Senior Mechanical | Cryogenic Engineer
Rigetti Computing builds full-stack quantum computers — from superconducting qubit devices fabricated in our own foundry to cloud-accessible quantum processors. We are seeking a Senior Mechanical/Cryogenic Engineer to own the mechanical architecture of our quantum hardware systems, from room-temperature infrastructure down to the millikelvin core of our dilution refrigerators.
You will lead the design of the cryogenic signal chain, define mechanical interfaces across thermal stages, and work directly alongside quantum physicists, RF engineers, and systems teams. This is a high-ownership role: you will drive design decisions end-to-end, from concept through qualification, on some of the most technically demanding hardware in the industry.
\nCryogenic Hardware Design
▸ Own the mechanical design of cryogenic hardware from 300 K to millikelvin — thermal anchoring, RF wiring, flex interconnects, coaxial routing, filter housings, and connector packaging across all temperature stages.
▸ Lead the full design lifecycle: concept, CAD, GD&T drawings, BOMs, tolerance analysis, prototype builds, qualification testing, and manufacturing release.
▸ Define cryogenic mechanical interfaces and thermal conduction budgets; drive design-for-manufacturability with external machine shops and precision vendors.
Simulation & Analysis
▸ Perform mechanical, thermal, and vibration analyses independently using COMSOL, ANSYS, or equivalent; use simulation results to drive design decisions and iteration.
▸ Conduct tolerance stack-up analyses for multi-component assemblies in constrained cryostat environments.
Integration, Leadership & Collaboration
▸ Lead prototype builds, system integration, and cryogenic bring-up; diagnose integration failures and drive root cause analysis.
▸ Serve as the mechanical lead in cross-functional programs alongside quantum physicists, RF engineers, and systems teams, mentor junior engineers and lead design reviews.
▸ Maintain rigorous documentation — CAD models, drawings, BOMs, and revision-controlled design records — within the company PLM system.
▸ B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering or related field (M.S. preferred).
▸ 7+ years designing complex mechanical or electromechanical systems with end-to-end hardware ownership.
▸ Expert-level SolidWorks — large assemblies, GD&T-compliant drawing packages, and DFM workflows.
▸ Independent proficiency in SolidWorks, COMSOL or ANSYS for thermal and structural analysis.
▸ Experience with hardware operating in cryogenic, vacuum, or extreme thermal environments.
▸ Strong ME fundamentals: stress analysis, tolerance stack-ups, materials selection, and failure mode analysis.
▸ Proven ability to lead technical efforts and collaborate across multidisciplinary teams.
▸ Direct experience with dilution refrigerators, cryostats, or sub-Kelvin systems in quantum computing or precision instrumentation.
▸ Knowledge of superconducting quantum hardware architecture and millikelvin design constraints.
▸ RF/microwave packaging experience: connector specification, hermetic sealing, and cable routing in cryostats.
▸ Familiarity with cleanroom protocols, vacuum-compatible assembly, and contamination-sensitive environments.
As engineering leaders, we value diversity and are committed to building a culture of inclusion to attract and engage innovative thinkers. Our technology, meant to serve all of humanity, cannot succeed if those who built it do not mirror the diversity of the communities we serve. 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 proprietary 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.
Don't see the job you want? Apply here so we can keep in touch with you when the right role opens up in the future!
Export Licensing Compliance
Rigetti is committed to full compliance with applicable anti-discrimination laws. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We strive to create an inclusive work environment and will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
IT Engineer
Director, Global Quantum System Deployment
About the Role
Rigetti Computing is seeking a Director of Quantum System Deployment & Field Engineering to lead the global deployment, integration, commissioning, and lifecycle support of our on-premise quantum computing systems.
In this role, you will build and lead Rigetti's Field Engineering organization, ensuring the successful delivery of complete quantum systems - from factory acceptance through customer installation, commissioning, acceptance, and operational handoff. You will develop the people, processes, and operational standards required to scale commercial deployments worldwide.
