Chief Architect - Optical Communication Terminals

About IonQ: IonQ, Inc . [NYSE: IONQ] 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. About Skyloom Skyloom, an IonQ company, is a telecommunications company founded with the mission to develop, deploy, and operate one of the fundamental pieces of tomorrow’s space communication infrastructure to provide data transport services on a planetary scale. If you have a strong sense of purpose, focus, urgency, and willingness to compete—or if working on space lasers excites you—join our team to develop the future generation of space communication technology. Location: This role will be based at our Broomfield, Colorado, office, with the option to work a few days a week remotely. Travel: Up to 5 % Job ID: 1621 The Role We are seeking a highly skilled and innovative Chief Architect to join our team. This position reports directly to Skyloom's VP of Engineering as a member of the Engineering & Operations leadership team. As Chief Architect, you will lead the architecture, design, and development of next-generation Optical Communication Terminals (OCTs) for government and commercial space applications. You will drive system architecture, optimize end-to-end optical communication performance, and contribute to innovation in areas including free-space optical communications, adaptive optics, beam steering, and laser propagation. This role also provides technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams while helping shape the future of Skyloom's optical communications products. Chief Architect with Free Space Optical Communication Terminal Expertise As a Chief Architect, you will design, implement, and optimize free-space optical communication terminals across government and commercial customers. You will analyze and improve system performance metrics—such as wavefront error, SNR, and BER—while contributing to innovation in areas like atmospheric turbulence mitigation, adaptive optics, and laser propagation. This role also offers leadership opportunities, including guiding projects, collaborating across disciplines, and contributing to R&D shaping next-generation OCT products. Candidate Profile The ideal candidate has led the architecture and development of Optical Communication Terminals (OCTs) or Free Space Optical (FSO) communication systems for commercial or government space applications. You bring deep expertise in optical communications system architecture with hands-on experience developing complex optical communication systems. Direct experience with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs), LEO optical networking, and high-speed optical communications (100 Gbps or greater preferred) is strongly desired. Responsibilities Lead engineering activities for an optical communications payload from concept through launch Define, analyze, and validate system and subsystem requirements for space environments Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop integrated communication solutions, focusing on sy…