Senior Optical Systems Validation Engineer - Optical Circuit Switch (OCS)

PsiQuantum's mission is to build the first useful quantum computers: machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems.

Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries.

Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry, including partners like GlobalFoundries, we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don't feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure.

That approach has since been tested at the highest level of scrutiny the U.S. government applies to emerging technology, and it has held up. In 2025, PsiQuantum closed a $1 billion funding round that valued the company at $7 billion. In 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed a $100 million Letter of Intent under the CHIPS and Science Act, followed by a $125 million agreement with DARPA under Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, PsiQuantum's most valuable U.S. government agreement to date. This year, we also broke ground on our utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, Australia, and continued building out our Chicago site. Victor Peng, our CEO, and co-founder Jeremy O'Brien, now Executive Chairman, lead a team and board that reflects how seriously the world is taking this build, joined this year by Intel's Lip-Bu Tan and Atomico's Niklas Zennström.

PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies, including Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical, to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact.

Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift, and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we now have the funding, the government validation, and the sites under construction to make it real.

Job Summary:

We are seeking a Senior Optical Systems Validation Engineer to lead the validation of optical switching technology in representative data-center communication systems.

Working closely with photonics, hardware, firmware, and systems engineering, you will own the bring-up of optical link and bit-error-rate setups, define validation plans, and quantify performance under customer-relevant operating conditions. Your work will provide the evidence needed for product readiness, design decisions, and customer demonstrations, and help establish the team’s test capabilities, qualification methods, and technical approach to optical link validation.

This is a hands-on technical role for an engineer with relevant experience and a track record of independently building and debugging communication test systems.

Responsibilities:

• Translate customer requirements into optical link validation plans, including test configurations, coverage, operating conditions, acceptance criteria, and appropriate test durations.

• Select, bring up, and automate test setups using BER equipment, optical transceivers, evaluation platforms, and relevant communication endpoints.

• Build representative link configurations based on intended customer architectures, including relevant scale-up and scale-out applications.

• Measure link error performance and remaining optical power margin under steady-state and dynamic operating conditions, comparing reference links with links incorporating our switching subsystems.

• Investigate link failures and performance limitations, distinguish subsystem effects from transceiver, electrical-interface, firmware, and test-setup behavior, and coordinate investigations with the relevant engineering teams.

• Develop repeatable demonstrations and produce clear reports describing measured performance, limitations, and readiness for customer evaluation.

Experience/Qualifications:

• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Physics, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• Relevant experience (5+ years preferred) in high-speed optical communications or interconnect validation, including independent ownership of hardware bring-up and qualification.

• Hands-on experience building and debugging optical link test setups using BER equipment, optical transceivers, and relevant optical or high-speed electrical instrumentation.

• Understanding of optical link budgets, receiver sensitivity, high-speed modulation, receiver synchronization, equalization, and forward error correction.

• Proficiency in Python or a comparable language for instrument control, test automation, and data analysis.

• Ability to translate link requirements into measurable, reproducible tests, critically interpret results, and communicate findings across engineering teams.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience validating optical switching systems or data-center optical interconnects.

• Experience with transient measurements, receiver synchronization, or link recovery testing.

• Experience with Ethernet, InfiniBand, or other relevant high-speed interconnect interfaces.

• Experience building network testbeds and using traffic generators to measure throughput, latency, and packet loss.

• Experience supporting customer evaluations or reproducing integration issues in the laboratory.

PsiQuantum provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. PsiQuantum does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable laws.

Note: PsiQuantum will only reach out to you using an official PsiQuantum email address and will never ask you for bank account information as part of the interview process. Please report any suspicious activity to [email protected].

We are not accepting unsolicited resumes from employment agencies. Base pay is one part of the total compensation package. Full-time roles are eligible for equity and benefits. Our compensation ranges reflect the cost of labor across multiple U.S. geographic markets, and we pay based on defined geographic zones. This position may be filled within one of the following U.S. geographic zones, each with its own salary range.

Actual compensation may vary outside of these ranges and is dependent on various factors including, but not limited to, a candidate's qualifications, relevant education and training, competencies, experience, geographic location, business needs, and internal equity. Your recruiter can share more details about the salary range applicable to your location during the hiring process.

• Zone 1 - Bay Area and NYC

• Zone 2 - Examples include Los Angeles and Washington DC

• Zone 3 - Examples include Austin, Chicago, and Sacramento

• Zone 4 - Examples include Nashville and Phoenix/Tempe and many remote locations

This position includes the following benefits: competitive health coverage for you and your dependents, 401(k) with company match, equity grants, access to financial wellness tools and planning resources, wellness benefits, family support programs, life and disability insurance, paid leave programs, company-designated paid holidays, discretionary time off (DTO), and an end-of-year company shutdown. Some of these benefits have eligibility requirements and may vary based on location, role, or employment status. Many of these benefits are subsidized or fully paid for by the company.

The estimated annual base salary range for this role is:

Zone 1 $167,800—$197,200 USD

Zone 2 $151,100—$177,500 USD

Zone 3 $134,300—$157,800 USD

Zone 4 $117,500—$138,000 USD