Contract Quantum Software Engineer Jobs in Virginia

Tyto Athene is seeking a Quantum Trainer to help lead and grow our internal Quantum Community of Practice. This individual will work closely with the Quantum Practice Director to empower developers, engineers, solution architects, and business development teams to understand, apply, and communicate quantum technology concepts in support of customer missions.

The successful candidate will help make quantum technology accessible and actionable across the company, with particular emphasis on quantum computing and quantum algorithms, while also building foundational fluency in quantum sensing, quantum networking, and post-quantum cryptography. This role is ideal for a technically credible trainer who can translate complex quantum concepts into practical guidance for teams supporting U.S. Federal Government, Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and National Security customers.

Responsibilities:

Quantum Community of Practice

• Help lead Tyto Athene’s Quantum Community of Practice in partnership with the Quantum Practice Director.
• Develop and deliver training sessions, workshops, office hours, hackathons, and internal enablement materials for developers, engineers, solution architects, and business development teams.
• Build a practical quantum education program that helps employees understand core terminology, concepts, use cases, limitations, and escalation paths.
• Create reusable training content, including presentations, hands-on exercises, reference guides, demos, and customer-facing explainers.
• Foster an active internal community where employees can share ideas, ask questions, identify customer opportunities, and connect with Quantum Practice experts.

Quantum Algorithm Enablement

• Help developers and engineers understand where quantum algorithms may be relevant to customer problems, including optimization, simulation, search, sampling, machine learning, and hybrid quantum-classical approaches.
• Teach practical concepts in quantum computing, including qubits, gates, circuits, measurement, noise, simulation, NISQ-era limitations, and hardware constraints.
• Support teams in identifying candidate use cases for quantum algorithm exploration within existing contracts, projects, and customer environments.
• Develop hands-on examples using quantum software tools, emulators, and cloud-accessible platforms to help technical teams build working familiarity with quantum algorithm concepts.
• Work with the Quantum Algorithm Design lead to ensure training content is technically accurate and that promising algorithm opportunities are escalated to the appropriate experts.

Quantum Technology Fluency

• Build company-wide familiarity with the broader quantum technology landscape, including quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, and post-quantum cryptography.
• Help employees understand the differences among quantum algorithm development, PQC migration, quantum sensing applications, quantum networking concepts, and quantum hardware readiness.
• Equip customer-facing teams to speak credibly about quantum technology opportunities, risks, timelines, and limitations.
• Develop simple decision frameworks that help teams recognize when a customer need may involve quantum technology and when to escalate to the Quantum Practice.
• Maintain training materials that reflect current practice positions, terminology, technology maturity, and customer-relevant use cases.

Business Development and Customer Support

• Support business development teams by helping identify where quantum capabilities may strengthen captures, proposals, and customer conversations.
• Develop reusable proposal language, briefing materials, capability summaries, and educational content that describe Tyto Athene’s quantum offerings.
• Help prepare teams for customer engagements by providing background training, use case framing, and plain-language explanations of quantum concepts.
• Partner with capture, solution architecture, and technical teams to identify quantum-relevant opportunities across existing and emerging customer missions.
• Support customer workshops, discovery sessions, and introductory briefings as needed.

Strategic Collaboration and Leadership

• Partner with quantum leads across algorithm design, PQC and quantum science to keep training aligned with practice strategy.
• Serve as a bridge between quantum subject matter experts and delivery teams across the company.
• Track internal adoption of quantum training and identify where additional enablement, tools, or resources are needed.
• Help create a consistent internal vocabulary for quantum technology across technical delivery, business development, and customer engagement teams.
• Promote responsible communication of quantum technology, including realistic expectations, clear limitations, and avoidance of overstatement.

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Applied Science, or a related technical field.
• 3+ years of experience in quantum computing, quantum information science, technical training, software engineering, scientific computing, or related technical enablement.
• Working knowledge of quantum computing concepts, including qubits, gates, circuits, measurement, quantum algorithms, simulators, and current hardware limitations.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly to mixed audiences, including developers, engineers, executives, business development teams, and customer-facing staff.
• Experience developing technical training content, workshops, demos, documentation, or enablement materials.
• Familiarity with quantum software tools, programming frameworks, simulators, or cloud-accessible quantum platforms.
• Ability to recognize practical quantum use cases and distinguish credible opportunities from immature or overstated claims.
• Strong communication, facilitation, and collaboration skills.

Desired:

• Master’s degree or PhD in Physics, Quantum Information Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• Experience with quantum algorithms, hybrid quantum-classical workflows, optimization, simulation, or quantum machine learning concepts.
• Familiarity with post-quantum cryptography, quantum sensing, quantum networking, or quantum communications.
• Experience supporting DoD, Intelligence Community, Federal Civilian, Department of Energy, national laboratory, or federally funded programs.
• Experience creating or running a technical community of practice, internal training program, developer enablement program, or technical upskilling initiative.
• Experience supporting business development, capture, proposals, customer discovery, or technical solution shaping.
• Familiarity with Python and common quantum computing SDKs, simulators, or educational platforms.

Clearance:

• Active security clearance or ability to obtain one.

Compensation:

• Compensation is unique to each candidate and relative to the skills and experience they bring to the position. This does not guarantee a specific salary as compensation is based upon multiple factors such as education, experience, certifications, and other requirements, and may fall outside of the above-stated range.