---
title: 'Senior Software Engineer - Control Systems at Atom Computing'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-control-systems-atom-computing-boulder-co-or-austin-j5pcgwjdx0hs'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Senior Software Engineer - Control Systems at Atom Computing

- **Company:** Atom Computing
- **Location:** Boulder CO OR Austin, TX
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-05-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/atomcomputing/34f2f0d8-c8ea-4795-bd0b-143abd13b747

## 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.

Atom Computing is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help design and build the high-performance control systems that drive our next-generation quantum computing platforms. In this role, you’ll work across embedded software, real-time systems, GPU/FPGA acceleration, and hardware orchestration to deliver deterministic, high-throughput control pipelines. Your work will directly shape how our quantum processors operate, scale, and perform.

This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who loves deep systems work, understands hardware/software co-design, and thrives at the intersection of physics, architecture, and performance engineering. Due to the need for collaboration with Atom’s theory, software and hardware teams, this role is required to be in the office in Boulder or Austin at least 3 days per week.

Job Responsibilities:

- Build and test embedded firmware and software powering high-speed software defined radios (SDRs), imaging pipelines, precision scientific instrumentation, and real-time digital feedback loops.
- Design and optimize deterministic, low-latency software for quantum hardware — including device drivers, Linux kernel modules, and custom subsystems.
- Evaluate and architect real-time execution strategies across Linux and RTOS environments; drive design decisions around determinism, throughput, and system scalability.
- Develop orchestration layers coordinating GPUs, FPGAs, and custom electronics for high-bandwidth, tightly synchronized quantum control operations.
- Rapidly prototype and iterate using Rust, Python, C/C++, CUDA, and FPGA toolchains (VHDL/Verilog).
- Collaborate with quantum theorists, hardware engineers, and platform software teams to translate quantum control flows into fast, reliable, production-ready code.

## Experience & Education

- BS, MS, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
- At least 5 years of relevant postgraduate professional experience. Experienced candidates welcome.

## Qualifications

- Proficiency in software development using C++, Python, Rust, or Go.
- Experience with NVIDIA CUDA or FPGA design in VHDL or Verilog is an asset, but not required.
- Knowledge in one or more of the following areas: computer architecture, signal processing, algorithm development, quantum error correction, distributed systems, or compilers, with a willingness to learn across disciplines as needed

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 $150,000 - $175,000, 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
- [Principal Manufacturing Quality Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-manufacturing-quality-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-fp8wgksgjxmv) — 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