---
title: 'Senior Systems Engineer at Atom Computing'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-systems-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-c9bq34x14bbp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Senior Systems Engineer at Atom Computing

- **Company:** Atom Computing
- **Location:** Boulder, CO
- **Compensation:** $140k–$160k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-22
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/atomcomputing/3006329c-120d-40c6-8435-3190bee2d5ee

## 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 Senior Systems Engineer to gather, integrate, and track requirements, risks, and timelines for future generations of Atom Computing systems. As Senior System Engineer you will serve as a technical integrator and architect across Atom Computing’s Research and Product Development programs. This individual will lead system definition, model-based engineering (MBSE) and risk management activities that bridge theory and applications, quantum engineering, control systems, optical engineering, software and hardware disciplines. The ideal candidate can translate theoretical and experimental requirements into a coherent system architecture, and has experience applying systems engineering best practices to emerging technologies.

Job Responsibilities

System Definition & Requirements Management

- Lead, and formalise, the existing functional and physical decomposition of current systems to augment the requirements blueprint
- Establish and maintain the requirements baseline, traceability matrices, and verification plans using industry standard tools
- Translate scientific objectives into verifiable system and subsystem performance requirements
- Manage change control processes for evolving architectures and requirements.

Architecture & Design Integration

- Develop and document system architecture, including subsystem interactions
- Produce system-level design documentation and interface control documents (ICDs)
- Coordinate with modeling and simulation teams to evaluate performance trade-offs and scalability of quantum system architectures.

Risk Management & Technical Planning

- Identify, quantify, and track technical risks, opportunities, and mitigations
- Support development of risk registers and FMEA/FMECA for design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, SIR, ORR)
- Contribute to the ongoing development of Atom Computing’s Systems Engineering Management Plan.

Integration, Verification, and Validation (IV&V)

- Develop and coordinate the Verification and Validation (V&V) plans, linking test protocols to system-level requirements (traceability)
- Working with Quantum Engineering & Theory, oversee definition of system-level test protocols
- Participate in system integration reviews and readiness assessments to ensure technical maturity and risk reduction.

Collaboration & Communication

- Act as technical liaison between Theory, Quantum Engineering, Hardware, Software, Controls, and Optical Engineering
- Support customer interactions, including government program reviews, technical interchange meetings, and milestone reporting.

Required Qualifications

- BS or higher in Systems Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering or a related field
- 5+ years of systems engineering experience in complex, multidisciplinary R&D or production environments (quantum, aerospace, defense, advanced computing, or similar)
- Proven ability to lead requirements development, interface control, and V&V planning across engineering and science disciplines
- Experience with model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools and configuration management systems
- Strong understanding of system lifecycle processes
- Demonstrated experience with risk management frameworks
- Experience supporting government-funded research or procurement programs (DoD, DoE, DoC)

## Preferred Qualifications

- Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in engineering, physics, or a related discipline
- Familiarity with quantum computing, atomic, and optical (AMO) physics, or control system integration
- Experience preparing and presenting SRR/PDR/CDR artifacts
- Knowledge of reliability engineering, fault-tolerant architectures, and data-driven verification.

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 $140,000 - $160,000, 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

- [Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/platform-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-6mg7ytrwqkpy) — Boulder, CO
- [Principal Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-platform-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-czdhprdra52z) — Boulder, CO
- [Senior Embedded Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-embedded-platform-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-pweseq20aq5b) — Boulder, CO
- [Senior Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-infrastructure-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-gqhrh0qas3jq) — Boulder, CO
- [General Application](https://feeny.ai/job/general-application-atom-computing-boulder-txp57rz50d1r) — Boulder, CO
- [Optical Engineering Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/optical-engineering-manager-atom-computing-boulder-aytvdrdshkw0) — Boulder, CO
- [Quantum Software Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/quantum-software-manager-atom-computing-berkeley-2111vsvgqg6v) — Berkeley, CA
- [Principal Hardware Engineer: High Speed Mixed Signal Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-hardware-engineer-high-speed-mixed-signal-designer-atom-computing-7yyw5ehqhcaw) — Boulder, CO
- [Optical Physicist](https://feeny.ai/job/optical-physicist-atom-computing-boulder-rw1ypr5601m7) — Boulder, CO
- [Senior ASIC Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-asic-design-engineer-atom-computing-boulder-8xadrawfz8nr) — Boulder, CO