Senior DevOps Engineer in Oxford

Quantum is now, and it's built here. 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.

We're growing our DevOps team and are looking for skilled and motivated Senior DevOps Engineers to join us at Oxford Ionics. This is an opportunity to shape the future of our quantum computing infrastructure as we scale our cutting‑edge quantum systems. As part of a newly formed team, you will have a significant impact on how we commission, deploy, and operate quantum systems. You'll work to enhance system commissioning, implement comprehensive observability across distributed systems, and build deployment pipelines that work in both connected and air‑gapped environments. This is an exciting opportunity to work alongside scientists, engineers, and technicians building the world's most advanced quantum computers. See vacuum chambers, cryostats, superconducting magnets, and precision lasers in action at our on‑site laboratories.

What makes this role unique

• Infrastructure for quantum computers – a cutting‑edge domain with unique challenges
• Mix of cloud‑connected and isolated/air‑gapped deployments
• Direct impact on scientific research and commercial quantum computing

What you'll be responsible for

As a Senior DevOps Engineer, you'll collaborate closely with our software, IT, systems, and science teams to build and maintain the infrastructure that powers our quantum computers. Your responsibilities will fall into four main areas:

• Infrastructure & System Commissioning
  • Automate the provisioning and configuration of quantum system infrastructure
  • Implement infrastructure‑as‑code using tools like Terraform, Packer, and configuration management (Ansible)
  • Build and maintain immutable VM images and containerised services
  • Manage deployments to both networked and air‑gapped/isolated environments
• CI/CD & Release Management
  • Maintain and improve GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines running on self‑hosted runners
  • Implement artifact management and versioning strategies (CalVer/SemVer)
  • Enable nightly automated deployments with health checks and automatic rollback
  • Optimise build times and caching for Rust and Python codebases
• Observability & Monitoring
  • Deploy and configure OpenTelemetry collectors across all quantum systems
  • Integrate with centralised observability platform (Grafana stack: Loki, Mimir, Tempo)
  • Maintain local Grafana instances as backup for isolated systems
  • Implement drift detection and configuration compliance monitoring
  • Create dashboards and alerts for system health, quantum hardware metrics, and experiment execution
• Platform Evolution
  • Help design and create a hybrid cloud / on‑premise platform architecture for managing quantum systems
  • Enable the migration of existing workloads to container orchestration
  • Further secure credential management and authentication

You'll take ownership of critical infrastructure components including Artifact Management, self‑hosted GitHub Actions runners, OpenTelemetry collectors, and work closely with IonQ's infrastructure team to leverage shared services and best practices.

Requirements

To be successful, you will need previous DevOps/SRE experience and a background in managing and scaling complex infrastructure environments is essential for success in this role. You will bring technical depth, problem‑solving ability, and the ability to work as part of a team to manage critical systems supporting cutting‑edge research. We are looking for someone with strong expertise in administrating and maintaining Linux‑based systems (Ubuntu preferred). You will also have proven experience with configuration management and infrastructure‑as‑code tools such as Ansible or Terraform, as well as strong programming and scripting ability, ideally in Python and shell scripting. A sound understanding of security principles and best practices is essential, particularly around credential management, observability, and compliance. You should be proactive and detail‑oriented with strong communication skills, as you'll often bridge the gap between software engineering, IT infrastructure, and research teams.

You'll be a great fit with:

• Experience with container technologies (Docker/Podman) and an understanding of orchestration (Kubernetes, Nomad).
• Familiarity with Git workflows and CI/CD systems (GitHub Actions or similar).
• Experience with observability and monitoring systems (e.g. Grafana, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry).
• Understanding of artifact and package management for software deployments.

It would be beneficial if you have additional experience with any of the following:

• Rust build systems, deploying air‑gapped or isolated network environments, immutable infrastructure patterns.
• A background with hardware integration or embedded systems would also be a plus.
• Prior experience in quantum computing is not required – we'll teach you about the unique aspects of quantum infrastructure.

Benefits

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.