Software Architect

Senior Staff Software Architect – Network Monitoring PlatformSanta Clara, California, United StatesIonQ, Inc. is the world's leading quantum platform and merchant supplier - delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ's newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, and AstraZeneca achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance. Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before.The Role:We are looking for a Senior Staff Software Architect to lead the design and evolution of our next-generation Network Monitoring Platform. You'll be part of a cross-functional team whose mission is to lead IonQ on its journey to build the world's best quantum computers to solve the world's most complex problems.In this role, you will own the end-to-end architecture of a high-scale, data-intensive network monitoring platform — from data modeling and ingestion pipelines to cloud-native deployment. You are a hands-on technical leader who writes production code, drives critical architectural decisions, and has deep experience building systems that monitor large fleets of devices at scale. The ideal candidate brings strong Go and/or Rust expertise and thrives at the intersection of systems engineering and distributed data platforms.ResponsibilitiesArchitect cloud-native ingestion and processing pipelines capable of handling telemetry from hundreds of thousands of devices, leveraging streaming platforms and time-series storage at scale.Define and own the platform's unified YANG-based data model, spanning device configuration state, operational telemetry, and topology relationships across heterogeneous network environments, serving as the authoritative schema from which ingestion pipelines, storage structures, and API contracts are derived.Write and review production-quality code in Go and/or Rust for performance-critical platform components including collectors, aggregators, and real-time processing engines.Define and enforce data partitioning, sharding, and retention strategies to sustain high-volume device event streams while meeting latency and durability requirements.Lead the design of cloud-native deployment patterns (Kubernetes, service mesh, autoscaling) to ensure the platform operates reliably at global scale across multi-cloud environments.Evaluate and drive adoption of purpose-fit technologies — time-series databases, graph stores, stream processors — with a focus on operational scalability and long-term maintainability.Partner with Product and Engineering to translate monitoring requirements into platform capabilities, ensuring architectural decisions are reflected in roadmap milestones and engineering specifications.Mentor senior engineers through architecture reviews, coding standards, and hands-on technical guidance, raising the bar for platform quality and engineering practices.Requirements12+ years of experience in software or platform architecture, with at least 5 years leading architecture for large-scale, data-intensive distributed systems.Substantial experience building and operating device monitoring systems at scale — with direct exposure to telemetry ingestion pipelines, fleet management, and real-time alerting across large device populations.Proven hands-on coding ability; production experience with Go and/or Rust is strongly preferred for this role.Deep expertise in data modeling for high-volume systems, including schema design, time-series storage (InfluxDB/Timescale), event streaming (Kafka/Kinesis), and graph data models for network topology.Solid understanding of cloud-native application design — including containerization, Kubernetes orchestration, microservices, and cloud infrastructure across AWS, GCP, or Azure.Preferred QualificationsProficiency in both Go and Rust, with a track record of shipping production services in at least one of these languages.Background in network management platforms or network equipment vendors (e.g., Juniper, Cisco, Nokia), with familiarity with telemetry protocols such as gNMI, NETCONF, or SNMP.Experience designing multi-tenant SaaS platforms where data isolation, schema evolution, and scalability across customer tiers are first-class concerns.Contributions to open-source infrastructure or observability projects, or published technical writing on distributed systems and data engineering topics.Familiarity with techniques relevant to high-throughput data collection.The approximate base salary range for this position is $216,136 - $282,978. The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site.Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications, and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location, and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Our benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401(k), unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment.At IonQ, we believe in fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all while striving to identify and eliminate barriers. We empower employees to thrive by fostering a culture of autonomy, productivity, and respect. We are dedicated to creating an environment where individuals can feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. We are committed to equity and justice. We welcome different voices and viewpoints and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.