---
title: 'Senior Scientific Software Engineer — Autoresearch at QuEra Computing, Inc.'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientific-software-engineer-autoresearch-quera-computing-inc-boston-5bn9wgej50y7'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-03'
---

# Senior Scientific Software Engineer — Autoresearch at QuEra Computing, Inc.

- **Company:** QuEra Computing, Inc.
- **Location:** Boston, MA
- **Posted:** 2026-10-25
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-03
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/queracomputinginc/jobs/5463189008

## Job description

Summary

QuEra Computing is hiring a Senior Scientific Software Engineer to build systems that automate theoretical and computational research in quantum computing.

You will develop a reusable autoresearch platform that generates hypotheses, implements and evaluates candidates, and uses accumulated evidence to guide further exploration. Initial applications include automated performance improvement across our software repositories, quantum-error-correction code discovery with QEC theorists, and architecture search with compiler researchers.

This is a hands-on engineering role with substantial technical ownership. You will combine classical search and optimization with AI agents, and develop methods that progressively improve the research process itself.

## Responsibilities

- Design and build the autoresearch platform, including programmable search strategies, agent and tool integration, and reliable execution of long-running experiments.
- Develop and evaluate search and optimization methods for generating, selecting, refining, and combining candidates under limited computational budgets.
- Collaborate with theorists and compiler researchers to translate research questions into search spaces, constraints, objectives, and executable evaluation procedures.
- Establish reproducible evidence of progress through correctness checks, strong baselines, noise-aware measurement, and independent validation; deliver useful discoveries and software improvements.

## Qualifications

- Strong software engineering skills and a record of independently delivering substantial research or developer tools, with proficiency in Rust or a comparable systems language and scientific programming in Python.
- Deep practical experience in search and optimization, particularly combinatorial optimization, evolutionary algorithms, meta-heuristics, or automated algorithm design.
- Hands-on experience building automated discovery or optimization systems that iteratively generate candidates, execute experiments, and learn from feedback.
- Strong experimental judgment: choosing meaningful objectives, allocating evaluation budgets, diagnosing failures, and distinguishing genuine improvements from noise or evaluation artifacts.
- Ability to work with researchers across disciplines and turn mathematical ideas into reliable computational tools.

## Preferred Qualifications

- LLM-guided search, automated algorithm design, program synthesis, or autonomous research systems.
- Evolutionary computation, quality-diversity methods, tree search, hyper-heuristics, or adaptive selection of search operators.
- Bayesian optimization, bandit methods, experimental design, or other approaches to allocating expensive evaluation budgets.
- Performance engineering and automated software tuning, including profiling, benchmarking, and statistical treatment of measurement noise.
- Infrastructure for parallel experiments, isolated execution, checkpointing, and reproducible tracking of candidates and results.
- Compiler optimization, scheduling, routing, or hardware–software architecture search.
- Computational algebra, constraint solving, theorem proving, or formal verification.
- Quantum computing, quantum error correction, fault-tolerant architectures, or quantum simulation.
- Systems that improve their own search strategies, tools, or experimental workflows and reuse findings across tasks.

We value depth in relevant areas; experience across every topic is not expected.

We welcome experienced engineers and researchers, including recent PhD graduates with substantial implementation ownership. A PhD is welcome but not required.

The approximate base salary range for this position is $160,400 - $220,400.

We consistently monitor external market data and update base salary ranges accordingly.  We determine base compensation decisions on several factors, including as geographic placement, role-specific knowledge, skills, and/or experience.  In addition to our base salary offerings, we also provide equity grants for all new hires.

QuEra is committed to cultivating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We highly value diversity in our current and future employees and do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

## #LI-NB1

## About QuEra Computing, Inc.

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: QuEra Computing builds and commercializes neutral-atom quantum computers, aiming to deliver fault-tolerant systems for scientific, industrial, and government applications.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B)
- **Headquarters**: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Mikhail Lukin (Chief Scientist, Harvard), Vladan Vuletić (CTO, MIT), and additional Harvard/MIT scientists

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Quantum computing (hardware, software, and cloud services)
- **Target customers**: High-performance computing (HPC) centers, public sector agencies, enterprise innovators, and research institutions – primarily B2B
- **Mission**: *“A world where quantum computing is a trusted tool for solving high-value problems in science, industry, and society.”* [quera.com](https://www.quera.com/about)

