Software Developer - Backend (Intermediate to Senior)

Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

Department: Tools

About Xanadu:
Xanadu’s mission is to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere.

At Xanadu, we are learners, innovators, researchers, collaborators and problem solvers. We are creating something that has never been built before. What we are doing is extremely hard, the classic moon shot. Few people in their life will be able to be a part of something like this, where if we are successful, the technologies we develop will solve some of the world’s most challenging problems, and literally change the world. And that is something to be excited about!

Your role and responsibilities:

As a Software Developer, you will contribute to the platform and infrastructure that powers Xanadu's quantum hardware development. You will work alongside hardware architects, photonic engineers, scientists, and data analysts - building the tools and services that accelerate the design, simulation, fabrication, and operation of our quantum hardware. As a result, you will completely reshape the nature of computation as we know it. You will have the opportunity to:

• Design, build, deploy, and maintain the tooling that is internally used by hardware researchers.
• Design APIs and full-stack web-delivered services for consumption by internal and external stakeholders.
• Manage cloud-backed data infrastructure (AWS) that stores, processes, and serves results to the broader hardware organization.
• Work alongside researchers to translate their research and engineering needs into high-quality software solutions
• Ensure production-quality code by maintaining automated test coverage, CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Docker), and a dynamic code review process.
• Own a significant part of the domain, exploring and advocating for new technologies.
• Perform DevOps tasks, including maintaining build and deployment pipelines, containerized environments, and release strategies across multiple repositories.

Basic qualifications and experience:

• BSc in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Math, or a related field.
• Years of Experience:
  • Intermediate: 3+ years of professional software development experience.
  • Senior: 7+ years of professional software development experience.
• Strong knowledge of modern development languages (Python, Go, or Rust).
• Proficient in PostgreSQL and SQL optimization.
• Familiar with developing and interfacing with API endpoints.
• Experience using Docker, Infrastructure as Code, and deploying to cloud providers like AWS or Google Cloud.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills - ability to work closely with hardware engineers and scientists and translate their needs into software solutions.
• A desire to learn the fundamentals of a new domain (e.g., photonics, chip fabrication, hardware architecture) in order to build effective tooling.

Preferred qualifications and experience:

• Experience with AWS services (S3, DynamoDB, Lambda, ECS, API Gateway).
• Experience with Rust.
• Experience with simulation or EDA tooling for integrated photonics or chip design (e.g., IPKISS, GDSFactory, KLayout).
• Experience with optical or electromagnetic simulation tools (e.g., FDTD, Eigenmode Expansion, Finite Element Methods).
• Experience with scientific/numerical Python libraries (NumPy, SciPy, pandas, xarray).
• Experience with Docker and containerized development environments (Docker Compose, multi-architecture builds).
• Experience managing complex branching and release strategies across interdependent repositories.
• Familiarity with Jupyter notebook-based workflows for engineering teams.

This is for a new position. Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and internal benchmarks. The base salary range is 100,000 - 140,000 CAD for intermediate candidates and 150,000 - 190,000 CAD for senior candidates. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Our values are important. They are fundamental and lay the foundation for culture at Xanadu. Learn more about our values here.

We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. We are committed to building an inclusive, safe, and equitable culture and fostering an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. We are committed to meeting the needs of all individuals and support a barrier-free workplace. Should you require accommodations at any point during the recruitment process please contact Recruiting at recruiting@xanadu.ai.

Please be advised that we may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in the screening and assessment of applicants for this position. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.