About IonQ
IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world's leading quantum platform and merchant supplier, delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ's newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners including Amazon Web Services and AstraZeneca achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.
Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space.
Role Overview
We are looking for a Senior Physicist to join our Resilience Engineering & Operations team in College Park, Maryland. In this role, you will help keep IonQ's trapped ion quantum computers running reliably for customers, taking ownership of the operation, maintenance and continuous improvement of our commercial and development systems.
This is a senior, hands-on role. You will be one of the most experienced operating physicists on site, trusted to work through complex hardware issues, lead the response when systems go down and help less experienced colleagues build their judgement. You will also play an important part in growing our follow the sun operating model alongside colleagues in Europe, so the processes and practices you put in place will shape how the whole team supports the fleet.
Responsibilities
In this position, you will work on the day to day operation, monitoring, maintenance and optimisation of our quantum computing systems, as well as the installation and maintenance of our internal systems at the College Park office. You will be the person the team turns to for the harder problems, diagnosing faults that cut across optics, lasers, vacuum, electronics and software, and seeing them through to a durable fix.
Beyond keeping systems running, you will improve how we run them. You will turn what you learn from incidents and telemetry into better procedures, observability and automation, and feed operational insight back to the engineering and physics teams who design our future systems.
Key responsibilities include:
•Take part in follow the sun on-call rotations and lead the technical response to system incidents
•Own regular and emergency hardware maintenance on trapped ion quantum systems, including optical alignment and laser work
•Interpret telemetry and system behaviour to diagnose root causes and improve our understanding of the hardware
•Build and improve observability, automation and operating procedures that raise uptime and reduce manual effort
•Mentor and train other operating physicists, and coordinate with engineering teams, colleagues in Europe and customers on system access and status
Requirements
To be successful, you will need a strong experimental background in atomic, molecular and optical physics, optical engineering or a related physical science, with several years of hands-on laboratory experience operating, maintaining and troubleshooting complex experimental systems. We are looking for someone who brings sound technical judgement under pressure and takes practical ownership of keeping systems running.
You will communicate clearly across teams and time zones, work carefully in a fast moving environment and enjoy sharing what you know with others. Prior quantum computing experience is not required. The role is based on site in College Park, and supporting a live fleet means the working pattern includes flexible hours as part of a 24/7 on-call rotation.
You'd be a great fit with:
•A PhD in physics, engineering or another physical science, or a Master's degree with equivalent hands-on experience
•Three or more years of laboratory experience in atomic and/or optical physics, including optical setups, precision alignment, laser stabilisation and optical modulators
•A track record of diagnosing and fixing faults in complex hardware systems, ideally in an operational, on-call or service setting
•Experience with statistics, telemetry or data analysis, and programming in Python or Rust
•Strong communication skills, a collaborative mindset and experience guiding or training less experienced colleagues
Compensation & Benefits
The total compensation package includes base salary, bonus, equity, and a range of benefits available on our career site. If this role has a commission structure, the compensation range below just reflects the base compensation range.
Wage Transparency: $124,000—$186,000 USD. Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications, and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location, and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available.
Benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401(k), unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment.
Export Control Notice
The position requires access to technology that is subject to U.S. export control and government contract restrictions. Employment with IonQ is contingent on either verifying "U.S. Person" (e.g., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum) status for export controls and government contracts work, obtaining any necessary license, and/or confirming the availability of a license exception under U.S. export controls.
