Senior Software Engineering Manager

About Rigetti

Rigetti is a pioneer in superconducting qubits and full stack quantum computing systems. We build the world’s most powerful computers to solve the world’s most challenging problems, leading the way in software systems for quantum computing with a distributed operating environment for hybrid quantum‑classical computing and a state‑of‑the‑art streaming characterization and measurement development and execution platform.

Position Overview

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineering Manager to lead the team responsible for software systems that enable the creation, delivery, and maintenance of Rigetti’s quantum computers, including device design, chip fabrication workflows, physics‑informed data analysis, quantum gate‑design, and quantum mitigation and error‑correction technologies. The role is a hands‑on leadership position at the intersection of state‑of‑the‑art software engineering, hardware, and scientific computing.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Organizational Development

• Lead and mentor a cross‑functional software engineering team spanning scientific tooling, analytics infrastructure, and fabrication‑support systems.
• Create stronger operational rigor around prioritization, execution, accountability, and project delivery.
• Provide coaching, growth support, feedback, and career development for engineers across varying levels of seniority.
• Help establish healthy engineering culture, team norms, and stronger collaboration practices.
• Serve as a day‑to‑day thought partner to the VP of Software Engineering while helping create additional leadership bandwidth across the organization.
• Participate in hiring and team scaling efforts as the organization grows.

Technical & Engineering Leadership

• Partner closely with engineers to drive execution across scientific computing, fabrication tooling, analytics systems, and workflow automation.
• Support development of internal tooling and data systems that connect design, fabrication, and device performance workflows.
• Help modernize and operationalize internal tooling that has historically evolved organically through research and prototyping efforts.
• Drive better long‑term ownership, maintainability, and lifecycle planning for internally developed systems and infrastructure.
• Help evolve engineering infrastructure and validation frameworks that improve scalability, reproducibility, and operational reliability across hardware development environments.
• Support technical decision‑making, architecture discussions, and engineering prioritization while remaining hands‑on enough to engage credibly with the team.
• Contribute technically when appropriate, particularly around debugging, architecture reviews, infrastructure improvements, or smaller engineering initiatives.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with quantum engineers, physicists, fabrication engineers, and hardware teams to understand operational pain points and evolving workflow requirements.
• Help balance competing stakeholder requests while improving prioritization discipline and long‑term planning.
• Partner with fabrication teams as Rigetti continues evolving manufacturing and foundry operations across Berkeley and Fremont.
• Support systems that connect experimental data, fabrication workflows, characterization tooling, and engineering analytics into scalable internal platforms.

Operational & Strategic Impact

• Help transition the team from highly reactive support work toward more proactive engineering planning and scalable systems development.
• Improve processes around technical debt management, prototype ownership, platform sustainability, and operational support models.
• Create better visibility into engineering priorities, roadmap tradeoffs, and team capacity.
• Support ongoing evolution of Rigetti’s scientific and engineering software ecosystem as the company scales hardware development efforts.
• Oversee the development and architecture of data platforms and modeling tools that combine design files, fabrication process data, and device performance metrics.
• Empower the development and support for tools for design rule checking (DRC), layout‑vs‑schematic (LVS) checks, and process‑aware design verification for quantum devices.

Qualifications

• BS or equivalent degree in Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or related field; MS or PhD a plus.
• 7+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years in a people leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience building data systems, ideally in scientific computing or physics‑informed models.
• Experience with software systems managing large datasets, metadata, and scalable data pipelines.
• Experience with streaming architectures and tools (e.g., Kafka, Kinesis, Spark Streaming).
• Proficiency in Python; familiarity with JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Proficiency with AWS for development and production deployment and distributed computing.
• People leadership ability, including coaching, performance management, and building team culture.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to represent the team’s capacity and push back constructively on internal customer requests.
• Hands‑on technical ability; capable of making code contributions on an as‑needed basis.

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of quantum device physics such as superconducting qubits, trapped ions, photonics, or quantum information science.
• Knowledge of quantum control systems and low‑level hardware/software interfaces, including cryogenic hardware, RF electronics, and qubit calibration.
• Familiarity with fabrication processes in semiconductor, quantum, or other hardware/lab‑based environments.
• Familiarity with EDA tools, process design kits (PDKs), and chip layout software such as KLayout or Cadence.
• Experience with scientific computing platforms, simulation tools, and scientific computing libraries/tools such as NumPy, SciPy, PyTorch.
• Experience applying machine learning to scientific, operational, or hardware systems for prediction, optimization, or anomaly detection.
• Experience with compiled languages such as Go or Rust.

Compensation & Benefits

$220,000 - $250,000 per year, depending on experience and location. Rigetti offers competitive salaries, equity, medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan, paid parental leave, rejuvenation days, and a vacation policy aligned with local regulations and industry standards.

Diversity & Inclusion

Rigetti values diversity and is committed to building an inclusive culture. Applications from women, minorities, and other under‑represented groups are encouraged.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Rigetti is an equal‑opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We comply with all applicable anti‑discrimination laws.