Distinguished PQC Cryptography & Architecture Leader

IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world’s leading quantum platform and merchant supplier - delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, and AstraZeneca achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.

Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before.  

We are looking for a Distinguished Leader to provide the overall technical leadership for our post-quantum cryptography (PQC) hardware acceleration programme, part of our quantum-safe product portfolio targeting hardware security module (HSM) and network-appliance applications. As the most senior technical authority of the programme, you will own the end-to-end architecture, from cryptographic algorithm and standards strategy to an FPGA-based product architecture with a clear path to ASIC, and you will set the technical direction across the cryptography, hardware, software and security disciplines involved. This is a rare opportunity to shape a strategic security product line at one of the few companies where quantum-safe security is the core business.

We are looking for a candidate with a Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Cryptography or a related field and fifteen or more years of experience architecting complex digital security hardware, including deep, hands-on exposure to cryptographic implementation with genuine post-quantum depth. You are a recognised authority in your field, evidenced by shipped market-defining security products, contributions to standards, publications or patents, and you have taken accelerators, secure elements or HSM-class systems from specification to production more than once.

You are equally credible discussing lattice-based cryptography with a cryptographer, timing closure with an FPGA designer, and certification strategy with a FIPS laboratory, and you can defend an architecture in front of a demanding customer or executive committee. You make well-reasoned build/buy/partner decisions under uncertainty and raise the technical bar of everyone around you. Fluency in English is required; French or German is an advantage.

• →Recognised architect of cryptographic or security hardware products, with authoritative depth in PQC algorithms and standards (FIPS 203/204/205, CNSA 2.0, FIPS 140-3)
• →Distinguished-level technical leadership: sets direction across domains, mentors senior specialists, and represents the company externally

You thrive on ambiguity and ownership, turning a strategic mandate into an architecture, a plan and a working product. You lead through technical authority and clarity rather than hierarchy, you hold quality and security to an uncompromising standard, and you are motivated by building products that will help define quantum-safe infrastructure for the next decade.