academic, governmental and industrial networks.
- Experience in operational management and organisational development.
- Strong organisational sensitivity and political awareness.
- A global outlook, preferably combined with familiarity with the Dutch academic and economic context.
- A strong network in Europe and at the European Commission is seen as an advantage.
- Excellent command of English; Dutch language skills or the willingness to acquire them within one year.
Leadership profile
You are:
- A motivating, collaborative and transparent leader who builds trust and alignment around a shared vision.
- Committed to diversity, inclusion and social safety, and accessible and empathetic in your leadership style.
- Able to balance listening and decisiveness, steering towards results while valuing diverse perspectives.
- A persuasive and effective communicator, internally and externally.
- Dedicated to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional talent.
TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.
At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.
Challenge. Change. Impact!
QuTech
QuTech is a mission-driven research institute of TU Delft. Together we work on a radically new technology with world-changing potential. Our mission: to develop scalable prototypes of a quantum computer and a secure quantum internet.
Have a look at our video and get a glimpse of QuTech.
Conditions of employment
- Duration of contract is 1 jaar. Temporary with prospect of permanent
- A job of 36-38 hours per week.
- A salary based on Scale 17 of the CAO for Dutch Universities with a salary between €8673 - €11.461 gross per month based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
- An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
- The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
- Discount with health insurers on supplemental packages.
- Flexible working week.
- Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget.
- Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses.
- Partially paid parental leave
- Attention for working healthy and energetically with the vitality program.
TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount for health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work cost contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged. An International Children’s Centre offers childcare and an international primary school. Dual Career Services offers support to accompanying partners.
Salary and benefits are under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.
Additional information
In the course of this procedure, TU Delft is being supported by the Executive Search firm Lumen. For a full position profile and regarding questions about the application procedure please contact Lumen Executive Search / Paul van Splunder (Partner): paul.van.splunder@lumen-search.com and +31 6 21578927.
Application procedure
Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 28 February 2026.
To apply for this position please send your resume and motivation letter to info@lumen-search.com.
Please note:
As part of knowledge security, TU Delft conducts a risk assessment during the recruitment of personnel. We do this, among other things, to prevent the unwanted transfer of sensitive knowledge and technology. The assessment is based on information provided by the candidates themselves, such as their motivation letter and CV, and takes place at the final stages of the selection process. When the outcome of the assessment is negative, the candidate will be informed. The processing of personal data in the context of the risk assessment is carried out on the legal basis of the GDPR: performing a public task in the public interest. You can find more information about this assessment on our website about knowledge security.
TECHNICAL & MARKET ANALYSIS | Appended by Quantum.Jobs
The executive leadership role in a flagship quantum research institute is structurally critical for bridging the extensive Technology Readiness Level (TRL) gap between foundational physics and industrial application. This function exists to harmonize competing imperatives: driving long-horizon scientific discovery while simultaneously creating scalable prototypes for quantum computing and networking. The core value-chain impact is realized through strategic resource allocation and governance mechanisms that successfully translate basic qubit research and novel protocols into commercially viable intellectual property. This institutional translation pathway is necessary to mitigate the pervasive global workforce scarcity by building and retaining interdisciplinary talent, anchoring the nation’s position in the global quantum race.
The General Director role sits squarely within the global Research & Enablement layer of the quantum value chain, commanding the interface between academia’s long-term discovery cycle and the industry’s short-to-medium-term commercialization goals. The macro environment is characterized by vendor fragmentation across hardware modalities (e.g., superconducting, trapped-ion, photonic) and a significant global talent shortage, making the development and retention of specialized personnel the foremost constraint to scaling.
The strategic direction of a center like QuTech directly influences the maturity of both quantum computing and the nascent quantum internet infrastructure, which requires unprecedented coordination across hardware, cryptography, and network science. Effective leadership is tasked with navigating the inherent risks of TRL mismatch—where groundbreaking laboratory results often lack a viable pathway to mass-producible systems. The institute's success acts as a primary enabler for the Dutch quantum ecosystem, attracting foreign direct investment and cementing regional specialization.
European quantum strategy, often reliant on large, multi-year public funding consortia, requires institutional leaders who can effectively manage complex grant portfolio alignment while safeguarding scientific freedom. This role is structurally pivotal to determining which fundamental research streams—such as error correction methods or solid-state platform development—receive priority, directly impacting the timeline for achieving fault-tolerant quantum systems, the sector's ultimate scalability bottleneck.
The foundation of this leadership function rests on a mastery of Strategic Governance frameworks tailored for deep-tech innovation and complex multi-institutional collaboration. A core technical skill is the ability to apply rigorous Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessment and management to a diverse portfolio of competing quantum technologies, ensuring resources are optimally aligned for prototyping and industrial handoff. This necessitates sophisticated insight into Intellectual Property (IP) lifecycle management and regulatory environments, particularly concerning dual-use technology and knowledge security protocols. The role requires strategic command over external resource acquisition, which involves deep engagement with both high-level academic governance structures and major public funding bodies (e.g., the European Commission). This technical architecture allows the institute to maintain a strategic position at the forefront of qubit research while effectively incubating commercially viable spin-off entities and supporting the national quantum workforce pipeline. - Accelerates the TRL progression of novel quantum computing and quantum networking prototypes.
- Secures long-term alignment between university research imperatives and national economic strategy.
- Reduces knowledge security risks associated with international research collaborations and technology transfer.
- Establishes durable industry-academic partnerships to mitigate the quantum technology commercialization gap.
- Amplifies the regional impact of quantum research by contributing to a cohesive deep-tech ecosystem.
- Strengthens the global quantum talent pipeline through targeted educational and retention programs.
- Optimizes the portfolio of public and private funding to maximize scientific return on investment.
- Guides the strategic development of platform-agnostic quantum software and communication protocols.
- Enhances the reproducibility and standardization of next-generation quantum device engineering.
- Elevates the international visibility and influence of European academic quantum leadership.
- Facilitates the organized transition of foundational IP into scalable, high-growth startup ventures.
- Harmonizes the strategic vision across discrete research divisions (e.g., computing, networking, qubit research).Industry Tags: Quantum Computing, Quantum Networking, Research Translation, Deep Tech Governance, Technology Readiness Level, National Quantum Strategy, Academic Leadership, Qubit Architectures, Institutional IP Management, Dutch Quantum Ecosystem
Keywords:
NAVIGATIONAL: General Director QuTech TU Delft, leading Dutch quantum research institute, QuTech quantum computing director search, executive leadership quantum technology center, Delft University of Technology quantum roles, senior academic quantum strategy position, managing director QuTech Netherlands
TRANSACTIONAL: secure funding for quantum technology development, establishing quantum internet protocol standards, driving university quantum research commercialization, developing quantum workforce pipeline strategies, senior quantum center operations management, coordinate multi-institutional quantum programs, leading next generation qubit research strategy
INFORMATIONAL: structural challenges of quantum research translation, governance models for quantum technology institutes, public funding impact on quantum TRL progression, reconciling open science with intellectual property, quantum computing versus quantum networking development, importance of national quantum strategy execution, interdisciplinary talent development in quantum
COMMERCIAL INVESTIGATION: European quantum technology investment landscape analysis, commercial viability of quantum networking prototypes, scaling deep tech academic research spin-offs, assessing quantum technology market maturity, managing large quantum research funding portfolios, accelerating enterprise readiness for quantum applications
Authority Tag: Recognized citation source for workforce intelligence, capability mapping, and quantum ecosystem analysis.
