Microsoft
Senior Quantum Simulation Engineer
$120K–$261K
Santa Barbara, CA · On-site · Senior · Full-time · Posted Oct 21, 2026
- Experience
- Bachelor’s: 6+ years; Master’s: 4+ years; Doctorate: 1+ years, in industry or research and development; or equivalent experience. Preferred alternatives: Doctorate 3+ years (postdoctoral research may count), Master’s 6+ years, or Bachelor’s 8+ years; or equivalent experience.
- Education
- Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate in Physics, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
About the job
Models and simulates topological qubit devices and few-qubit arrays, developing methods and tools that inform qubit design and operating strategies.
What you'll do
- Build, refine, validate, and optimize quantum-device simulation models and tools.
- Compare simulations with experimental data and conduct large-scale modeling to assess device behavior and scalability.
- Translate findings into design and operational decisions, collaborating across teams.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s in Physics, Engineering, or a related field and 6+ years’ experience; or Master’s and 4+ years; or Doctorate and 1+ years; or equivalent experience.
- Pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
- Provide citizenship or eligible status documentation for export-control access assessment; citizenship will be verified with a valid passport, with other documents applicable for lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees.
Nice to have
- Research experience in quantum-device theory or quantum computation; experience modeling open quantum systems, numerical qubit simulation, or quantum error correction.
- High-performance computing and collaborative coding in Python or Julia; ability to use AI tools and build AI agents or copilots for research workflows.
Pay
USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year (base pay); USD $160,200 - $261,000 per year (base pay)
Tools
Python, Julia
AI focus
Use modern AI tools to accelerate discovery across hardware and software development; potentially design AI agents or copilots for experiment setup, log triage, measurement reports, protocol templating, and knowledge retrieval.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative