Senior Quantum Field Engineer

Rigetti Computing is looking for a Senior Quantum Field Engineer to join the Deployments team. The role sits at the operational edge of Rigetti's external quantum systems, bringing processors to life at customer sites and ensuring they run to specification in production. It’s a full-time onsite position, with the majority based in the UK and travel to customer sites around the world as needed. This role will suit someone who enjoys hands-on hardware work, field deployments, and translating complex experimental results into clear operational guidance.

Primarily based in the UK, the role requires regular travel to customer sites globally to support deployments. You’ll be the on-the-ground technical representative, working with on-site teams and explaining results to both expert and non-specialist audiences. When you’re not on site, you’ll collaborate with internal R&D teams to push device performance and scalability forward.

The position has two specialization tracks, and candidates are evaluated for fit across both and placed accordingly: Systems & Integration and Gate Calibration & Deployment.

Field deployments that bring systems to life

On-site deployments, you’ll own the technical work for your track, defining scope, running experiments or calibrations, validating against specifications, and documenting what you learn. You’ll debug failures across hardware, software, and infrastructure, escalating findings to drive resolution and keep deployments moving. As the primary technical contact for customers during engagements, you’ll translate results for audiences with varying levels of expertise and ensure everyone stays aligned. You’ll also monitor deployed systems for regressions, drift, or outages and respond proactively. Training teammates and customer personnel on procedures and workflows relevant to your track, contributing to internal tooling and documentation to improve repeatability, and collaborating with internal R&D to push device performance at scale are all part of the role. International travel is expected to support deployments, up to 25% of the time. If you’re in the Systems & Integration track, you’ll work on detailed cooldown experimental plans, qubit and readout characterization, and cross-functional debugging; in the Gate Calibration & Deployment track, you’ll validate single- and two-qubit gate performance, fine-tune calibrations on production devices, and maintain the automated recalibration system for cloud-deployed processors, while owning the deployment workflows for new gate calibrations from testing through production.

The must-have foundations

• PhD in Physics, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent degree with relevant industry or postdoctoral experience
• Hands-on experience with superconducting qubit devices
• Solid Python skills used in scientific or engineering work
• Strong systematic debugging abilities that cut across the full measurement chain
• Comfort operating in customer-facing and field environments with limited on-site infrastructure support
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to produce clear experimental reports and explain results to non-specialists
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally 10–25% of the time
• MS/BS with 3+ years of relevant experience (or PhD)
• Systems & Integration track additionally requires experience troubleshooting cryogenic microwave hardware
• Gate Calibration & Deployment track additionally requires experience calibrating and characterising 1Q and 2Q gates on superconducting qubit devices; strong quantitative understanding of gate error sources; experience writing high-quality code and going through formal code review (Git)

Nice to have for the two tracks

• Systems & Integration: Experience operating and troubleshooting dilution refrigerators
• Systems & Integration: Knowledge of common qubit failure modes and their signatures
• Systems & Integration: Software development experience in a collaborative industrial setting
• Gate Calibration & Deployment: Experience with automated or scheduled recalibration systems in production
• Gate Calibration & Deployment: Familiarity with cloud deployment infrastructure (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker)
• Gate Calibration & Deployment: Experience with pulse-level gate optimization (DRAG, flux pulse shaping, dynamical decoupling)
• Gate Calibration & Deployment: Experience supporting a rotational on-call or production-support schedule
• Prior experience in a customer-facing or field engineering role

As engineering leaders, Rigetti values diversity and is committed to building a culture of inclusion. Applications from women, minorities, and other under-represented groups are encouraged.

About Rigetti

Rigetti Computing is a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. The company has operated quantum computers over the cloud since 2017 and serves global enterprise, government, and research clients through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform. The company’s quantum-classical infrastructure provides ultra-low latency integration with public and private clouds for high-performance practical quantum computing. Rigetti has developed the industry’s first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing systems. The company designs and manufactures its chips in-house at Fab-1, the industry’s first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility. Rigetti was founded in 2013 and today employs more than 150 people with offices in the United States, U.K., and Australia. Learn more at www.rigetti.com

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Rigetti is committed to full compliance with applicable anti-discrimination laws. They are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in the company. Rigetti does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.