Staff Scientist - Quantum Applications

About IonQ:

IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world’s leading quantum platform and merchant supplier - delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance. Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before.

Location:

This position can work onsite or hybrid from one of our offices or fully remote in the US.

Travel:

10% domestic and international

Job ID:

1489

The Role:

We are looking for a Staff Scientist – Quantum Applications to lead the technical development in utilizing IonQ’s quantum computers to create highly differentiated quantum solutions that will bring value to society. As a Staff Scientist – Quantum Applications, you’ll be part of a cross-functional team whose mission is to lead IonQ on a multi-generational journey to solve the world’s most complex problems using the world’s best quantum computers built at IonQ.

As a technical leader in quantum algorithms, you will help discover the next generation of quantum applications that are poised to deliver results exceeding state-of-the-art classical methods. You will play a key role in developing core IP, computational resource models, long-term roadmaps and end-to-end workflows that have the potential to disrupt the field of computing. You will also work closely with product, engineering, marketing, sales, operations, and external customers/partners to brainstorm new ideas, propose complex, multi-year initiatives and represent IonQ at high-visibility technical conferences.

Responsibilities:

• Develop impactful hybrid quantum applications that accelerate commercial advantage in practice and at scale. Be part of a client-facing team that finds, defines, and solves problems of real-world interest using IonQ trapped-ion quantum computers.
• Develop and integrate first-of-a-kind quantum algorithms into end-to-end workflows for real-world applications in materials science and combinatorial optimization, including, but not limited to, interfacing with leading commercial and scientific tools such as Synopsys QuantumATK, Quantum ESPRESSO, VASP (materials science and semiconductor applications), Synopsys LS-DYNA, HFSS, Fluent, Sentaurus, Gurobi, CPLEX, Pyomo (optimization applications); translate practical use cases into quantum-native formulations, connect classical simulation outputs to quantum models such as Fermi–Hubbard and Heisenberg Hamiltonians, and map quantum-computing results back into domain workflows for actionable use in production-relevant applications.
• Perform hands-on development of fault-tolerant quantum algorithms and collaborate with the Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing (FTQC) team.