Working across Hardware Engineering, Manufacturing, Quantum Engineering, Software, and Program Management, you will ensure every deployed system meets Rigetti's standards for performance, reliability, and customer success.
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Build, lead, and scale Rigetti's global Field Engineering organization.
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Own the end-to-end deployment of on-premise quantum computing systems, including site readiness, installation, system integration, commissioning, customer acceptance, and operational handoff.
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Lead deployment of complex systems, including superconducting quantum processors, dilution refrigerators, RF/microwave hardware, control electronics, networking, and supporting infrastructure.
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Serve as the senior technical escalation point during customer deployments and field operations.
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Establish deployment processes, field engineering standards, training, documentation, and operational metrics.
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Partner cross-functionally with Hardware Engineering, Manufacturing, Software, Program Management, and Customer Success to improve deployment readiness, reliability, and customer experience.
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Drive continuous improvements in deployment efficiency, serviceability, and lifecycle support.
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Master's degree in Physics, Engineering, or a related technical field (Ph.D. preferred).
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10+ years of experience deploying, integrating, or supporting complex hardware systems.
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3+ years of people management experience.
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Strong systems engineering background integrating mechanical, electrical, software, networking, and controls systems.
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Experience with one or more of the following:
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Quantum computing
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Cryogenic systems
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RF/microwave systems
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Semiconductor equipment
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Scientific instrumentation
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Excellent customer-facing leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills.
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Willingness to travel globally (approximately 30–40%).
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Experience with superconducting quantum computing or dilution refrigerator systems.
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Experience supporting enterprise, government, or national laboratory customers.
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Experience building and scaling field engineering organizations.
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Familiarity with Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), and product lifecycle support.
As engineering leaders, we value diversity and are committed to building a culture of inclusion to attract and engage innovative thinkers. Our technology, meant to serve all of humanity, cannot succeed if those who built it do not mirror the diversity of the communities we serve. 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 proprietary 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.
Don't see the job you want? Apply here so we can keep in touch with you when the right role opens up in the future!
Export Licensing Compliance
Rigetti is committed to full compliance with applicable anti-discrimination laws. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We strive to create an inclusive work environment and will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Senior Software Engineering Manager
About Us
At Rigetti, our mission is to build the world’s most powerful computers to solve the world’s most challenging problems. Rigetti is a pioneer in superconducting Qubits and full stack quantum computing systems. In addition to introducing the first multi-chip quantum processor, Rigetti has led the way in software systems for quantum computing, with a distributed operating environment for hybrid quantum-classical computing, and a state-of-the-art streaming characterization and measurement development and execution platform
We are seeking a Senior Software Engineering Manager to head the team responsible for software systems that enable the creation, delivery and maintenance of Rigetti’s quantum computers. This includes systems for device design, chip fabrication workflows, physics-informed data analysis, quantum gate-design, and quantum mitigation and error correction technologies. This also includes managing the team and supporting the development of software systems for quantum QPU and system characterization. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives at the intersection of state-of-the-art software engineering, hardware, and scientific computing.
\nAs a Senior Software Engineering Manager, you will lead the team responsible for software platforms that enable the design, fabrication, characterization, and measurement of Rigetti's quantum systems – with a strong emphasis on integrating into the engineering process.
You will manage and develop a team of professional software engineers, and collaborate closely with quantum hardware teams, quantum control systems designers, chip designers, fabrication engineers, and algorithm researchers. You’ll be responsible for engineering and system design that spans the entire gamut of our foundry operations through the delivery of an integrated quantum computing system, and delivery of characterization and measurement software to customers.
This is a unique opportunity to build software systems critical for the design and delivery of Rigetti’s quantum computers at a time of significant organizational momentum. The ideal candidate is passionate about accelerating our hardware development flywheel and can empower technical teams in complex scientific environments while creating structure, accountability, prioritization, and long-term sustainability.
Team Leadership & Organizational Development
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Lead and mentor a cross-functional software engineering team spanning scientific tooling, analytics infrastructure, and fabrication-support systems.
