Quantum Architecture Research Software Lead
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: In this role, you will lead the vision and development of the suite of software simulation tools for prototyping, optimizing, and benchmarking Xanadu’s logical architecture. Improvements to the scalability and performance of the architecture can enter anywhere in the stack, requiring a broad understanding of Xanadu’s architecture and its iterations, with a focus on the logical (quantum error-correction) layers. The suite of tools, which augments the existing fault-tolerant software stack, facilitates the design of the architecture under flexible choices of logical circuits, computational units, logical layouts, protocols, codes, decoders, and MBQC channels. It allows for simulating the architecture in the demanding regimes of large system sizes and low error rates under relevant sources of noise. The role will require leveraging existing tooling and kicking off new projects; managing project coordinators, research software developers, and software engineers; and interfacing with researchers across Quantum Architecture and other teams in Xanadu. Basic qualifications and experience: MSc or PhD in Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field. Several years of research or industry experience in related fields, with demonstrated experience developing and using software tools for QEC. Experience with coordinating projects or leading teams. Strong experience with Python and object-oriented programming. Experience with high-performance computing, including writing and running optimized and parallelized code on supercomputers and computing clusters. Experience with software engineering best practices: testing, continuous integration, version control, documentation, and code review. Ability to operate in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple competing priorities and deadlines. Great communication skills, and the ability to clearly express complex technical concepts. Preferred qualifications and experience: PhD, postdoctoral or industry experience in quantum physics or technology. Good awareness of the lay of the land of public QEC tooling. Some experience programming in low-level languages (e.g., C, C++). Familiarity with measurement-based quantum computation and with optical platforms for quantum computation, including the GKP code and continuous-variable formalism.