Freelance Scientific Software Developer Jobs in Massachusetts

Summary

QuEra Computing Inc. seeks a Scientific Software Engineer with a strong background in quantum dynamics, numerical simulation, and open quantum systems to help develop software tools for modeling neutral-atom quantum processors.

In this role, you will work at the intersection of AMO theory, scientific computing, and quantum software. You will build simulation and analysis tools that help researchers understand system behavior, model noise and decoherence, validate control protocols, and connect device-level physics to higher-level quantum computing workflows.

This role is ideal for someone who has used numerical methods to study quantum systems and wants to turn research-grade models into reliable, scalable software used by scientists and engineers.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain scientific software for simulating neutral-atom quantum systems, including coherent dynamics, dissipation, noise, and measurement processes.
• Implement numerical methods for quantum dynamics and open quantum systems, such as Lindblad master equations, quantum trajectories, Krylov subspace methods, Chebyshev polynomials, or related approaches.
• Build production-grade software infrastructure and tools to efficiently model Rydberg interactions, atom motion, atom loss, laser control imperfections, decoherence channels, and other device-relevant effects, supporting AMO theory and device modeling efforts.
• Collaborate with physicists and software engineers to translate theoretical models into tested, documented, and reusable software components.
• Design simulation workflows that support benchmarking, calibration analysis, algorithm validation, and performance modeling.
• Optimize numerical codes for accuracy, stability, performance, and usability across a range of system sizes and approximations.
• Contribute to APIs, documentation, examples, and validation tests for internal and external users.
• Contribute parts to QuEra's central virtualization platform to faithfully emulate hardware with AMO-informed noise.

Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. in Physics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Strong background in quantum mechanics, AMO physics, quantum optics, or quantum information science.
• Experience performing numerical simulations of open quantum systems, many-body quantum systems, or driven-dissipative quantum dynamics.
• Strong programming skills in Python, Julia, C++, Rust, or similar languages used for scientific computing.
• Experience with numerical linear algebra, differential equation solvers, Monte Carlo methods, sparse matrix methods, or high-performance simulation techniques.
• Familiarity with modern software engineering practices, including version control, testing, code review, profiling, debugging, and documentation.
• Ability to communicate clearly across theory, software, and experimental teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience modeling neutral atoms, Rydberg systems, trapped ions, superconducting qubits, photonic systems, or related quantum hardware platforms.
• Familiarity with QuantumOptics.jl, QuTiP, SciPy, NumPy, ITensor, CUDA, MPI, or related scientific computing tools.
• Experience with tensor networks, quantum trajectories, stochastic master equations, optimal control, noise spectroscopy, or error modeling.
• Knowledge of quantum algorithms, analog quantum simulation, quantum error correction, or benchmarking methods.
• Experience developing reusable scientific software packages or contributing to open-source scientific computing projects.
• Comfort working with imperfect, evolving physical models and validating them against data or known limits.

The approximate base salary range for this position is $102,400 - $166,400.

We consistently monitor external market data and update base salary ranges accordingly.  We determine base compensation decisions on several factors, including as geographic placement, role-specific knowledge, skills, and/or experience.  In addition to our base salary offerings, we also provide equity grants for all new hires.

QuEra is committed to cultivating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We highly value diversity in our current and future employees and do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.