Quantum hardware companies are building factories. In May 2026, QuantWare raised €152 million (US$178 million) for its processor technology and KiloFab, a dedicated quantum processor fab in Delft. PsiQuantum’s chips are manufactured at GlobalFoundries in New York. On November 12, 2026, Quantum Careers listed about 160 roles in fabrication, packaging, manufacturing, quality, test, mechanical and cryogenic engineering, and technician work. Many of them describe skills from semiconductor fabs and precision manufacturing.
The roles
The role families below come from listings open on Quantum Careers in November 2026.
| Role family | Roles on Quantum Careers | Employers with the most listings |
|---|---|---|
| Fabrication, process, and packaging engineering | 37 | QuantWare, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum |
| Mechanical, vacuum, and cryogenic engineering | 49 | PsiQuantum, Monarch Quantum, IonQ, Infleqtion |
| Manufacturing, quality, reliability, and test | 34 | Quantinuum, IonQ, Monarch Quantum, Quandela |
| Technicians and inspectors | 42 | IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Quantinuum, Oratomic |
Fabrication and process engineering
Superconducting and spin-qubit chips, ion traps, and photonic circuits are all made with semiconductor processes: deposition, lithography, etching, and the steps that connect a chip to the outside world. Process engineers own one or more of those steps and keep it within specification. Rigetti Computing lists a Senior Process Engineer for physical vapor deposition in Fremont. Quantinuum lists a Semiconductor Trap Fabrication Scientist and an Advanced Ion Trap Fabrication Scientist. Silicon Quantum Computing lists a Senior Device Processing Engineer in Sydney. QuantWare lists a Fabrication Engineer and a Senior Semiconductor Equipment Engineer in Delft.
These teams measure their work in yield. Alice & Bob lists a Senior Integration and Yield Engineer for superconducting circuits. Both Alice & Bob and QuantWare list manufacturing execution system (MES) and automation engineers, the roles that record every process step so yield problems can be traced.
Packaging
A quantum chip has to be connected to wiring, optics, or both, often inside a cryostat at temperatures near absolute zero. Packaging engineers design and build those connections. QuantWare lists a 3D Packaging Engineer and an Advanced Packaging Lead. Quantinuum lists semiconductor packaging engineers, IonQ a Staff Process Engineer for packaging, and PsiQuantum fiber assembly process engineers. Equal1 lists an Advanced Packaging and Integration Lead.
Mechanical, vacuum, and cryogenic engineering
Superconducting processors, and the photon detectors in photonic machines, run inside cryostats. Trapped-ion and neutral-atom machines need ultra-high vacuum, and some designs add cryogenic cooling. Mechanical engineers design the systems that hold the hardware in those conditions and keep it stable. PsiQuantum lists cryogenic mechanical, cryogenic interconnect, cryostat equipment, and thermal engineering roles. Rigetti lists a Senior Mechanical Engineer for cryogenics. Atom Computing, planqc, and Infleqtion list opto-mechanical engineers. Monarch Quantum has mechanical engineering openings at three levels.
Manufacturing, quality, reliability, and test
As machines move from one-off prototypes to repeated builds, employers hire the engineers who make production repeatable. Quantinuum lists Lead Manufacturing Engineers, a Manufacturing Manager, and a Lead or Principal Reliability Engineer. Atom Computing lists a Principal Manufacturing Quality Engineer and a Principal System Integration and Test Lead. PsiQuantum lists a Senior Foundry Test Engineer and a Director of Quality, Reliability and I/O. IonQ lists a Hardware-in-the-Loop Test Manager in Oxford.
Technicians
Technicians build, assemble, test, and maintain the hardware. Current listings include nanofabrication technicians at Alice & Bob and QuantWare, production technicians at PsiQuantum, Q-CTRL, and D-Wave Quantum, hardware and optics technicians at Quantinuum and IonQ, and assembly, integration, and test technicians at Pasqal. In their text, ten of the 42 technician listings mention a high school diploma or GED as a qualification, ten mention an associate degree or technical diploma, and four mention a bachelor’s degree. Thirteen mention cleanroom experience and 13 mention soldering or electronics assembly standards. A mention is not always a requirement; some listings name a qualification as preferred.
