Engineer, Quantum systems IT in Oxford

Oxford Ionics, now part of IonQ, is pioneering the next generation of quantum computing. Using our world-leading trapped-ion technology, we're building the most powerful, accurate and reliable quantum systems to tackle problems that today's supercomputers cannot solve. Joining Oxford Ionics means becoming part of a global IonQ team that is transforming the future of quantum technology - faster, at scale, and with real world impact.

IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world's leading quantum company delivering solutions to solve the world's most complex problems. IonQ's newest generation quantum computers, IonQ Tempo and IonQ Forte Enterprise, are the latest in cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners such as Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve 20x performance results. The company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance in 2025. The company is accelerating its technology roadmap and intends to deliver the world's most powerful quantum computers with 2 million qubits by 2030 to accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. IonQ's advancements in quantum networking position the company as a leader in building the quantum internet.

We are looking for an Engineer, Quantum Systems IT to join our team in Oxford. This role will support the classical infrastructure layer that underpins the build, deployment and operation of our quantum systems, from system heads and lab networks through to operating system provisioning, hardware troubleshooting and scientific device integration.

You will work hands-on across a live R&D and manufacturing environment, supporting urgent infrastructure issues for engineering and science teams while helping to make the environment more documented, repeatable and automated. This is a practical role for someone who enjoys physical systems, mixed operating environments and solving problems where the infrastructure directly affects technical progress.

You will be joining a developing Quantum Systems IT function, working closely with colleagues across systems IT, corporate IT, DevOps, reliability engineering, physics and wider engineering teams. The role is well suited to someone with strong infrastructure fundamentals who wants to apply them in a scientific hardware environment, without needing previous quantum computing experience.

You will support the infrastructure that directly enables quantum hardware builds and operation. This includes keeping current systems running, helping new system builds become ready for use, fixing urgent issues from the team and contributing to better ways of provisioning, configuring and documenting the systems we rely on.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Supporting the build, provisioning and maintenance of classical IT infrastructure for quantum systems, including system heads, physical servers, operating systems and lab connectivity.
• Troubleshooting urgent infrastructure issues for engineering and science teams, helping to diagnose problems across hardware, OS, network and device boundaries.
• Configuring and supporting lab network infrastructure, including managed switches, VLANs, firewalls, cabling and isolated network segments for scientific hardware.
• Helping integrate non-standard hardware into compute environments, including cameras, laser control systems, custom peripherals and other specialist devices.
• Improving repeatability through practical documentation, runbooks, configuration management and automation, using tools such as Ansible, Terraform or equivalent where appropriate.

We are looking for someone with hands-on experience in systems administration, infrastructure engineering or a similar role where physical infrastructure matters. You will need to be comfortable working across Linux, Windows, networks and hardware, and able to balance immediate troubleshooting with the longer-term work of making systems easier to build, maintain and reproduce.

You do not need to come from quantum computing. You do need curiosity about the scientific and engineering environment you are supporting, strong practical troubleshooting skills and the ability to work closely with teams whose work depends on infrastructure being available, correctly configured and well understood.

You would be a great fit with:

• Hands-on experience supporting Linux and Windows systems in a hardware, research, industrial, lab, infrastructure or high-growth technical environment.
• Practical experience with physical servers, hardware procurement or maintenance, virtualisation, storage, networking and mixed operating environments.
• Experience configuring or troubleshooting managed switches, VLANs, firewalls, cabling or segmented networks.
• Familiarity with automation, infrastructure as code or configuration management, such as Ansible, Terraform, scripted configuration or similar approaches.
• Experience creating clear documentation, runbooks or service guides that helped others support, reproduce or maintain technical systems.

Experience working with non-standard hardware, scientific instruments, cameras, specialist controllers or bespoke peripherals would be particularly relevant. This role is based in Oxford on a hybrid basis, with some travel required to support system handoffs and collaboration with wider IonQ teams.

Be part of a team that’s shaping the future of quantum. We offer more than just a role, you’ll join a world class community of scientists, engineers and innovators working to unlock the full potential of quantum computing. We offer a range of benefits, including opportunities to further your career alongside industry leaders, a competitive salary with IonQ stock options, an annual performance bonus, generous annual leave, flexible hybrid working, private medical and dental insurance for you and your family, and much more. Join us and be part of the future of quantum computing. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.