Senior Manager, Resilience Engineering & Operations

IonQ•Bothell, WA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

IonQ is seeking a Senior Manager, Resilience Engineering & Operations to lead their Resilience Engineering and Operations team in Bothell, Washington. This role is responsible for ensuring the reliable operation of IonQ's hosted quantum computers for customers, while simultaneously enhancing resilience, performance, throughput, and operational efficiency across the entire fleet. It is a hands-on technical leadership position, not solely administrative. The manager will lead a team of Operating Physicists, engage with complex trapped ion systems, and make informed decisions to balance uptime, technical risks, and long-term improvements. Collaboration with engineering, physics, and operations partners is key, and the team's insights will influence the support of current and future systems in the field. The role also involves building a follow-the-sun operating model with European colleagues. As the function is still developing, the ideal candidate will be comfortable establishing processes, improving handoffs, and creating clarity in a rapidly evolving environment.

Requirements

Strong technical background in complex experimental, optical, or physics-led systems.
Experience leading teams in operational or engineering environments.
Hands-on technical credibility combined with people leadership skills.
Comfort creating structure in an environment where it does not yet fully exist.
Ability to quickly identify issues and work effectively across disciplines.
Ability to help a team operate with clarity in a fast-moving, highly technical business.
Prior quantum computing experience is not required; focus is on leadership, reliability reasoning, and learning agility.
On-site presence in Bothell is required.
Involves some on-call responsibility to support a live fleet.
A degree in Physics or a related field, or equivalent experience in a similarly deep technical environment (e.g., optics, complex experimental systems).
5+ years of technical leadership and people management experience, including leading physicists, scientists, systems engineers, or similar specialists.
Direct experience in reliability engineering, resilience engineering, incident management, or Learning From Incidents.
Experience with automation, calibration, maintenance, or operations management for complex technical systems, ideally in on-call or service-oriented environments.
Strong communication and judgment skills.
Experience balancing time, cost, quality, and operational risk across functions.
For US Technical Jobs: Employment is contingent on verifying "U.S. Person" 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. Additional questions regarding immigration status will be asked for compliance purposes.
For US Non-Technical Jobs: Candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Additional questions regarding immigration status will be asked for compliance purposes.

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day fleet support, incident response, operational readiness, and continuous improvement for IonQ's hosted quantum systems.
Oversee installation and maintenance of internal systems at the College Park office.
Set direction for the team, support individual growth, and ensure the group can effectively respond to immediate operational issues and long-term reliability challenges.
Work at the intersection of operations, engineering, and physics to help the team resolve complex issues, strengthen fleet performance, and integrate operational learnings into future designs, tooling, and automation.
Establish durable operating processes, metrics, and prioritization habits to ensure the team operates with clear ownership and escalation.
Lead, develop, and grow a team of Operating Physicists responsible for the reliable operation of IonQ's commercial quantum computing fleet.
Own team strategy and execution across fleet operations, incident response, operational readiness, deployment support, and continuous improvement.
Manage priorities, schedules, inventory, sparing, and operational planning to support reliable system performance.
Partner closely with engineers, physicists, senior leaders, vendors, and customers to resolve issues and influence future designs.
Define and track performance metrics for the team, fostering a culture of technical rigor, learning from incidents, and strong operational judgment.