---
title: 'Principal Manufacturing Quality Engineer at Atom Computing'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-manufacturing-quality-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-fp8wgksgjxmv'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Principal Manufacturing Quality Engineer at Atom Computing

- **Company:** Atom Computing
- **Location:** Boulder, CO
- **Compensation:** $170k–$200k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/atomcomputing/b2ba1b98-a881-4724-9205-dd7f02c029ac

## Job description

At Atom Computing, we build quantum computers using arrays of optically trapped neutral atoms that will empower customers to achieve unprecedented computational breakthroughs. Join a world-class team of scientists, engineers, and business professionals to advance the state-of-the-art in quantum computing. We are seeking a Principal Manufacturing Quality Engineer to establish the processes, tooling, and quality controls needed for repeatable neutral-atom quantum-computer builds. This role leads design for manufacturability, assembly, test, and serviceability (DfX), while subsystem and system integration teams own build execution. Build the manufacturing engineering and quality team for Atom's new manufacturing organization. You'll help shape designs, processes, and tooling from the start, with the opportunity to see your improvements make quantum hardware easier to assemble, align, test, and service.

## Responsibilities

- Lead manufacturing and process engineering, quality, reliability, and machining support; set priorities based on build readiness, technical risks, and recurring production issues.
- Drive DfX reviews of optical, electronic, and vacuum/mechanical hardware to improve assembly, alignment, inspection, and service access.
- Develop and qualify controlled optical cleaning, bonding, precision assembly, and electronic build/test methods with Engineering and the production teams.
- Design and qualify assembly, alignment, bonding, and inspection fixtures; direct machining and tooling support for approved manufacturing needs.
- Capture first-of-a-kind learning in work instructions and training, with controlled revisions and qualification of affected personnel before new methods enter production.
- Collaborate with Manufacturing Quality team to establish inspection, calibration, nonconformance, corrective-action, and release
- Lead root-cause analysis of assembly defects, alignment rework, and test failures; use the findings to improve processes and maintainability.
- Demonstrate shorter build cycles through simpler assembly, better fixtures, and reduced rework; monitor process readiness, first-pass results, and corrective-action effectiveness.

## Experience & Education

- BS in manufacturing, mechanical, optical, or electrical engineering, physics, or a related field, or equivalent relevant technical experience; advanced degree preferred.
- 10+ years in manufacturing or process engineering for precision optical, electromechanical, or scientific equipment, including 3+ years managing technical teams.
- Demonstrated experience taking engineering prototypes into repeat production through process qualification, fixture development, DfX, and controlled documentation.
- Experience overseeing quality and corrective-action activities; quantum-hardware, photonics, or atomic-instrument manufacturing experience preferred.

## Qualifications

- Strong DfX judgment for precision optomechanical and electronic hardware, including tolerances, alignment sensitivity, contamination control, and service access.
- Working knowledge of optical bonding and alignment, vacuum/mechanical assembly, and electronic production methods.
- Experience qualifying manufacturing processes, fixtures, measurement methods, and operators for repeatable technical production.
- Knowledge of first-article inspection, calibration, nonconformance control, root-cause analysis, and effective corrective action.
- Ability to influence design decisions using build data and lead technical teams while keeping process ownership distinct from production execution.

Atom Computing provides a wide variety of perks and benefits, including fully paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for our employees and their dependents. Additionally, unlimited paid time off, 401K company matching, short- and long-term disability, FSA, dependent care benefits, and life insurance.  We also offer drinks, snacks, and catered team lunches in our offices, every day! The base salary range for this position is between $170,000 - $200,000, commensurate with experience. In addition to salary, we offer an annual bonus and equity in the company.

## About Atom Computing

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Atom Computing builds large-scale, gate-based quantum computers using arrays of optically-trapped neutral atoms to help companies and researchers achieve unprecedented computational breakthroughs.
- **Entity Type**: Private (funded; $60M Series B closed January 2022, ~$191.2M total funding across 12 rounds)
- **Headquarters**: Berkeley, California, United States
- **Founded**: January 2018
- **Founders**: Ben Bloom (Founder & CTO), Jonathan King (Co-Founder & Chief Scientist); Rob Hays serves as CEO & President

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Quantum computing / quantum hardware and software
- **Target customers**: B2B; enterprise researchers, commercial quantum algorithm developers, national labs, and scientific institutions seeking on-premises quantum systems
- **Mission or purpose**: Building large-scale quantum computers to enable breakthrough discoveries and tackle increasingly challenging applications, with a clear path to fault tolerance.

