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Breakthrough Energy Ventures Portfolio Company Career Opportunities

Staff Site Reliability Engineer - Platform

IonQ

IonQ

Software Engineering
College Park, MD, USA
USD 141,670-185,482 / year + Equity
Posted on Sep 16, 2025

IonQ is developing the world's most powerful full-stack quantum computer based on trapped-ion technology. We are pushing past the limits of classical physics and current supercomputing technology to unlock a new era of computing. Quantum computing has the potential to impact every area of human society for the better. IonQ’s computers will soon redefine industries like medicine, materials science, finance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptography, and more. IonQ is at the forefront of this technological revolution.

Want to help us build the world's largest and most precise quantum computing platform? We trap atoms in a vacuum chamber and manipulate them with lasers to perform calculations that we intend to scale beyond the reach of today's supercomputers. Unfortunately, the lasers don’t prevent bugs. We’re looking for a Site Reliability Engineer to help increase performance, decrease latency, and ensure that the world’s best quantum computers have the best possible uptime.

Responsibilities:

  • Be the first site reliability engineer at IonQ dedicated to the cloud team! You’ll create, support, and manage infrastructure, instrumentation, and tooling for both our product and the engineering teams. You’ll be key in providing reliable services to our customers, and a force multiplier for our engineers by helping us eliminate toil and scale our systems sustainably.
  • Maintain monitoring and alerting systems deployed on Kubernetes (both self-managed on-prem and in the cloud) and on Linux workstations.


You’d be a good fit with:

  • BS degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
  • 8+ years of professional experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience
  • 5+ years experience in site reliability engineering
  • 3+ years experience with Kubernetes
  • Experience with learning from incidents
  • Experience with virtualized and containerized environments
  • Experience operating and debugging Unix/Linux OS internals (e.g., filesystems, inodes, system calls) and/or networking (e.g., TCP/IP, routing, network topologies and hardware, SDN)
  • Strongly capable in a scripting language of your choice (Shell, Python, etc.)
  • Able to identify processes in need of automation quickly, and automate them
  • Able (and excited) to mentor junior engineers
  • Excellent writer, capable of driving best practices throughout the org


You’d be a great fit with:

  • 10+ years of experience in software development
  • 5+ years of experience with VMware and Terraform
  • Comfort with Google Cloud
  • Experience with scaling databases and applications
  • Experience with deploying bare-metal Kubernetes
  • Experience with incident management and leading incident resolution
  • Experience with incident research and analysis of contributing factors


Location:
This position can work onsite or hybrid from one of our offices (College Park, MD, Bothell, WA) or fully remote in the US.
Travel: Limited, up to 10%
Job ID:
1148

The approximate base salary range for this position is $141,670 - $185,482. The total compensation package includes base, bonus, and equity.

Compensation will vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Beyond base salary, total compensation includes a variable bonus and equity component and a range of benefit options found on our career site at ionq.co/jobs. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment. Our US benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401K, unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, a home internet stipend, and pet insurance!


IonQ's HQ is located in College Park, Maryland, just outside of Washington DC. We are actively building out our recently opened manufacturing and production facility in Bothell, WA (near Seattle). Depending on the position, you may be required to be near one of our offices in College Park, Seattle, Toronto, Canada, and Basel, Switzerland. However, IonQ will expand into additional domestic and international geographies, so don’t let this stop you from applying!

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!