Senior Quantum Applications Engineer

Job title: Senior Quantum Applications Engineer

Salary: Band E S1 £ 56,509 Gross per annum

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: Full-time (We understand the importance of work-life balance and are happy to discuss flexible working opportunities with candidates)

Location: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire, UK

Together, our scientists, technologists, engineers and business support team explore the unknown and turn what they find into work that changes the world around us.

Come and discover how much you can achieve when you’re surrounded by world-leading experts, encouraged to constantly learn and empowered to explore your curiosity.

The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) is the UK’s national laboratory dedicated to accelerating the development and adoption of quantum computing.

Headquartered at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, the NQCC works across government, industry, and academia to address the engineering challenges of scaling quantum computers and to build a quantum-ready economy. Its mission is to enable the UK to solve complex societal and industrial challenges by harnessing the transformative potential of quantum computing.

The NQCC is a joint initiative of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It sits alongside other departments within the STFC National Laboratories and is part of the wider National Quantum Technologies Programme (NQTP).

Our Benefits include a flexible working scheme (subject to business requirements), a defined benefit pension scheme and 30 days annual leave allowance plus 10.5 bank holiday/privilege days and several other benefits.

You will join the Quantum Applications Team (QAT) within the Innovation function of the NQCC. At the core of your activities, you will be striving to solve practical problems using quantum computing and work towards the development of possible applications. As part of the QAT, you will be working within an environment with access to a range of different quantum computing architectures and prototypes.

As a Senior Applications Engineer, you will utilise your skills and build your understanding of methodologies and technologies that enable the implementation and execution of quantum algorithms.

Your work will be in support of the NQCC’s quantum readiness activities and quantum computing testbeds initiative, aimed at understanding the potential and the opportunities presented by quantum computing, its applications and utilisation. You will be working alongside hardware engineers, experts who are building and operating quantum computers. In addition, you will work with and be supported by software developers who build software and systems that access and control quantum devices.

Project support is provided by dedicated staff within the organisation.

Externally, you will be working collaboratively, alongside partners from industry and the research community, on exciting projects that aim to push the state‑of‑the‑art in quantum computing.

Responsibilities and day‑to‑day activities of a successful candidate:

• Lead technical work to support the delivery of the QAT’s objectives.
• Use quantum algorithms, emulators and quantum computers to develop solutions to practical problems and pursue pathways towards quantum advantage.
• Benchmark and evaluate prototype quantum computers to understand their performance, behaviour, potential utility and suitability for algorithm execution.
• Use software development kits (SDKs) and tools to code quantum computers.
• Work on the development of a quantum applications roadmap.
• Work with enabling technologies to implement and execute quantum algorithms.
• Build the necessary…