Senior Quantum Simulation Engineer

Microsoft • Santa Barbara, CA

11h • $119,800 - $234,700

About The Position

Microsoft’s Quantum Design team is seeking a Senior Quantum Simulation Engineer to model and simulate the dynamics of topological qubit devices and few-qubit arrays. The role develops and refines advanced simulation methods for qubit dynamics and error processes, producing insights that guide qubit designs and operating protocols. The engineer collaborates with system, measurement, and quantum error correction teams in an interdisciplinary environment to advance scalable quantum computing. The position is part of Microsoft Quantum Engineering IC4.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Engineering, or a related field and 6+ years of experience in industry or a research and development environment; or a master’s degree in one of these fields and 4+ years of experience; or a doctorate in one of these fields and 1+ years of experience; or equivalent experience.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.
• Ability to provide proof of citizenship, U.S. permanent residency, or other protected status for export-control eligibility assessment; citizenship will be verified with a valid passport, with other applicable documents accepted for lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees.
• Effective communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to convey complex technical concepts clearly.

Nice To Haves

• Doctorate in Physics, Engineering, or a related field and 3+ years of industry or research and development experience, including postdoctoral research; or a master’s degree and 6+ years; or a bachelor’s degree and 8+ years; or equivalent experience.
• Research experience in the theory of quantum devices or quantum computation.
• Experience modeling open quantum system dynamics and familiarity with numerical methods for simulating qubit devices.
• Background in quantum error correction and qubit error models.
• Proficiency in high-performance computing environments and collaborative software development in Python or Julia.
• Ability to work in an AI-first environment, using modern AI tools to accelerate discovery across hardware and software development.
• Ability to design and build AI agents or copilots for experiment setup, log triage, measurement report generation, protocol templating, and knowledge retrieval from resources such as instrument manuals and design documents.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and refine complex models of quantum devices and qubit operations.
• Develop, test, and validate models, iterating to improve accuracy and performance.
• Compare simulation outcomes with experimental data to assess reliability and guide improvements.
• Build and maintain simulation tools, libraries, and modeling systems that support device development.
• Conduct simulations to explore device behavior and scalability.
• Translate theoretical and simulation results into design decisions and qubit operation strategies.
• Collaborate across teams and communicate clearly.
• Embody Microsoft’s culture and values.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior