---
title: 'Principal Subsystem Build & Test Engineer at Atom Computing'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-subsystem-build-test-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-pjz5ddc8dxx2'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Principal Subsystem Build & Test Engineer at Atom Computing

- **Company:** Atom Computing
- **Location:** Boulder, CO
- **Compensation:** $185k–$210k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-17
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/atomcomputing/e7127c58-b2e0-4606-ad4f-be1d8a163edc

## Job description

We are seeking a Principal Subsystem Build & Test Engineer to lead the build, test, and delivery of optical, vacuum/mechanical, and electronic subsystems for neutral-atom quantum computers. As technical leadership you will be responsible for establishing the practices and procedures necessary to bring a first-of-a-kind development through repeatable production.

You are a role model and educate manufacturing org on best practices for engineers and technicians responsible for building and verifying electro-optical subsystems necessary to productionize our novel quantum computer. As part of Atom's new manufacturing organization, you'll shape the team's capabilities, build methods, and culture from the start, while staying directly involved in the hardware.

## Responsibilities

- Lead the build, integration, and testing of optical, vacuum/mechanical, RF, electronic, and cable assemblies.
- Manage and develop a multidisciplinary team of engineers and technicians.
- Partner with Engineering on first-of-a-kind builds and translate designs into practical assembly and test methods.
- Work with Manufacturing Engineering and Quality to establish repeatable build processes, work instructions, fixtures, and test procedures.
- Provide hands-on technical direction for optical alignment, precision assembly, integration, and troubleshooting.
- Diagnose build and test failures and work with Engineering to identify design, process, material, or workmanship issues.
- Ensure required materials, documentation, qualified personnel, and calibrated equipment are available before builds begin.
- Maintain accurate build, inspection, and test records and release verified subsystems to System Integration & Test (SI&T).
- Track build progress, first-pass acceptance, rework, and cycle time and use repeat-build findings to improve processes and fixtures.
- Oversee approved subsystem measurements and acceptance tests, including optical characterization, electronic checkout, and applicable mechanical or vacuum verification.
- Collaborate with leadership to plan personnel, workspace, fixtures, and shared equipment across parallel build efforts.

## Experience & Education

- BS in Optical, Mechanical, Electrical, or Manufacturing Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent relevant experience. Advanced degree preferred.
- 8+ years of experience building, integrating, testing, or developing precision optical, scientific, or similarly complex hardware.
- 3+ years of experience mentoring engineers and technicians in an integration, manufacturing, or test environment.

## Qualifications

- Extensive hands-on experience assembling, aligning, integrating, and testing precision optical systems.
- Experience working with electronic/RF, vacuum, mechanical, or electromechanical subsystems.
- Experience taking first-of-a-kind hardware through build, test, troubleshooting, and transition into repeatable production.
- Practical knowledge of optical assembly, alignment, cleanliness, bonding coordination, and the measurements used to verify precision optical subsystems.
- Working knowledge of electronic and RF assembly, chassis and cable checkout, and vacuum and mechanical build requirements.
- Strong troubleshooting skills and the ability to distinguish design issues from process, material, equipment, and workmanship problems.
- Experience working with released drawings, work instructions, inspection criteria, test procedures, calibrated equipment, and nonconformance processes.
- Desire to coach engineers and technicians and distinguish process problems from design issues.
- Experience with quantum computing, atomic physics, advanced photonics, aerospace, semiconductor, scientific instrumentation, or similarly complex hardware preferred.
- Capable of lifting and moving objects that weigh up to 25 pounds.

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 $185,000 - $210,000 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

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- [Principal AI Developer Experience Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-ai-developer-experience-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-j86866kcam10) — Boulder, CO
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- [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
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