Your Role and Responsibilities
Building a high-performance software stack that makes optimal use of quantum hardware resources is key to realizing early, game-changing applications of quantum computing. As part of the PennyLane Performance Team, you will be responsible for the performance monitoring and benchmarking tooling for the PennyLane & Catalyst quantum software stack, as well as developing high-performance extensions including the PennyLane-Lightning simulator suite, ensuring PennyLane is the highest-performing framework for quantum computing.
You will:
- Develop the framework for benchmarking the compilation and execution pipeline, tracking quantum resources through the stack, and profiling the quantum software.
- Develop high-performance software components, adapting to new hardware platforms and programming paradigms.
- Convert abstract descriptions of algorithms into efficient & understandable software implementations.
- Interpret and communicate complex concepts to the wider team.
- Participate in software system specification, design, and quality assurance (e.g., requirements gathering, defining software architecture, documentation, verification & validation, etc.).
- Provide leadership in software best practices, including continuous-integration pipelines, unit testing, & code review.
Basic Qualifications and Experience:
- BSc in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Math, or a related field.
- Demonstrated education or training in quantum computing.
- Proficiency in high-performance Modern C++ (C++17/20 preferred) and Python.
- Deep understanding of computer architecture (CPU, GPU, memory hierarchy) coupled with hands-on experience in optimizing code for runtime and memory efficiency using professional profiling tools (e.g. perf, scalene, valgrind).
- Proven ability to rapidly diagnose and resolve complex issues across compiled and interpreted environments using industry-standard debuggers.
Preferred Knowledge and Experience:
- MSc, PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Math, or a related field.
- Expertise in quantum computing, as demonstrated by extensive coursework, thesis, or peer-reviewed publications.
- Experience with writing complex quantum workflows and optimizing the use of quantum resources.
- Familiarity with code parallelization and accelerators: multithreading (e.g., OpenMP, C++ threads), multiprocessing (e.g., MPI), GPUs (e.g. CUDA, HIP/ROCm) or compiler offload directives.
- Experience in low-level systems programming (e.g. direct memory management, low-latency communication, heterogeneous hardware peripherals)
- Experience in designing and implementing scalable & reproducible scientific workloads on HPC / supercomputer platforms or cloud hardware (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).
This is for a new position. Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and internal benchmarks. The base salary range is 120,000 - 160,000 CAD. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.
