Lead Software Engineer Jobs in Redmond, WA

At Microsoft Quantum, we aim to empower science and scientists to solve the world's biggest problems by realizing advanced computing platforms at the intersection of high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum information technology. In just hours or days, a quantum computer can solve complex problems that would otherwise take today’s computers billions of years! This has massive implications for research in healthcare, energy, environmental systems, smart materials, and more. Most importantly, Microsoft brings the only scalable quantum system to the broadest set of customers. For more information about our team, visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum.

We are seeking a highly skilled and committed Senior Software Engineer to join our team. This role is central to advancing our quantum software roadmap and requires passion in software development, cloud, AI, and quantum computing.

As a Senior Software Engineer in Microsoft Quantum, you will contribute to efforts in building a robust quantum software stack, including SDKs, UX, APIs, and hybrid cloud infrastructure for quantum computing. You will apply best practices in software engineering and LLMs to build the next generation of experiences and software geared toward quantum algorithm developers, quantum error correction researchers, and quantum scientists. Your work will directly contribute to external facing products for Microsoft Quantum, helping shape the future of quantum computing.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees, we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day, we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond

Responsibilities

• Writes and maintains code for Microsoft Quantum software and infrastructure to ensure seamless end to end execution, debugging, and analysis of quantum programs.
• Drives identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.
• Leverages subject-matter expertise of product features and partners with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project managers) to drive a workgroup's project plans, release plans, and work items.
• Creates, implements, optimizes, debugs, refactors, and reuses code to establish and improve performance and maintainability, effectiveness, and return on investment (ROI).
• Acts as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) working on-call to monitor system/product feature/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions and gains approval to restore system/product/service for simple problems.
• Proactively seeks new knowledge and adapts to new trends, technical solutions, and patterns that will improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of products while also driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale.

Other:

• Embody our Culture and Values

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field AND 1+ year(s) software industry experience, including research and/or development of commercial software, compilers, scientific computing applications, or multi-component systems
• OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field AND 3+ years software industry experience, including research and/or development of commercial software, compilers, scientific computing applications, or multi-component systems
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Physical Sciences, or related field AND 4+ years software industry experience, including research and/or development of commercial software, compilers, scientific computing applications, or multi-component systems
• OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years programming experience in related programming languages.
• 4+ years experience in a collaborative environment.

Other Requirements:

• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:
• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
• Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations. As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their U.S. permanent residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science OR related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, OR Python
• OR Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR equivalent experience.
• Ability to leverage AI tools to drive innovation and efficiency (e.g., performance modeling and analysis, research gathering, day to day task automation).
• Evaluate agentic solutions with measurable metrics and human-in-the-loop safeguards following Microsoft Responsible AI requirements for generative AI.

#Quantum #QuantumCareers #MDQCareers

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process.