Senior Applications Lead - Defense

Salary: $164,000 - 192,700 per year Requirements:

• We are looking for someone with substantial experience in the U.S. defense, national security, intelligence, aerospace, or a closely related government technology environment.
• The role requires the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance; an active TS/SCI clearance is preferred.
• We require a Ph.D. in physics, engineering, applied mathematics, chemistry, materials science, or a related technical discipline.
• Familiarity with quantum computing, quantum algorithms, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, or similar technologies is preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential, including experience preparing briefings, proposals, white papers, conference materials, or other customer-facing technical content.
• You should be a self-starter with strong cross-functional collaboration skills and the ability to perform well in a fast-moving environment with ambiguity and shifting priorities.

• We serve as a senior applications lead for our defense and national security initiatives, identifying and refining high-value use cases for fault-tolerant quantum computing.
• We work closely with Business Development on customer engagement, strategic account growth, conference presence, proposal development, and senior stakeholder discussions.
• We engage effectively with senior officials, defense primes, national laboratories, FFRDCs, service research organizations, and other strategic partners.
• We translate defense and national security priorities into application opportunities by assessing mission relevance, technical feasibility, potential quantum advantage, adoption pathways, and strategic value.
• We create customer-facing narratives, briefings, white papers, proposals, and other materials that connect our roadmap to defense-relevant challenges.
• We collaborate with Applications, Algorithms, and Software teams to evaluate feasibility, define scope, identify risks, and build paths toward customer-facing work.
• We act as project owner for selected defense and national security engagements, managing charters, milestones, deliverables, stakeholder alignment, and communications.
• We help shape our broader defense applications strategy, including priority use cases, target customers, partner strategy, funding opportunities, and go-to-market approach.

• Support
• Security
• AI

More:

We are PsiQuantum, founded in 2016 with a mission to build the first useful quantum computers and deliver million-qubit, fault-tolerant systems. Our approach is based on silicon photonics and advanced semiconductor manufacturing, with partnerships that support large-scale deployment in locations such as Brisbane, Australia, and Chicago, Illinois. We also develop algorithms and software to make our systems commercially valuable, working with leading Fortune 500 companies across industries. This Senior Applications Lead, Defense role sits on our Industry Applications team and is ideally based in the Washington, D.C. area. We offer full-time equity and benefits, including competitive health coverage, a 401(k) with company match, wellness and family support programs, paid leave, company holidays, discretionary time off, and an end-of-year company shutdown. This position is in Zone 2, with an estimated annual base salary range of $164,000 to $192,700 USD.

last updated 33 week of 2026