The job, in the employer's words
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 including Amazon Web Services, and AstraZeneca 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.
We are looking for a technical, detail-oriented Product Manager to own the product backlog for IonQ's developer tools and compiler. This includes our SDK, compilation and optimization toolchain, simulators, and integrations with popular quantum frameworks. You'll be part of IonQ's Compute Product Management team. You'll embed with the engineering teams that build these tools and help turn strategy into clear, prioritized, buildable work.
In this role, you'll be the day-to-day product partner for engineering. You'll translate developer and customer needs into well-defined requirements, set and defend priorities, write acceptance criteria that make "done" clear, and make sure what ships solves real user problems. You'll work closely with Engineering, Developer Experience, Applications Research, and Customer Success to shape how researchers and developers build on IonQ hardware.
You don't need a background in quantum computing. You DO need a strong technical foundation, real empathy for developers, and the discipline to turn ambiguous problems into precise, testable requirements. This role suits someone who is curious, comfortable in fast-moving technical discussions, and motivated by seeing their work show up in the tools developers use every day.
If you're passionate about developer tools and excited to help shape how the world programs quantum computers, we'd love to hear from you.
Responsibilities:
- Prioritize the Backlog: Own and maintain a prioritized backlog of features, improvements and bug fixes. Weigh user impact, business value, technical effort and dependencies. Make clear tradeoff calls and explain the reasoning to engineering and stakeholders.
- Define Requirements & Acceptance Criteria: Turn user needs, customer feedback and roadmap goals into clear product requirements and user stories with actionable, defined goals. Work with engineering and QA to confirm what ships meets those goals.
- Understand the Technology: Learn IonQ's compiler, gate sets, simulation and SDK architecture well enough to take part in technical tradeoff discussions. Know where compiler performance, circuit fidelity and developer usability pull against each other.
- Partner with Engineering: Embed with the developer tools and compiler engineering teams as their primary product counterpart. Join sprint planning, backlog grooming, design reviews and standups. Be available to answer product questions quickly so the team keeps moving.
- Ship and Iterate: Shepherd features from definition through release. Coordinate release notes, documentation and enablement with Developer Experience. Measure adoption and quality after launch, and feed what you learn back into the backlog.
You'd be a good fit with:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent real-world experience
- 3–5 years of product management experience, preferably on developer tools, SDKs, APIs, compilers or technical platform products
- A proven track record of writing clear product requirements, user stories and acceptance criteria that engineering teams can build and test against
- Experience working day to day in agile engineering teams: running backlog grooming, taking part in sprint planning, and making real-time prioritization calls
- Enough technical skill to read code, use an SDK yourself, and hold your own in architecture and API design discussions
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders
You'd be a great fit with:
- Hands-on experience with Python and scientific or numerical computing libraries
- Familiarity with compilers, intermediate representations, or optimization toolchains (e.g., LLVM, MLIR, or domain-specific compilers)
- Exposure to quantum computing frameworks such as Qiskit, Cirq, or PennyLane, or a background in quantum information science
- Experience with open-source developer communities, including GitHub-based issue triage and community feedback loops
- Experience defining benchmarks or performance and correctness criteria for technical products
- Familiarity with HPC, cloud computing, or scientific research computing environments
Location: Bothell, WA (or able to commute to it at least twice a week)
Travel: 10% (likely 2–4 times a year for team on-sites and partner visits)
If this role has a commission structure, the compensation range below just reflects the base compensation range.
Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications, and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location, and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Our benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401(k), unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment.
At IonQ, we believe in fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all while striving to identify and eliminate barriers. We empower employees to thrive by fostering a culture of autonomy, productivity, and respect. We are dedicated to creating an environment where individuals can feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.
We are committed to equity and justice. We welcome different voices and viewpoints and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.
US Technical Jobs. The position you are applying for will require access to technology that is subject to U.S. export control and government contract restrictions. Employment with IonQ is contingent on either verifying “U.S. Person” (e.g., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum) status for export controls and government contracts work, obtaining any necessary license, and/or confirming the availability of a license exception under U.S. export controls. Please note that in the absence of confirming you are a U.S. Person for export control and government contracts work purposes, IonQ may choose not to apply for a license or decline to use a license exception (if available) for you to access export-controlled technology that may require authorization, and similarly, you may not qualify for government contracts work that requires U.S. Persons, and IonQ may decline to proceed with your application on those bases alone. Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.
US Non-Technical Jobs. Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Accordingly, we will have some additional questions regarding your immigration status that will be used for export control and compliance purposes, and the answers will be reviewed by compliance personnel to ensure compliance with federal law.
If you are interested in being a part of our team and mission, we encourage you to apply!
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