Principal Software Architect

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. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before. Role Overview Role: We are looking for a Principal Software Architect to join our Compute Software organisation at IonQ. In this role, you will be responsible for developing and maintaining the architecture of the software that enables a quantum computer, from low level hardware control up to developer programming interfaces, contributing to the team’s mission of delivering a complete software product for a quantum computer. You’ll play an important part in shaping the software and tools that support our work in building the world’s most advanced quantum systems. Our architecture now needs to evolve to support the next generation of our systems, and you will lead that work. Responsibilities: In this position, you will develop the software architecture covering real-time and non-real-time hardware management, low level orchestration and user interfaces for the current product and the future roadmap of products. You will also work with the technical leads from the development teams to support the effective development and delivery of a scalable solution that supports internal experimental scientists and external customers. You’ll have the opportunity to develop an evolving software architecture to support a family of products, contributing directly to the success of the system software team in delivering a world leading quantum computer. You will coach and train technical leads in good architectural principles, and work closely with the infrastructure, firmware and compiler teams across the UK and the US. Key responsibilities include: • Development and documentation of the system software architecture • Managing the evolving architecture across a family of products • Coordination with other architects across the whole of software and the wider system • Research and analysis to support future requirements elucidation • Coordination with technical leads to ensure that the design and implementation meets the intention of the architecture Requirements: To be successful, you will need prior experience of developing a large and scalable software architecture covering real-time requirements and distributed processing. We’re looking for someone who can think strategically at the architecture level, solve challenging technical issues, track the latest industry good practice and tools, and communicate those ideas and technologies to the wider software team. You will work at the level of the whole system, describing each component, what it does and its constraints, and then handing the detailed design and implementation to the development teams rather than designing through code. A grounding in formal architecture met