Quantum Developer Relations Lead

IBM
IBM

Software Engineering

New York, USA · Tokyo, Japan

Posted on Jul 29, 2026
Introduction

At IBM Research, we are the innovation engine of IBM. Exploring what’s next in computing and shaping the technologies the world will rely on tomorrow. From advancing AI and hybrid cloud to pioneering practical quantum computing, we anticipate challenges and unlock new opportunities for clients, partners, and society. Working in Research means joining a team that accelerates discovery at the intersection of high-performance computing, AI, quantum, and cloud. You’ll collaborate with leading scientists, engineers, and visionaries to push boundaries and turn ideas into reality. With a culture built on curiosity, creativity, and collaboration, IBM Research offers the opportunity to grow your career while contributing to breakthroughs that transform industries and change the world.

Your role and responsibilities

Developer Adoption

Own the strategy for growing adoption of IBM Quantum technologies across the global developer ecosystem.

You'll design programs that help developers become productive quickly, remove barriers to adoption, and create long-term engagement with IBM Quantum.

Responsibilities include:

  • Driving developer onboarding and activation.
  • Building scalable education programs for developers at every experience level.
  • Representing IBM Quantum through technical talks, workshops, hackathons, conferences, webinars, and community events.
  • Creating reusable technical assets—including tutorials, documentation, videos, sample applications, and learning pathways—that accelerate developer success.
  • Measuring adoption and continuously improving the developer journey.

Represent the voice of the developer throughout the product development lifecycle.

You'll work closely with Product Management and Engineering to identify friction points, prioritize improvements, and ensure IBM Quantum provides a best-in-class developer experience.

Responsibilities include:

  • Collecting and synthesizing developer feedback.
  • Identifying trends, adoption barriers, and usability issues.
  • Influencing product roadmap decisions using quantitative and qualitative insights.
  • Improving SDK usability, APIs, documentation, onboarding, and tooling.
  • Validating new features with developer communities before general release.

Build and strengthen one of the world's leading quantum developer communities.

You'll cultivate relationships with developers, researchers, educators, open-source contributors, universities, enterprise partners, and technical leaders to grow the broader quantum ecosystem.

Responsibilities include:

  • Developing strategic partnerships with academic institutions, research organizations, and industry leaders.
  • Supporting workforce development initiatives that expand access to quantum computing education.
  • Building programs that empower educators, ambassadors, and technical champions.
  • Expanding IBM Quantum's reach through community-led initiatives and strategic collaborations.

Help shape the future of the Qiskit ecosystem.

You'll work closely with maintainers, contributors, and engineering teams to grow a healthy and sustainable open-source community.

Responsibilities include:

  • Encouraging external contributions.
  • Creating reference implementations and technical examples.
  • Supporting contributors through documentation, technical guidance, and community engagement.
  • Advocating for open development practices that strengthen collaboration and transparency.

Developer Relations succeeds through influence.

You'll partner closely with Engineering, Product Management, Research, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, and IBM Quantum Network teams to align developer initiatives with business priorities.

You'll bring developer insights into strategic planning while ensuring product launches, educational content, and community programs deliver a consistent developer experience.

Required education
Bachelor's Degree
Preferred education
Master's Degree
Required technical and professional expertise

Technical Expertise

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Physics, Engineering, Quantum Information Science, or a related technical discipline.
  • Strong understanding of quantum computing and quantum software development using Qiskit or comparable frameworks.
  • Experience building software, developer tools, technical demonstrations, or production applications.
  • Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to audiences ranging from beginners to domain experts.

Developer Relations Experience

  • 5+ years of experience in Developer Relations, Developer Advocacy, Technical Education, Technical Community Management, or similar technical leadership roles.
  • Demonstrated experience building and growing technical communities.
  • Experience creating technical content including tutorials, documentation, workshops, blogs, videos, and conference presentations.
  • Excellent public speaking and technical storytelling skills.
  • Strong understanding of developer workflows and developer experience.

Leadership & Collaboration

  • Experience working cross-functionally with Engineering, Product Management, Research, Marketing, and Customer Success teams.
  • Strong stakeholder management and project leadership skills.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication.
  • Ability to influence without direct authority.
  • Comfortable leading multiple strategic initiatives simultaneously.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Master's degree or PhD in Quantum Information Science, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline.
  • Hands-on experience with quantum algorithms, quantum applications, or quantum software research.
  • Meaningful contributions to open-source software projects.
  • Experience leading developer programs, ambassador programs, certification programs, hackathons, or technical communities.
  • Experience working with universities, research institutions, or national laboratories.
  • Familiarity with AI, HPC, cloud computing, or hybrid quantum-classical workflows.
  • Experience using developer analytics and community metrics to guide investment decisions.
  • Experience speaking at major technical conferences.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Research is the organic growth engine of IBM and an innovation engine for our customers and partners. As part of this mission, IBM Research anticipates and examines 'What's Next in Computing' to ultimately create and integrate the technologies the world relies upon to solve big challenges and unlock new opportunities. We create and pioneer new markets for IBM, our partners and customers as exemplified in our ongoing quest to reach practical and large-scale quantum computing. Across IBM Research, we realize the power and potential to accelerate discovery with our partners and clients by combining the power of high performance computing, AI, and Quantum, all integrated through the hybrid cloud.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

Are you ready to be an IBMer?

ABOUT IBM

IBM’s greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.

Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we’re also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.

At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it’s time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS

IBM offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits program. Eligible employees may have access to:

- Healthcare benefits including medical & prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, and mental health & well being

- Financial programs such as 401(k), cash balance pension plan, the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan, financial counseling, life insurance, short & long- term disability coverage, and opportunities for performance based salary incentive programs

- Generous paid time off including 12 holidays, minimum 56 hours sick time, 120 hours vacation, 12 weeks parental bonding leave in accordance with IBM Policy, and other Paid Care Leave programs. IBM also offers paid family leave benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law

- Training and educational resources on our personalized, AI-driven learning platform where IBMers can grow skills and obtain industry-recognized certifications to achieve their career goals

- Diverse and inclusive employee resource groups, giving & volunteer opportunities, and discounts on retail products, services & experiences

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 21 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role.

IBM will not be providing visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Therefore, in order to be considered for this position, you must have the ability to work without a need for current or future visa sponsorship.

The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.

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