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Create stronger operational rigor around prioritization, execution, accountability, and project delivery.
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Provide coaching, growth support, feedback, and career development for engineers across varying levels of seniority.
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Help establish healthy engineering culture, team norms, and stronger collaboration practices.
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Serve as a day-to-day thought partner to the VP of Software Engineering while helping create additional leadership bandwidth across the organization.
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Participate in hiring and team scaling efforts as the organization grows.
Technical & Engineering Leadership
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Partner closely with engineers to drive execution across scientific computing, fabrication tooling, analytics systems, and workflow automation.
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Support development of internal tooling and data systems that connect design, fabrication, and device performance workflows.
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Help modernize and operationalize internal tooling that has historically evolved organically through research and prototyping efforts.
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Drive better long-term ownership, maintainability, and lifecycle planning for internally developed systems and infrastructure.
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Help evolve engineering infrastructure and validation frameworks that improve scalability, reproducibility, and operational reliability across hardware development environments.
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Support technical decision-making, architecture discussions, and engineering prioritization while remaining hands-on enough to engage credibly with the team.
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Contribute technically when appropriate, particularly around debugging, architecture reviews, infrastructure improvements, or smaller engineering initiatives.
Cross-functional Collaboration
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Work closely with quantum engineers, physicists, fabrication engineers, and hardware teams to understand operational pain points and evolving workflow requirements.
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Help balance competing stakeholder requests while improving prioritization discipline and long-term planning.
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Partner with fabrication teams as Rigetti continues evolving manufacturing and foundry operations across Berkeley and Fremont.
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Support systems that connect experimental data, fabrication workflows, characterization tooling, and engineering analytics into scalable internal platforms.
Operational & Strategic Impact
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Help transition the team from highly reactive support work toward more proactive engineering planning and scalable systems development.
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Improve processes around technical debt management, prototype ownership, platform sustainability, and operational support models.
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Create better visibility into engineering priorities, roadmap tradeoffs, and team capacity.
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Support ongoing evolution of Rigetti’s scientific and engineering software ecosystem as the company scales hardware development efforts.
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Oversee the development, and architecture of data platforms and modeling tools that combine design files, fabrication process data, and device performance metrics.
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Empower the development and support for tools for design rule checking (DRC), layout-vs-schematic (LVS) checks, and process-aware design verification for quantum devices.
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BS or equivalent degree in Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or related field; MS or PhD a plus.
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7+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years in a people leadership role, whether formal management or equivalent tech lead capacity
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Demonstrated experience building data systems, ideally in scientific computing or physics-informed models.
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Demonstrated experience with software systems managing large datasets, metadata, and scalable data pipelines.
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Experience with streaming architectures and tools (e.g., Kafka, Kinesis, Spark Streaming).
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Proficiency in Python; familiarity with JavaScript or TypeScript. Comfort in a scientific computing environment is strongly valued.
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Proficiency with AWS for development and production deployment and distributed computing.
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People leadership ability, including coaching, performance management, and building team culture, whether formal management experience or demonstrated informal leadership.
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Strong communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to represent the team's capacity and push back constructively on internal customer requests.
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Hands-on technical ability; should be capable of making code contributions on an as-needed basis, even if day-to-day focus is leadership.
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Knowledge of quantum device physics, such as superconducting qubits, trapped ions, photonics, or quantum information science.
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Knowledge of quantum control systems and low-level hardware/software interfaces, including cryogenic hardware, RF electronics, and qubit calibration.
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Familiarity with fabrication processes in semiconductor, quantum, or other hardware/lab-based environments.
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Familiarity with EDA tools, process design kits (PDKs), and chip layout software such as KLayout or Cadence.
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Experience with scientific computing platforms, simulation tools, and scientific computing libraries/tools such as NumPy, SciPy, PyTorch, etc.
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Experience applying machine learning to scientific, operational, or hardware systems for prediction, optimization, or anomaly detection.
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Experience with compiled languages such as Go or Rust.