Some technician and inspector roles in the US require US-person status because of export controls or government contracts. Fifteen of the 42 technician listings mention export controls, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or US-person status. Some of those mentions are general compliance notices rather than a requirement of the role.
Who hires
The listings cluster where hardware is made. QuantWare’s seven fabrication listings and two technician listings are all in Delft. Quantinuum’s fabrication and packaging roles are in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and at a supplier site in Malta, New York. PsiQuantum’s process, cryogenic, and test roles are mostly in Milpitas, California. Alice & Bob’s nanofabrication roles are in Aubervilliers, outside Paris. IonQ’s technician and test roles are spread across Bothell, Louisville, Oxford, and Geneva. Monarch Quantum’s roles in these families are all in San Diego. Infleqtion hires for them mainly in Louisville, Colorado. D-Wave Quantum’s production roles are mostly in Burnaby, Canada. Current listings are under enabling technologies and quantum computing hardware.
Posted salary ranges
Posted annual US ranges put the median midpoint at US$168,000 for fabrication and process engineering (16 ranges), US$185,000 for manufacturing, quality, and test engineering (17), and US$154,500 for mechanical, vacuum, and cryogenic engineering (28). Technicians and inspectors had a median midpoint of US$87,500 (15). Samples this small move with a few listings, so the figures are indicative.
| Role | Employer | Posted range |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Process Engineer, Physical Vapor Deposition | Rigetti Computing | US$170,000–200,000 |
| Semiconductor Trap Fabrication Scientist | Quantinuum | US$147,000–197,000 |
| Staff Process Engineer, Packaging | IonQ | US$145,920–209,241 |
| Senior Fiber Assembly Process Engineer | PsiQuantum | US$150,800–177,200 |
| Senior Mechanical Engineer, Cryogenic | Rigetti Computing | US$165,000–190,000 |
| Cryostat Equipment Engineer | PsiQuantum | US$104,300–122,600 |
| Lead Manufacturing Engineer | Quantinuum | US$148,000–199,000 |
| Principal Manufacturing Quality Engineer | Atom Computing | US$170,000–200,000 |
| Senior Foundry Test Engineer | PsiQuantum | US$121,500–142,700 |
| Senior Process Technician, Packaging | IonQ | US$79,040–120,640 |
| Hardware Technician | Quantinuum | US$66,000–105,000 |
| Facilities Technician | Atom Computing | US$75,000–100,000 |
| NPI Manufacturing Engineer 4 | Monarch Quantum | US$180,000–225,000 |
| Engineering Technician II | Infleqtion | US$60,000–75,000 |
PsiQuantum’s figures are its posted Zone 1 ranges: the San Francisco Bay Area for most roles, and New York for the Senior Foundry Test Engineer. D-Wave Quantum posts its Burnaby ranges in Canadian dollars, so they are not in these medians. The salary snapshot compares these families with the rest of the board.
How to move in
The closest matches come from four industries:
- Semiconductor fabs and equipment makers, for process, integration, yield, metrology, and equipment engineering. A process engineer who has run deposition or etch tools in a production fab has the core skill a quantum fab needs.
- Advanced packaging and photonics manufacturing, for 3D packaging, flip-chip and wire bonding, and fiber assembly.
- Cryogenics, vacuum, and scientific instruments, for cryostat, vacuum, and thermal engineering. Engineers from MRI, space, and analytical instrument companies work with the same equipment.
- Aerospace, defense, and medical device manufacturing, for quality, reliability, and test engineering under documented processes.
Technicians move in from semiconductor fabs, electronics assembly, optics manufacturing, and laboratory support. Cleanroom experience and electronics assembly certifications appear in several technician listings.
In an application, describe the processes, tools, and tolerances you have worked with, and the yield or reliability numbers you improved. Our guide to quantum careers without a PhD covers the wider set of roles open to engineers and technicians, and our guide to decoding quantum job descriptions explains the quantum terms that appear in these listings.
