Scientific Software Engineer - Developer Experience

Location: Boston, MA, USA

Department: Scientific Software and Compilation

Summary

QuEra is building the software stack for neutral-atom quantum computers, spanning four abstraction levels — logical, physical, atom shuttling, and pulse — each with its own compiler dialect and execution environment. The core language and compiler architecture are still taking shape, and the decisions made now will determine whether the stack is a joy or a burden to program against.

The Role

You'll represent the developer's perspective while language semantics, API surfaces, and compiler architecture are still being decided — before those decisions harden. Your users: application scientists building on our stack, who need tight iteration loops, and the broader quantum research community using Bloqade, our open-source SDK, whose first impressions shape whether QuEra becomes the platform serious developers reach for.

You'll work closely with the compiler team building on Kirin, our shared IR infrastructure (Rust), and across the Python SDK layers built on top of it.

Responsibilities

• Shape foundation decisions: Bring a DX perspective into language design, IR architecture, and API reviews, pushing back when choices would make the stack hard to use.
• Prototype early: Build early error messages, visualizations, and workflow sketches — not to ship, but to stress-test API decisions while they're still changeable.
• Help define the error model: Contribute to a coherent contract for how errors are represented, surfaced, and attributed across compiler passes, from the circuit-level API down.
• Visualization: Contribute to circuit diagrams, error syndrome plots, and result analysis tooling as APIs stabilize.
• Developer workflow: Improve the path from Bloqade program to emulation output to hardware job — CLI, error messages, actionable feedback.
• Standard libraries: Help decide what gets promoted from internal example to first-class primitive, and write the first ones.

Qualifications

• Experience building developer-facing tooling: compiler frontends, LSP servers, linters, SDK APIs, or notebook tooling.
• Comfortable reading and writing both Rust (Kirin, execution layer) and Python (user-facing SDK). No compiler background required, but willing to work in the IR layer.
• Strong opinions on what "good" errors look like, and interest in improving them before they ship.
• Interest in influencing platform or language design, not just building on top of it.
• Comfortable prototyping against unstable APIs and feeding signal back into design.
• Willing to grow into compiler engineering — you'll work closely with an SSA-based compiler stack.

Note on level: We're hiring across levels. More senior candidates drive multi-quarter arcs from problem to design to adoption across teams; more junior candidates focus on well-scoped pieces with more guidance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Visualization experience in technical domains (signal processing, compiler IR, timing diagrams).
• Familiarity with Python packaging and the scientific Python ecosystem.
• Prior open-source work with an external user community.
• Exposure to DSL design or compiler ergonomics.

The approximate base salary range for this position is $102,400 - $166,400.

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.

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