As engineering leaders, we value diversity and are committed to building a culture of inclusion to attract and engage innovative thinkers. Our technology, meant to serve all of humanity, cannot succeed if those who built it do not mirror the diversity of the communities we serve. 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 proprietary 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.
Don't see the job you want? Apply here so we can keep in touch with you when the right role opens up in the future!
Export Licensing Compliance
Rigetti is committed to full compliance with applicable anti-discrimination laws. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We strive to create an inclusive work environment and will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
IC Layout Automation Software Engineer
About the Role
Rigetti is seeking an IC Layout Automation Software Engineer to develop and maintain software systems that support the design and fabrication of superconducting quantum circuits.
This role sits at the intersection of software engineering, IC layout, and semiconductor fabrication, enabling the translation of device and process requirements into manufacturable layouts. You will work closely with cross-functional teams across design, fabrication, and research to build and evolve tools that are critical to how quantum devices are designed and produced.
This is a highly interdisciplinary role that requires strong software fundamentals alongside familiarity with IC design workflows and fabrication processes. You will play a key role in improving the reliability, usability, and scalability of layout generation and design tooling used in a cutting-edge R&D environment and over time, in shaping what that tooling becomes.
\nSoftware Development & Architecture
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Design, develop, and maintain production-quality software systems for IC layout generation and design workflows
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Refactor and improve existing codebases to increase maintainability, usability, and performance
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Build scalable and extensible software architectures that support evolving design and fabrication requirements
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Ensure code quality through best practices in testing, documentation, and version control
IC Design & Layout Integration
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Translate design and fabrication requirements into layout-ready implementations
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Work with GDSII and IC layout formats to generate, manipulate, and validate layout data
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Develop and maintain tooling that supports layout generation, verification, and iteration
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Integrate software workflows with existing EDA tools and design environments
Cross-Functional Collaboration
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Partner closely with design, fabrication, and research teams to understand requirements and deliver effective solutions
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Collaborate with stakeholders to define workflows and improve how design requests are translated into implementation
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Support users across multiple technical domains, improving usability and reducing friction in tooling
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Contribute to prioritization discussions across competing stakeholder needs
Tooling & Workflow Improvement
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Improve usability and accessibility of internal design tools to reduce errors and increase efficiency
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Identify and address gaps in current workflows, proposing more robust and user-friendly solutions
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Support the evolution of tooling from ad hoc usage toward more structured and scalable systems
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Balance reactive work (stabilization, bug fixing) with proactive development of new capabilities
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B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, Materials Science, or a related technical field.
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Strong proficiency in Python, with experience developing and maintaining production-quality software in a real-world engineering or technical environment.
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Proven ability to own and improve complex, long-lived codebases, including refactoring, architecture decisions, testing, documentation, and maintainability.
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Experience working with IC layout data and formats, including GDSII.
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Familiarity with EDA / IC layout tooling such as KLayout, gdspy, Cadence, or similar platforms.
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Strong communication skills, with the ability to operate across teams that use different technical language and workflows.
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Working knowledge of semiconductor fabrication workflows, with exposure to lithography processes.
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Familiarity with lithography required; experience with e-beam lithography a strong plus.
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Ability to translate design, fabrication, or process requirements into reliable software implementations.
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Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with stakeholders across software, hardware, design, fabrication, and research teams.
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Ability to manage ambiguity, prioritize competing requests, and bring structure to evolving technical systems.
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Comfortable working closely with cleanroom, fab, or lab-based teams in an R&D environment.
As engineering leaders, we value diversity and are committed to building a culture of inclusion to attract and engage innovative thinkers. Our technology, meant to serve all of humanity, cannot succeed if those who built it do not mirror the diversity of the communities we serve. 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 proprietary 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.
Don't see the job you want? Apply here so we can keep in touch with you when the right role opens up in the future!
Export Licensing Compliance
Rigetti is committed to full compliance with applicable anti-discrimination laws. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We strive to create an inclusive work environment and will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM)
Quantum Engineer
Lead Electrical Engineer, Control Systems
Future Open Position
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