## Products & Services
- **[AC1000 — Quantum Computing Platform]**: A universal, gate-based quantum computer commercially available for on-premises deployment. Features 1,200+ physical qubits, all-to-all qubit connectivity, better-than-threshold fidelities, mid-circuit measurement with qubit reuse/reset, and real-time conditional branching — designed to support building logical qubits.
- **[Partner Program]**: Early-access collaboration program for software and application development partners to explore quantum algorithms, provide feedback, and work alongside Atom Computing's technical team on real-world applications.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of ~$191.2M across 12 rounds (as of 2026); latest reported annual revenue ~$5.3M
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Third Point Ventures (led Series B), Innovation Endeavors, Prelude Ventures, National Science Foundation (grants)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew ~63.6% YoY to 98 employees (2026), with +2.4% monthly growth
  - 31 active job postings; job postings up +520% year-over-year and +93.8% quarter-over-quarter
  - Expanded to offices in Berkeley, Boulder, and Austin; workforce distributed across United States and Denmark
  - 24 scholarly works with ~9,800+ citations; field-weighted citation impact of 3.7; 67% open access
  - Published industry-leading coherence times (>40s) on nuclear spin qubits in Nature Communications

## Competitive Advantages
- **Massive scalability**: Neutral-atom qubits are held microns apart by focused lasers, have no electrical charge, and can be tightly packed into arrays scaling to thousands or millions of qubits without a substantial increase in system footprint
- **Long coherence**: Use of alkaline-earth metal atoms with closed outer electron shells delivers industry-leading coherence times and insensitivity to environmental noise
- **Reduced complexity**: All qubit control is mediated by light through free space rather than individual electrical cables per qubit — a simpler path to scale
- **High fidelity**: Neutral atoms are intrinsically identical and present no fundamental physics obstacles to reaching fault-tolerant thresholds
- **Advanced technical capabilities**: First-mover positioning with mid-circuit measurement, qubit reuse/reset, and real-time conditional branching on a 1,200+ qubit commercial system

## Strategic Focus
- Advancing toward fault-tolerant quantum computing and logical qubits
- Scaling neutral-atom arrays to thousands and millions of qubits
- Expanding commercial deployment of the AC1000 platform with enterprise and research partners
- Growing the partner ecosystem for software and application development
- Scaling the engineering and technical team (significant increase in software, quantum engineering, and opto-mechanical postings)

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as collaborative and curiosity-driven — "explore the unconventional, experiment, and let curiosity be your guide"; team includes scientists, hardware/software engineers, and business professionals
- **Work environment**: Flexible working arrangements, catered in-office lunches, team gatherings, and a "come as you are" atmosphere
- **Benefits**: Comprehensive healthcare, life insurance, 401k matching, and unlimited paid time off
- **Locations**: Offices in attractive tech hubs — Berkeley, CA; Boulder, CO; and Austin, TX
- **Engineering culture**: Deep technical ownership across quantum engineering, control systems, and software; talent recruited from Rigetti Computing, Quantinuum, National Instruments, NIST, and top universities (Stanford, University of Colorado Boulder); alumni exit to Google, AWS, and U.C. Berkeley

## Sources
1. [atom-computing.com — Careers](https://atom-computing.com/careers/)
2. [atom-computing.com — About Us](https://atom-computing.com/about-us/)
3. [atom-computing.com — Quantum Computing Technology](https://atom-computing.com/quantum-computing-technology/)
4. [linkedin.com — Atom Computing Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/atom-computing)
5. [cbinsights.com — Atom Computing Profile](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/atom-computing)

## Other roles at Atom Computing

- [Lead Quality Control Inspector](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-quality-control-inspector-atom-computing-boulder-97sce3j3qf5z) — Boulder, CO
- [Principal Subsystem Build & Test Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-subsystem-build-test-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-pjz5ddc8dxx2) — Boulder, CO
- [Principal AI Developer Experience Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-ai-developer-experience-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-j86866kcam10) — Boulder, CO
- [Planning and Configuration Control Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/planning-and-configuration-control-manager-atom-computing-boulder-eyev6kxnctkd) — Boulder, CO
- [Optical Bonding Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/optical-bonding-technician-atom-computing-boulder-rbheeg4wqsp4) — Boulder, CO
- [Senior System Integration & Test Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-system-integration-test-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-rs2ph639cms5) — Boulder, CO
- [Research Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/research-intern-atom-computing-berkeley-w0sh0bzkxq0x) — Berkeley, CA
- [Head of Photonics](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-photonics-atom-computing-boulder-msqcx64za7bz) — Boulder, CO
- [Senior IT Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-it-systems-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-tfdxpcqyp0z8) — Boulder, CO
- [Principal ASIC Verification Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-asic-verification-engineer-atom-computing-austin-sntb3tvg02vj) — Austin, TX