Quantum Control Systems Software Design Engineer II

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

55d•$100,600 - $199,000

About The Position

Microsoft has become the world’s center of expertise on topological quantum computing. This development effort includes a staff of theoretical physicists, experimental and engineering teams around the world. Within Microsoft’s Quantum program, the Quantum Systems team develops custom electronics for various parts of the hardware stack of a scalable quantum computer. The overall system is being developed by a diverse and multi-disciplinary team that includes software and hardware architects on a combination of classical and cryogenic systems. Are you passionate about the next revolution in computing? Do you thrive on solving challenging software engineering problems? Does the thought of building novel quantum computer systems excite you? If so, the Quantum team is looking for you! Join us and help us deliver the world’s first topological quantum computers! Join the team as a Quantum Control Systems Software Design Engineer II building the software that drives our quantum control systems—bridging precision lab instruments, embedded controllers, and hostside services—to accelerate experimentation and reliable qubit measurement at scale. For more information about Azure Quantum, visit https://quantum.microsoft.com/. Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. At Microsoft Quantum, we aim to empower science and scientists to solve the world's biggest problems by realizing advanced computing platforms at the intersection of high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum information technology.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics or related field AND 2+ years experience in industry or in a research and development environment
OR Master's in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics or related field
OR equivalent experience.
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:
Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations. As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their U.S. permanent residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.
Ability to work in an "AI first" environment using modern AI tools to accelerate discovery through hardware development.
Familiarity with designing and building AI agents/copilots that assist with experiment setup, log triage, measurement report generation, protocol templating, and knowledge retrieval (e.g. instrument manuals, design docs).

Nice To Haves

2+ years of experience in Python and C/C++.
2+ years of experience in software design fundamentals: concurrency, profiling, API design, testing.
2+ years of experience in interfacing software with real hardware (instruments, drivers, DAQ) and debugging across HW/SW boundaries.
Familiarity with instrument control frameworks (e.g., PyVISA) and vendor SDKs/APIs.
Embedded software (baremetal or RTOS), ARM/STM32 toolchains, DMA/interrupts, deterministic timing.
Comfortable on Windows and Linux; confident with VS Code, CMake, Git/GitHub, Azure DevOps.
Signal processing/control familiarity (DDS pipelines, calibration loops, filters) and numerical Python (NumPy/SciPy).
Networking & protocols for control/data (e.g., gRPC/REST, SCPI/LXI, PTP/NTP).
Partnering with FPGA/firmware teams (register maps, sequencing) and HIL test automation.

Responsibilities

Collaborate closely with hardware and measurement engineers in the lab. Spend time in the lab on requirements gathering, co-development activities, deploying and testing solutions, and acquiring user feedback.
Hardening control system software and drivers. Design, implement, and improve software, tooling, APIs, and drivers for 1st party qubit control instrumentation, with reliability, determinism, and great developer ergonomics.
Integrating control & readout across teams. Partner with Quantum Physicists, Digital/Hardware & Electrical Engineers, and Quantum Engineers to stitch together control, readout, and data paths into cohesive, tested workflows.
Building tooling for experimentation & measurement. Create CLI/GUI tools and libraries that speed up calibration, waveform/sequence generation, and qubit measurement protocols; invest in simulation/mocks and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests for repeatability.
Own software quality end to end. Write design docs; land well reviewed code; add unit/integration/HIL tests and telemetry; track work items through CI/CD to release.
Evolve the developer experience. Improve build, packaging, CI/CD, and reproducibility across Windows/Linux; help set and raise engineering standards for the lab.
Apply AI to accelerate engineering and lab workflows. Design and build AI agents/copilots that assist with experiment setup, log triage, measurement report generation, protocol templating, and knowledge retrieval (e.g., instrument manuals, design docs).
Improve developer velocity with GitHub Copilot/Copilot Chat for code generation, pull request (PR) summaries, and review aids, aligned with our internal usage guidance.
Evaluate agentic solutions with measurable metrics and human in the loop safeguards following Microsoft Responsible AI requirements for generative AI.
Embody our Culture and Values