Microsoft
Principal Quantum Applications Architect - Cryptography
$143K–$304K
Redmond, WA · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Jun 4, 2026
- Experience
- 3+ years with a doctorate; 7+ years with a master’s degree; 9+ years with a bachelor’s degree, in each case including software industry experience developing commercial software, compilers, or scientific or cybersecurity computing applications; OR equivalent experience.
- Education
- Doctorate, master’s, or bachelor’s degree in a listed or related field; OR equivalent experience.
About the job
Develops quantum algorithms and cryptographic applications for scaled, fault-tolerant quantum computers, including research, modeling, validation, and optimization.
What you'll do
- Develop and refine quantum algorithms for cryptanalysis and simulation; conduct mathematical research and experimentation.
- Design quantum cryptographic schemes and model their cost and practicality on scaled quantum computers.
- Simulate and optimize quantum system architectures for applications, collaborating across teams.
What they ask for
- Doctorate in a listed or related field plus 3+ years of software industry experience, including developing commercial software, compilers, or scientific or cybersecurity computing applications; OR master’s plus 7+ years; OR bachelor’s plus 9+ years; OR equivalent experience.
- Meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements, including the Microsoft Cloud Background Check.
- Provide citizenship or eligible status documentation for export-control access assessment and citizenship verification.
- Ability to leverage AI tools and work in an AI-first environment.
Nice to have
- Experience in high-performance computing, physical-system simulation, cryptology, quantum algorithms, quantum programming languages, or quantum application development.
- Experience with high-performance classical computing methods.
Pay
USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year (base salary); USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year (base salary)
Tools
quantum computers, Azure, high-performance computing, quantum information technology, quantum programming languages
AI focus
Use modern AI tools to accelerate research and discovery and drive innovation and efficiency in an AI-first environment.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative