Microsoft
Principal Quantum Engineer - Quantum Systems
$143K–$331K
Redmond, WA · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Sep 22, 2026
- Experience
- Required: 8+ years with a bachelor's degree, 6+ with a master's, or 3+ with a doctorate, in industry or a research and development environment; equivalent experience accepted. Preferred: 12+ years with a bachelor's, 8+ with a master's, or 5+ with a doctorate, or equivalent experience.
- Education
- Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctorate in Physics, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
About the job
Leads engineering development and integration of quantum systems, experiments, equipment, and methods to improve scalable quantum computing performance and reliability.
What you'll do
- Direct experiments or simulations and use results to inform engineering decisions.
- Lead development and optimization of quantum engineering equipment, tools, devices, and processes.
- Coordinate across technical teams to define subsystem requirements, resolve system-level challenges, and validate integrated performance.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's Degree in Physics, Engineering, or related field and 8+ years of relevant experience, or Master's Degree and 6+ years, or Doctorate and 3+ 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 verification.
- Ability to use AI tools and work in an “AI-first” environment.
Nice to have
- Deep experience in quantum engineering, such as cryogenic hardware or electronics, measurement and characterization, simulation, or systems integration.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering work and programming in a high-level language such as Python or MATLAB.
Pay
USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year (base salary); USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year (base salary); USD $165,600 - $296,400 per year (base salary); USD $220,800 - $331,200 per year (base salary)
Tools
Python, MATLAB
AI focus
Use AI tools for measurement, performance modeling and analysis, research gathering, and task automation; work in an AI-first environment to accelerate discovery through hardware development.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative