Principal Photonic Hardware Architect, Calibration Systems

PsiQuantum•Milpitas, CA

12h

About The Position

PsiQuantum's mission is to build the first useful quantum computers—machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems. Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries. Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry—including partners like GlobalFoundries—we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don’t feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure. In 2024, PsiQuantum announced government-funded projects to support the build-out of our first utility-scale quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia, and Chicago, Illinois. These initiatives reflect a growing recognition that quantum computing will be strategically and economically defining—and that now is the time to scale. PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies—including Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical—to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact. Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift—and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we have a clear path to make it real. Come join us. Job Summary: A principal-level hardware leader to architect the laser amplification and distribution systems that enable quantum system calibration. This role is responsible for defining and leading the hardware design for distributing CW and pulsed laser light to calibration ports in photonic chips, ensuring the system is scalable, power-efficient, synchronized, and optimized for cost, complexity, and calibration performance. The role also encompasses defining requirements for on-chip photodiodes or dedicated single-photon detectors, as well as optical pulse delivery for electrical timing.

Requirements

Deep understanding of CW and pulsed lasers.
Strong expertise in fiber amplifiers, optical splitting, and light distribution architectures.
Solid command of phase noise analysis and noise figure considerations in system design.
Experience with fiber polarization stability and control and faimiliarity with the practical challenges of maintaining optical performance in deployed systems.
Strong background in integrated photonics and discrete photonics using fiber-based components.
Experience designing hardware that can be deployed in rack-mountable systems or similar production-ready infrastructure.
Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across disciplines.
Independent thinker with sound engineering judgment and strong ownership.
Proven ability to manage vendors and make progress in complex, fast-paced engineering environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience in quantum photonics.
Experience designing calibration or metrology hardware for advanced optical or quantum systems.
Track record of leading highly optimized hardware architectures under challenging system constraints.
Experience with numerical modeling and simulation of optical systems.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end hardware architecture for distributing CW and pulsed light to calibration ports provisioned in photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
Determine optical power requirements based on signal-to-noise ratio and system-level calibration performance needs.
Design and optimize amplification, splitting, routing, timing, and synchronization schemes for calibration light distribution.
Develop approaches for distributed calibration across increasingly large quantum systems.
Define methods for detecting optical signals after propagation through calibration target PICs, including detector selection and readout architecture.
Specify and guide the electronics required to drive lasers, control optical subsystems, and acquire detector outputs.
Drive design tradeoffs with strong attention to power consumption, system cost, packaging complexity, and long-term scalability to very large qubit counts.
Work closely with the system automation team to understand calibration algorithms, develop operating procedures, and build hardware that enables, accelerates, or improves those workflows.
Collaborate with the photonic team to provide input on PIC design and gather requirements that influence the supporting calibration hardware architecture.
Collaborate with runtime electronics team and system architects on closed loop recalibration solutions
Guide vendors and external partners for development of optical and electro-optical hardware components and subsystems.