Staff Software Developer

D-Wave

11d • $167,000 - $230,000 • Onsite

About The Position

D-Wave is seeking a Staff Software Developer to join our Processor Software team. This team develops and maintains software that supports our internal Processor Development (PD), Hardware Engineering (HWE), and Lab Operations (LabOps) teams. The role focuses on developing core software and infrastructure that interacts directly with quantum processors in production and laboratory environments. The ideal candidate will have deep software engineering expertise combined with a strong understanding of physics, engineering, or hardware-integrated systems. This role involves partnering closely with scientists, engineers, and software developers to define technical direction, design scalable software solutions, and solve complex technical challenges essential for the development and operation of quantum computing systems. As a senior technical leader, this individual will drive architectural decisions, mentor other developers, and influence engineering best practices across the team.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or a related discipline with demonstrated experience working on hardware-integrated systems.
• 7+ years of relevant software development experience designing and delivering complex software systems
• Expertise developing high-performance software using compiled programming languages and multithreaded environments
• Strong understanding of software architecture, algorithms, concurrency, and performance optimization techniques
• Experience designing, implementing, and optimizing software interfaces to hardware systems
• Experience developing reliable, maintainable software for complex engineering or scientific applications
• Experience with Git workflows including branching, merging, and pull requests
• Experience working in Linux environments
• Demonstrated experience leading technical initiatives and mentoring software developers
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills
• Ability to influence technical direction while working effectively across interdisciplinary teams
• Self-motivated, adaptable, and passionate about solving complex technical challenges and learning new technologies
• Candidates must be willing and able to work from our office in Burnaby, Canada, for six weeks during the onboarding process
• Travel to the Burnaby, Canada, office is required a minimum of two weeks per year, as the software organization convenes for in-person discussions, collaboration, and our yearly hackathon
• This position may include access to controlled information or technology under U.S. export control laws. Employment may be contingent on either the applicant verifying falling under the "U.S. Person" definition (including U.S. citizens, U.S. lawful permanent residents, and those granted U.S. asylum or refugee status) or the employer timely obtaining any necessary export license under federal laws.
• This position requires the ability to pass a Tier 2 background investigation.
• This position also requires an active U.S. government security clearance or the ability to qualify for a U.S. government security clearance (U.S. citizenship required).

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Common Lisp (SBCL) or similar functional languages such as Scheme, Clojure, or Scala
• Experience with Emacs, Docker, Jenkins, Kubernetes, SQL, MongoDB, InfluxDB, Grafana, or Redis
• Experience developing software for hardware control systems, scientific computing, or distributed infrastructure
• Familiarity with quantum computing, embedded systems, or high-performance computing environments
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools (e.g., code generation, code review, testing, or documentation) and building AI-powered solutions to improve engineering productivity or automate workflows

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical design and development of software throughout the full software lifecycle, including requirements definition, architecture, implementation, testing, validation, deployment, maintenance, and decommissioning
• Design, develop, and maintain software supporting quantum processor calibration, hardware interfaces, operational infrastructure, system testing, and monitoring
• Drive software architecture and technical direction, ensuring scalable, maintainable, and high-performance solutions across the processor software ecosystem
• Analyze, optimize, and improve existing software for performance, reliability, scalability, and maintainability
• Partner with scientists, engineers, and cross-functional stakeholders to deliver solutions for complex initiatives spanning multiple teams
• Lead technical investigations, solve challenging engineering problems, and provide guidance on software design, implementation, and performance optimization
• Mentor and coach developers through technical leadership, architecture reviews, code reviews, and knowledge sharing to strengthen engineering capability across the team
• Champion software engineering best practices, continuous improvement, and technical excellence while fostering collaboration across interdisciplinary teams
• Participate in an on-call rotation supporting ensuring the availability and performance of our QPU solvers on the Leap cloud platform

Benefits

• medical coverage
• dental coverage
• vision coverage
• disability insurance
• life insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• paid holidays
• wellness and well-being resources
• paid sick time
• flexible paid time off
• short-term and/or long-term incentive programs

What This Job Offers

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