Software Engineer II

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

1d • $100,600 - $199,000

About The Position

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. Microsoft Quantum will change the world of computing and help solve some of humankind’s currently unsolvable problems. For more information about our team, visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum.
We are seeking a highly skilled and committed Software Engineer II to join our team. This role is central to advancing our quantum software roadmap and requires passion in software development, cloud, AI, and quantum computing.
This role is on a team charged with building a scalable commercial quantum computer, the first of its kind on the planet. This involves designing, implementing, and integrating system software that is responsible for the initialization and running of quantum components as part of a coherent engineering stack. The candidate will help in developing and implementing novel algorithms to solve a variety of computationally hard problems. This includes working on novel Quantum Error Correction techniques and dealing with a real time quantum stack. They will also be expected to collaborate with experimentalists and hardware designers on current and future designs. Work assignments will span the breadth of software, firmware and hardware subsystems.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Requirements

• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field AND 1+ years software industry experience, including developing commercial software, compilers, scientific computing applications, or multi-component systems OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field AND 2+ years software industry experience, including developing commercial software, compilers, scientific computing applications, or multi-component systems OR equivalent experience.
• 2+ years programming experience in related programming languages.
• 1+ year(s) experience in a collaborative environment
• 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 leverage AI tools to drive innovation and efficiency (e.g., performance modeling and analysis, research gathering, day to day task automation).
• Ability to work in an “AI-first” environment using modern AI tools to accelerate discovery through hardware development.

Nice To Haves

• Doctorate in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field AND 3+ years software industry experience, including developing commercial software, compilers, scientific computing applications, or multi-component systems OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field AND 5+ years software industry experience, including developing commercial software, compilers, scientific computing applications, or multi-component systems OR equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement Microsoft Quantum software and firmware subsystems for quantum hardware.
• Works with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for a set of features.
• Contributes to the identification of dependencies, and the development of design documents for a product area with little oversight.
• Contributes to efforts to break down larger work items into smaller work items and provides estimation.
• Acts as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) working on-call to monitor system/product feature/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions and gains approval to restore system/product/service for simple problems.
• Remains current in skills by investing time and effort into staying abreast of current developments that will improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of products while also driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale.

What This Job Offers

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