Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer

At Q-CTRL, Quantum Computing Engineering is a global team of software engineers and infrastructure experts, combining deep technical expertise with a startup mindset to deliver real impact through software innovation. Our work is underpinned by robust standards, and by embracing the three virtues. Our team excels in areas across back-end, front-end, machine learning, and platform engineering.

We transform Q-CTRL's world-leading technological breakthroughs into commercial software products with applications across defense, research, and industry. We work closely with Product, Design, and Research teams to accelerate the path to quantum advantage worldwide.

About the role

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the architectural evolution of Q-CTRL's product portfolio, enabling faster delivery, greater scalability, and enhanced Product team autonomy. This role is critical in realizing the Opal Suite architecture - a scalable and resilient ecosystem for supporting rapid product innovation and expansion. Reporting to the VP of Software Engineering, you will oversee efforts across multiple teams and departments, working closely with their Technical Leads, Research and Engineering Managers.

As a thought leader in system architecture, you will drive technical excellence across teams, guiding the development of a modular, high-performance architecture that supports seamless integrations and empowers Product teams to innovate independently and at speed.

What you'll be doing

• Driving architectural direction as an individual contributor across products with an emphasis on back-end and platform engineering, yet with a mindset that is agnostic of a specific technology stack.
• Influencing technical strategy and OKRs, aligning stakeholders across multiple teams and seniority levels, with a horizon beyond 12 months.
• Setting and driving engineering excellence across the organization, particularly around patterns and abstractions that span products and domains.
• Overseeing (and often owning) large cross-team and cross-department technical solutions, involving technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Mentoring engineers at all levels on technical topics, particularly around system design, acting as a dotted-line leader in some instances, with the assistance of an Engineering Manager.
• Expertly articulating trade-offs in complex design to audiences inclusive of executive and senior leadership.
• Spending around 30% of time coding and 70% of time leading, flexing these percentages depending on company needs.

Ideally you'll have

• 10+ years of software engineering experience as a passionate individual contributor with a focus on software product architecture.
• Experience with DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code tools.
• A keen desire to rapidly learn and upskill in quantum computing technologies is critical.
• High performance computing and/or machine learning experience a bonus.

Critical skills necessary

• Proven track record of leading cross-disciplinary architectural transformations, particularly in cloud-native and microservices environments.
• Expertise in designing and implementing high-performance data storage, APIs, workflow orchestration, event-driven, and distributed systems.
• Exceptional technical documentation and communication skills (architecture diagrams, design documents, technical decisions).
• Strong programming skills in languages like Python, Rust, and Go.

Salary

The targeted base salary range for this position is between $220,000 - $320,000 and will ultimately be determined by specific job-related skills, experience, level, location and other contributing factors. Depending on the position offered, this role may be eligible for annual discretionary bonuses, equity and other forms of compensation outside of the targeted base salary range. For more information on benefits at Q-CTRL, please visit our careers page.

About Q-CTRL

Q-CTRL is the global leader in AI-powered quantum control infrastructure software. We build the tools that make quantum technology useful, solving the hardest challenges in quantum computing and quantum sensing to deliver real-world impact.

Founded in 2017, we operate globally with offices in Sydney, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin, and Oxford. Our teams bring together technical and multi-disciplinary expertise across the product lifecycle, and we're hiring talent to help scale every part of the business. We work quickly to turn cutting-edge science into deployable technology.

In 2024 we raised US$113 million in Series B funding, the largest aggregate investment for a quantum software company. Six months later we delivered the first commercial quantum advantage with Ironstone Opal, our field-validated quantum navigation solution for defense and industry.

At Q-CTRL, we prioritize outcomes over hours. We offer flexibility, equity potential, and competitive benefits that reflect our high-performance culture. If you're ready to help shape the future of quantum, we'd love to hear from you!