Software Engineer - Photonic Test & Measurement (hybrid)

About Xanadu

Xanadu's mission is to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere.

At Xanadu, we are learners, innovators, researchers, collaborators and problem solvers. We are creating something that has never been built before. What we are doing is extremely hard, the classic moon shot. Few people in their life will be able to be a part of something like this, where if we are successful, the technologies we develop will solve some of the world's most challenging problems, and literally change the world. And that is something to be excited about!

Your Role And Responsibilities

As a Software Engineer (Photonic Test & Measurement) at Xanadu, you will join the software-for-hardware team and work on control software for our infrastructure to design and build utility-scale quantum computers in the next decade. You will work alongside Xanadu physicists, engineers, and photonic chip designers, often in collaboration with external customer support or application engineers. Your main role will involve implementing, maintaining, and supporting software for the characterization and calibration of Xanadu's photonic chips. Using SCPI and similar protocols, you will interface individual test and measurement instruments. On other days, you will need to integrate entire wafer probers and other automated high-volume test equipment systems into our measurement framework, using our codebase and the vendors' APIs. You will understand Xanadu's chip characterization requirements and work with internal clients to develop new measurement routines, and take pride in taking both new and existing routines from the prototyping stage into high-volume production with optimal throughput and low failure rates. Being enthusiastic about best software development practices and clean code, you will also join the software-for-hardware team's efforts to spread such skills throughout the company. Doing so you will support our scientists and hardware engineers in writing better code and efficiently using the software you and everyone else at Xanadu develops. Basic qualifications and experience:

• Extensive (>4 years) expertise in Python programming for automation of tools and processes, with the ability to employ programming paradigms such as object oriented and functional programming and related design patterns where applicable
• 2+ years of experience coding APIs / interfaces for instruments using SCPI, IVI, and similar protocols (preferably in python)
• Ability and willingness to troubleshoot and fix issues anywhere in a complex hardware-software stack
• Proficiency with Linux, Docker, and networking
• Curiosity about new and unfamiliar technologies
• Excellent communication skills
• Desire to work and ability to thrive in a fast-paced research environment
• Willingness to work in Toronto downtown in person >=4 days a week

Preferred qualifications and experience:

• B.S., M.S., or PhD in computer science, electrical engineering, physics, or related field
• Significant (>2 years) experience in writing instrumentation drivers and similar software, or experience with lab instrumentation frameworks
• Experience with automated high-volume test equipment (Ficontec, MPI, Formfactor, etc)
• Activity in open source software projects
• Exposure to machine vision and robotics
• Basic familiarity with photonics and optical physics
• Experience in fitting experimental data and machine learning skills
• Familiarity with quantum mechanics or quantum computation is an advantage but not required