Quantum Scientist and Error Correction Specialist

Booz Allen Hamilton•Washington, DC

5d•$77,600 - $176,000•Onsite

About The Position

Are you driven by the challenge of pushing quantum technology to its next frontier? Do you thrive at the intersection of deep science, creative engineering, and mission‑focused innovation? If you’re excited to turn groundbreaking theory into practical capability, we have an opportunity that aligns with your passion. As a Quantum Error Correction (QEC) Scientist, you will help shape the architecture of novel quantum computing architectures. You’ll collaborate closely with theoretical and experimental physicists, engineers, and cross‑disciplinary innovators to design the next generation of fault‑tolerant quantum systems. In this role, you will guide the development of QEC concepts and protocols tailored to the selected architecture, optimize resource requirements, and advance the efficiency of error‑corrected quantum operations. Your work will include designing syndrome‑extraction strategies, analyzing logical‑gate fault‑tolerance, developing error mapping approaches, and creating rigorous logical‑level verification and validation methodologies. This is your chance to help turn the promise of quantum computing into real‑world capability, and to be part of a team helping to redefine what’s possible.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in quantum fault-tolerance theory, decoders, and stabilizer formalism
Experience in simulation tools including Python, Julia, QEC frameworks, and tensor-network libraries
Experience with peer-reviewed research in quantum error correction
Ability to collaborate with experimental teams to facilitate physical implementation
Top Secret clearance
Doctorate degree Quantum Information Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Applied Mathematics

Nice To Haves

Experience with noise modeling and designing QEC protocols for hardware-constrained architectures
Experience with qLDPC codes and corresponding decoders
Experience with reconfigurable qubit architectures
Experience with quantum networking, photon-mediated entanglement, and heralding systems
Experience with quantum characterization, verification, and validation (QCVV) techniques
Experience facilitating milestone demonstration events

Responsibilities

Develop and optimize fault-tolerant protocols compatible under realistic architectural constraints.
Analyze and improve qubit connectivity in a reconfigurable architecture and exploit transversal and blockwise operations to improve performance and reduce computational time.
Design logical-gate implementations such as Clifford & non-Clifford and teleportation-based gates in a highly modular architecture.
Compare magic-state preparation methods, magic-state scheduling, and inventory management.
Collaborate with atomic and solid-state physicists to determine implementation constraints and resource optimization pathways.
Map QEC scheduling constraints onto architectural layout, minimizing noisy operations, and reducing QEC’s temporal overhead.
Co-design logical decoder requirements with embedded firmware and control-electronics teams supporting fast, low-latency operations.
Contribute to the logical-level Verification and Validation (V&V) pipeline.
Collaborate with modeling and simulation experts to integrate noise models into QEC protocols and determine fault-tolerance requirements and logical-level performance.
Collaborate with software developers to integrate QEC models and decoders into Booz Allen’s quantum software stack.
Support business development consistent with mission‑aligned efforts.
Mentor junior scientists and coordinate with academic and industry partners.