Senior Systems and Network Engineer

Job Description

Job Title: Senior Systems and Network Engineer. Location: College Park, Maryland, USA

Responsibilities:

• Provision Linux servers and system heads used for quantum hardware builds, including PXE boot, OS installation, and automated configuration.
• Build and maintain infrastructure-as-code for server and network provisioning using tools such as Ansible, Kickstart, Foreman, Packer, Terraform, or equivalent technologies.
• Design, configure, and troubleshoot lab and datacenter networks, including VLANs, managed switches, firewalls, and structured cabling.
• Integrate specialized scientific and laboratory hardware into the compute environment, including cameras, laser control systems, and custom device drivers.
• Use IPMI/BMC and other out-of-band tools to manage a growing server fleet.
• Define and document handoff criteria for systems before they are used by teams running experiments;
• Diagnose and resolve infrastructure problems that block quantum hardware builds or experimental runs.
• Work with software, DevOps, and hardware engineering teams to understand infrastructure requirements for new systems.
• Write runbooks and documentation to ensure provisioning knowledge is maintained in shared repositories.
• Help automate infrastructure operations so systems remain reproducible and scalable.

Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience in systems, network, or infrastructure engineering.
• Hands-on experience provisioning servers in production environments.
• Experience configuring and troubleshooting switches, firewalls, routers, and on-premises servers.
• Direct experience configuring VLANs and managed-switch environments;
• Experience building or rebuilding provisioning workflows using infrastructure-as-code or automation tools such as Ansible, Salt, Kickstart, Foreman, Cobbler, Packer, or equivalent.
• Experience integrating specialized or custom hardware into a compute environment.
• Working knowledge of IPMI/BMC and out-of-band server management.
• Strong scripting ability in Python, Go, or an equivalent language.
• Ability to work in an environment where infrastructure problems can directly affect hardware development and experimental work.

Preferred:

• Experience managing significant on-premises compute infrastructure, such as bare-metal cloud, colocation, or high-density computing environments.
• Experience with Kubernetes or container orchestration in bare-metal or hybrid environments.
• Experience with configuration drift detection, enforcement, and provisioning pipeline idempotency.
• Familiarity with AWS, Azure, GCP, and hybrid on-premises/cloud networking;
• Experience working in a research, national laboratory, or scientific computing environment.
• Previous exposure to quantum computing or other deep-tech hardware environments.

Benefits and Compensation:

• Approximate base salary: $126,887 to $166,127 per year.
• Total compensation may include base salary, bonus, equity, and benefits.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) matching.
• Unlimited paid time off and paid holidays.
• Parental and adoption leave.
• Legal insurance.
• Home technology stipend.

Other Information:

• Travel: Up to 15%.
• Job ID: 1741.
• The position is based at IonQ's College Park, Maryland office, with an option to work remotely several days per week.
• The position involves technology subject to U.S. export control and government contract restrictions;
• Additional immigration and citizenship questions may be required for export-control and compliance purposes.
• IonQ conducts pre-employment background and risk screening subject to applicable law.