We are seeking a highly qualified R&D Manager - Commercial System Manager in our Broomfield, CO location - to lead a diverse team focused on delivering trapped-ion quantum computer designs and hardware. This role is combines technical leadership and people management in roughly equal parts. As such, successful candidates will possess both a broad understanding of methods related to QCCD trapped-ion based quantum computing and hardware development best practices, including hardware configuration management, system engineering, and system validation and verification. This manager will work closely with technical leadership, program managers, and functional managers to deliver systems designs and release working systems. Successful candidates will leverage previous personnel and technical leadership experience in a related technical area to mentor junior team members and improve the company’s system development processes for future product generations.
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Key Responsibilities:
- Owning the system-level design, build, and development responsibilities for next generation Quantinuum systems, including system architecture, concept of operation, procurement and construction planning, hardware and software integration, configuration management and system validation and verification before release.
- Guiding technical trade studies and analyses to reduce project risks and mature early technical concepts into concrete design directions
- Developing test plans and identifying key handoffs with electrical, optical, microfabrication, software, vacuum, and cryogenic subsystem leads.
- Establishing strategic plans for your team by defining milestones/inchstones and key decision points, identifying key handoffs and transition gates with technical partners, and recognizing critical interdependencies with peer groups and adjacent disciplines.
- Owning and managing programmatic execution of the above plans by tracking and reporting progress, allocating resources and prioritizing work to meet milestones, and identifying and managing risks and opportunities.
- Personnel management responsibilities include mentoring, coaching, and training direct-report engineers and scientists; hiring staff with the right skills for success; planning and nurturing their career development; and performing technical goal setting, employee performance assessments, and compensation adjustments.
YOU MUST HAVE:
- Bachelor’s Degree minimum
- Minimum 8+ years of experience in technical research and development (graduate school inclusive).
- Minimum 5+ years of experience in the development and/or operation of AMO and/or QC systems.
- Minimum 2+ years of experience serving as the leader of an advanced technical team (either task leadership or personnel management, or both).
- Direct experience with people management in the technical industry.
- Due to Contractual requirements, must be a U.S. Person defined as, U.S. citizen permanent resident or green card holder, workers granted asylum or refugee status
- Due to national security requirements imposed by the U.S. Government, candidates for this position must not be a People's Republic of China national or Russian national unless the candidate is also a U.S. citizen.
WE VALUE:
- Advanced degree—Master’s or PhD—in Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
- 15+ years of experience in a related technical field.
- 5+ years of leadership experience.
- Experience in the quantum computing industry.
- Proven expertise in trapped-ion or cold atom physics.
- Experience in complex task management (cost, schedule, risk/opportunity, etc.).
- A track record of technology (engineering or physical science) development.
- A strong and active network of professional relationships.
- Strong organizational and leadership skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- People who want to change the world positively through the power of quantum computing.
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$180,000 - $225,000 a year
Compensation & Benefits:
Incentive Eligible – Range posted is inclusive of bonus target
The pay range for this role is $180,000 – $225,000 annually. Actual compensation within this range may vary based on the candidate’s skills, educational background, professional experience, and unique qualifications for the role.
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Quantinuum is the world leader in quantum computing. The company’s quantum systems deliver the highest performance across all industry benchmarks. Quantinuum’s over 650 employees, including 400+ scientists and engineers, across the US, UK, Germany, and Japan, are driving the quantum computing revolution.
By uniting best-in-class software with high-fidelity hardware, our integrated full-stack approach is accelerating the path to practical quantum computing and scaling its impact across multiple industries.
By joining Quantinuum, you’ll be at the forefront of this transformative revolution, shaping the future of quantum computing, pushing the limits of technology, and making the impossible possible.
What’s in it for you?
A competitive salary and innovative, game-changing work
Flexible work schedule
Employer subsidized health, dental, and vision insurance
401(k) match for student loan repayment benefit
Equity, 401k retirement savings plan + 12 Paid holidays and generous vacation + sick time
Paid parental leave
Employee discounts
Quantinuum is an equal opportunity employer. You will be considered without regard to age, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, nationality, sex, or veteran status. Know Your Rights: Workplace discrimination is illegal
TECHNICAL & MARKET ANALYSIS | Appended by Quantum.Jobs
The realization of industrial-scale quantum computing necessitates a structural shift from laboratory experimentation to disciplined systems engineering and commercial product delivery. This role type exists to bridge the critical gap between frontier research and robust hardware infrastructure, ensuring that complex trapped-ion architectures translate into reliable, deployable systems. Within the quantum value chain, this function acts as the primary driver of operational maturity, integrating multidisciplinary engineering streams into a unified technical roadmap. As market signals indicate a transition from proof-of-concept models to utility-scale machines, the structural necessity of expert leadership in hardware configuration and system validation becomes a primary determinant of commercial readiness. This leadership tier mitigates the systemic risks of fragmented development cycles by institutionalizing best practices in technical research and personnel orchestration. By safeguarding the integrity of the system-level design and build phases, this role ensures the continuous progression of technology readiness levels toward standardized market availability.