## Products & Services
- **Aquila**: A 256-qubit neutral-atom quantum computer that became the first publicly accessible neutral-atom system on Amazon Braket (launched 2023). Used for quantum simulation and research.
- **Gemini**: QuEra’s first commercially available gate-based neutral-atom quantum computer, deployed on-premises (first system delivered to Japan in 2023).
- **Quantum Innovation Platform**: A full-stack offering combining hardware, software, and co-design services to help partners develop quantum solutions for specific industries.
- **Roadmap to Fault Tolerance**: QuEra plans to reach megaquop logical performance with hundreds of logical qubits by 2028, and gigaquop performance with ~1,000 logical qubits shortly after. [quera.com](https://www.quera.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed; raised >$230M in Series B financing (backed by Google, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Valor, and later expanded by NVIDIA’s NVentures). Total known funding: $17M seed (2021) + $230M+ Series B.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding ~$247M+ (private company; revenue not publicly available)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Google, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Valor Equity Partners, NVIDIA (NVentures), and others.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Selected by Japan’s AIST for a ~$40M on-premises neutral-atom computer integrated with the NVIDIA-powered ABCI-Q supercomputer.
  - Chosen for DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) Stages A and B.
  - Demonstrated a logical quantum processor with 48 logical qubits (2024 Physics World Breakthrough).
  - Published first experimental demonstration of magic state distillation for universal logical quantum computing.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Neutral-atom technology**: Scalable to thousands of qubits using optical tweezers, offering a path to fault-tolerant quantum computing that is widely recognized as highly promising.
- **Strong academic roots**: Built on pioneering research from Harvard University and MIT, with founders who are leading physicists in the field.
- **Early ecosystem leadership**: First neutral-atom system on a public cloud (Amazon Braket), first commercially available gate-based neutral-atom system, and active partnerships with major HPC centers and governments.
- **Fault-tolerance roadmap**: Clear technical milestones (megaquop by 2028, gigaquop shortly after) backed by published breakthroughs in error correction and logical qubits.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling toward fault tolerance**: Executing a roadmap to deliver error-corrected logical quantum computers by 2028.
- **Commercial expansion**: Deploying on-premises systems to HPC centers and government labs (e.g., AIST in Japan, DARPA).
- **Ecosystem building**: Co-designing applications with enterprise and public-sector partners, and integrating with classical supercomputing infrastructure (e.g., NVIDIA GPU clusters).
- **International presence**: Establishing QuEra Computing Japan to support the country’s national quantum strategy.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “more science, less fiction” with a focus on real physics, precision engineering, and collaborative learning across disciplines. [quera.com/careers](https://www.quera.com/careers)
- **Benefits**: Company-subsidized medical insurance with Health Reimbursement Account, 100% company-paid dental and vision, 401(k) with dollar-for-dollar match up to 5% (immediate vesting), flexible time off, paid holidays, sick leave, free parking, catered lunch-and-learns, stocked kitchens, and employee events.
- **Work environment**: Based in Boston, MA. The engineering team develops classical control systems that operate neutral-atom quantum computers, moving quantum from lab experiments to production-grade systems.
- **Team**: Leadership includes experienced executives (CEO Andy Ory, CFO Ed Durkin, CCO Yuval Boger) and world-class scientists (CTO Vladan Vuletić, Chief Scientist Mikhail Lukin). The company emphasizes internal cross-disciplinary collaboration and external partnerships.

## Sources
1. [quera.com](https://www.quera.com/) – Official website, roadmap, and product details.
2. [quera.com/careers](https://www.quera.com/careers) – Careers page with benefits and culture.
3. [quera.com/about](https://www.quera.com/about) – Company history, leadership, funding, and milestones.
4. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/quera-computing) – Company overview and financial data.
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quera-computing-inc) – LinkedIn company page.

## Other roles at QuEra Computing, Inc.

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- [Director of Product Marketing](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-product-marketing-quera-computing-inc-boston-e3ncs77zprrw) — Boston, MA
- [Quantum Scientist - Quantum Error Correction Theorist](https://feeny.ai/job/quantum-scientist-quantum-error-correction-theorist-quera-computing-inc-boston-cr44kdvq3fer) — Boston, MA
- [Quantum Scientist - Decoding Theorist](https://feeny.ai/job/quantum-scientist-decoding-theorist-quera-computing-inc-boston-pebz2p96rfyh) — Boston, MA
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- [2026 NES Optics Optics + Photonics Fall Career Fair](https://feeny.ai/job/2026-nes-optics-optics-photonics-fall-career-fair-quera-computing-inc-boston-aatjnz31cg3p) — Boston, MA
- [Senior DevOps Engineers](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-devops-engineers-quera-computing-inc-boston-yew2ep0vxfjm) — Boston, MA