Director, Cryostat Systems

PsiQuantum · Milpitas, California

  • Senior
  • Full-time
  • $258,700 – $304,000
  • Posted 2026-11-09
  • Confirmed live on 10 November 2026

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Job description

PsiQuantum's mission is to build the first useful quantum computers: machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems.

Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries.

Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry, including partners like GlobalFoundries, we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don't feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure.

That approach has since been tested at the highest level of scrutiny the U.S. government applies to emerging technology, and it has held up. In 2025, PsiQuantum closed a $1 billion funding round that valued the company at $7 billion. In 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed a $100 million Letter of Intent under the CHIPS and Science Act, followed by a $125 million agreement with DARPA under Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, PsiQuantum's most valuable U.S. government agreement to date. This year, we also broke ground on our utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, Australia, and continued building out our Chicago site. Victor Peng, our CEO, and co-founder Jeremy O'Brien, now Executive Chairman, lead a team and board that reflects how seriously the world is taking this build, joined this year by Intel's Lip-Bu Tan and Atomico's Niklas Zennström.

PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies, including Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical, to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact.

Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift, and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we now have the funding, the government validation, and the sites under construction to make it real.

Job Summary:

The Cryostat System Director leads the design, development, procurement, manufacturing, installation, and commissioning of PsiQuantum’s cryostat systems operating in the 2.0–4.5 K range, with thermal shields operating at approximately 80 K. This role manages a team of five engineers and owns the cryostat technical direction from conceptual design through production deployment. The Cryostat System Director leads the development of the cryostat design and architecture. The role works closely with the Quantum Computer System Group to refine performance and interface requirements. The position also works with engineering partners, manufacturers, and Supply Chain to establish scalable manufacturing and procurement strategies for the vacuum vessel, helium vessel, thermal shields, cold plates, feedthroughs, and associated cryogenic systems.

Responsibilities:

Engineering – Cryostat System Design

• Lead the conceptual and preliminary design of PsiQuantum cryostat systems, including the vacuum vessel, helium vessel, thermal shields, cold plates, piping, feedthroughs, instrumentation, and system interfaces.

• Define and maintain the cryostat system architecture, design requirements, performance requirements, and technical specifications:

• Cooling performance and thermal loads.

• Cold plate Design [2.0 K – 4.5 K]

• Thermal Shield Design 80 K.

• Helium and nitrogen circuits and interfaces.

• Vacuum requirements and insulation-vacuum performance.

• Electrical and optical feedthrough requirements.

• Instrumentation and measurement interfaces.

• Mechanical, structural, and installation interfaces.

• Overall cryostat integration with the quantum-computing system.

• Overall cryostat integration with the Cryogenic Distribution System and surrounding architecture.

• Lead the development and review of drawings, layouts, process diagrams, piping concepts, and equipment interfaces.

• Direct mechanical, thermal, structural, vacuum, and fluid-dynamic analyses and ensure that the results are incorporated into the design.

• Ensure that the cryostat design is manufacturable, maintainable, testable, reliable, and scalable for large-volume deployment.

Team Leadership

• Manage and provide technical direction to a team of five cryostat engineers.

• Establish priorities, work plans, design reviews, technical standards, and development milestones.

• Review engineering work, c

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