The quantum hardware sector is currently navigating a pivotal transition from "hype-driven" investment to a "show-me" phase, where organizations demand measurable outcomes and demonstrated value. As investment consolidates around established players, the ability to deliver engineered prototypes and pilot-scale systems has become the industry's most critical benchmark. The role of a systems-focused R&D manager is positioned at the intersection of the "hardware" and "systems integration" layers of the ecosystem, serving as a prerequisite for the scaling of physical qubit architectures. This tier of leadership is essential for navigating the "classical wall," where conventional computing can no longer support the increasing complexity of quantum control and readout requirements.
Macro-level analysis of the global workforce highlights a severe bottleneck in the "technical enablement" tier, specifically for individuals capable of managing the intersection of advanced physics and industrial-grade engineering. While academic talent remains abundant, there is a distinct scarcity of leaders who can implement hardware configuration management and system verification processes at scale. This gap poses a strategic risk to national quantum initiatives, which increasingly prioritize translational research designed to unlock bottlenecks for commercial deployment. Sector dynamics are therefore shifting toward a "modular architecture" approach, which facilitates the integration of various components while optimizing performance and maintenance.
Furthermore, the rise of hybrid classical-quantum cloud platforms requires hardware systems to operate with unprecedented stability and uptime. The coordination across photonics, electronics, and cryogenic teams is no longer a peripheral activity but a core component of the industry’s Technological Readiness Level (TRL) progression. As firms move toward the practical fault-tolerant regime, the ability to manage these interdependencies without service interruption provides a significant competitive advantage. Public sector mandates and grant availability continue to underwrite these risks, reinforcing the importance of leadership that can align technical milestones with broader ecosystem-level objectives.
The capability architecture for this role centers on the harmonization of Quantum Charge-Coupled Device (QCCD) methodologies with rigorous systems engineering frameworks. At the foundational layer, mastery of hardware configuration management is required to maintain the baseline of evolving designs across multiple temperature stages and high-density interconnects. This is coupled with the technical interface for atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics, which is essential for the stabilization of trapped-ion qubits. These capabilities are critical for ensuring the structural throughput of hardware development, as they directly influence the fidelity of quantum gates and the scalability of logical qubit counts.
Beyond technical oversight, the role facilitates a cross-functional coupling between cryogenic, vacuum, and microfabrication leads to reduce integration friction. This interface ensures that the classical control stack scales commensurately with the quantum processor, addressing primary bottlenecks in thermal-load and wiring density. By implementing standardized validation and verification protocols, this role enables a level of reproducibility that allows research teams to transition from prototype development to pilot production. This systemic approach optimizes the lifecycle of advanced technical assets while ensuring that system architectures remain compatible with evolving industrial standards.
• Orchestrates the continuous transition of high-fidelity quantum hardware from laboratory settings to deployable commercial systems
• Mitigates systemic integration risks by standardizing configuration management across complex, multidisciplinary engineering streams
• Facilitates the achievement of higher technology readiness levels through rigorous system-level validation and verification protocols
• Reduces iteration cycles in trapped-ion hardware development by aligning technical milestones with strategic procurement and construction planning
• Strengthens the stability of the quantum supply chain through expert oversight of subsystem handoffs and technical trade studies
• Harmonizes the efforts of physics and engineering teams to ensure the structural scaling of physical and logical qubit architectures
• Optimizes the allocation of specialized technical resources to meet critical industry benchmarks for system performance and reliability
• Supports the establishment of national quantum hubs by institutionalizing best practices in advanced technical research and development
• Protects capital-intensive investments in quantum infrastructure through proactive risk management and programmatic execution of technical roadmaps
• Enables the seamless integration of quantum processors into hybrid classical-computing workflows and high-performance computing data centers
• Improves the transparency of hardware development progress for global stakeholders through structured documentation and formal technical reviews
• Accelerates the time-to-market for utility-scale machines by overcoming short-term engineering barriers to practical fault-tolerant computing
Industry Tags: Trapped-Ion Hardware, Systems Engineering, QCCD Architecture, Quantum Infrastructure, R&D Management, Hardware Integration, Technical Leadership, Scaling Quantum Systems, Quantum Ecosystem Analysis, AMO Physics
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