Job Description
We are looking for a new team member to focus on the embedded software running on our quantum network devices. You’ll be one of the core software engineers, with full responsibility for owning problems and independently devising solutions for your own system components, for owning problems and for independently devising solutions. To us, that means you’ll be designing, implementing, building, testing, and documenting your work, while keeping alignment with the other engineers on the team.
You’ll be a hands-on coder; truly on the hardware, writing firmware to interface with controllers and peripherals (think both low- and high-speed devices, like data acquisition cards). You will be responsible for coming up with proposals to solve the team’s challenges: If the team needs something from the embedded systems, it’ll be your job to figure out what the requirements truly are, design the dataflows, implement the software, and test your solutions. You’ll integrate your sub-systems into the larger system. You’re good at reading and understanding datasheets (they don’t scare you) and supporting documentation to figure out solutions. You’ll have full responsibility and ownership for both extending existing sub-systems and for building whole new key sub-systems.
Tasks will be broad. You’ll be working independently without a narrow focus and tackling different types of problems. You’ll be developing services in a service-oriented architecture on a complex device with numerous embedded micro-services running and controlling various quantum devices. You’ll be interfacing with a myriad of hardware components, FPGAs and beefy x86 servers. You’ll probably need to learn new skills and languages (e.g. Rust. Do you know Rust?). You’ll work most closely with the other embedded software engineers, and interact with the other teams when needed.
You are passionate about advancing quantum and networking technologies and want to contribute to new ground-breaking tech. Familiarity with quantum is not required (we’ll teach you that). You can work independently, are a pro-active, hands-on person, and you can easily adapt to rapidly changing priorities. You need to be self-sufficient, work without relying on a big team and be comfortable with start-up environment. Above all, you’re a team player, and excited to work in a mixed team of hardware engineers, software engineers, and scientists.
Your Profile
You are someone with:
- A masters’ or bachelors’ degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science or a comparable discipline.
- Experience with embedded/firmware design and SoC development (ideally with FPGAs) in a professional R&D environment, ideally including formal processes and product delivery.
- Experience with embedded C, C++, Python (especially for instrument control), embedded Linux, and GIT. Experience with Rust, VHDL, Verilog, Vivado, Petalinux, and Yocto are pluses.
- Experience with ARM architectures and memory mapped peripherals.
- Familiar with development/debugging tools, such as JTAG, GDB, oscilloscope, logic analyzers, etc.
- Experience with ADCs, DACs and high-speed serial protocols (SPI, I2C, UART, etc.)
- A strong desire to develop one’s own code and unit tests.
- A willingness to contribute to software designs and architectures of your components, as well as then implementing them yourself.
- You are a hands-on coder eager to deliver quality code.
- Demonstrated skills in the entire development cycle (ideally at a commercial vendor): Design, implementation, review, unit and functional testing, test-driven development, simulation, version control (git), requirements and defect tracking, and hardware integration.
- Eligible to work in the EU.
We expect that the successful applicant will not satisfy all the above points, but has expertise in key areas and significant knowledge in most areas.
Who is Q*Bird?
Q*Bird is developing the hardware and software to enable quantum connectivity. We invent, design, build, test, and produce systems for the next generation of secure communication: the quantum Internet. Our mission is to build quantum networking systems, support network building and work with industry and academia to accelerate the quantum Internet. Our devices combine developments on many fronts, from optical systems, high-end hardware platforms, robust embedded software, and new networking protocols. As such, our team is composed of experts with many different backgrounds in physics, engineering, software development, academic research, and real industry experience. We’re motivated to solve hard problems and bring quantum to reality. And we’re proud to be working on projects that matter and bring value to our commercial, industry and government partners. Our dreams are ambitious. And our growing team desires talented, curious, motivated teammates to help make quantum networking systems real.
We are a start-up located in Delft, the Netherlands, in the Quantum Delft ecosystem, with close partnerships with QuTech, Quantum Delta Netherlands and other quantum companies.
What Q*Bird offers
- Starting Date: Flexible
- Full-Time Employment
- Monthly remuneration with competitive salaries
- Flexible working hours
- 32 days annual leave and holiday allowance
- Travel and personal care and growth allowance
- Participation Plan
- Company-sponsored social events
- A young, energetic, fun, team of highly skilled physicists, engineers, and industry expects, with an open working culture
- An international team that places a value on equality and diversity, no matter the race, religion, background, gender, or any of the differences that give each of us that unique perspective to strengthen the team
- Plenty of room for new initiatives and new ideas, and a chance to develop yourself at the cutting-edge of technology.
- Opportunity to be part of the quantum revolution in a quantum start-up, and to build the next generation of digital infrastructure. Join us to create the Quantum Future!
How to apply?
To apply for the position or to learn more about the position, contact us at joshua@q-bird.nl