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
We are seeking a highly technical Software Engineering Manager with expertise in quality engineering, distributed systems, cloud-native platforms, and production operations to lead the Quality Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team for IBM Quantum. In this role, you will lead a team responsible for advancing the quality, reliability, observability, and operational excellence of the IBM Quantum Platform.
The IBM Quantum Platform is a complex distributed system spanning cloud and on-premises infrastructure. Success in this role requires a deep understanding of how large-scale software systems behave in production and how engineering practices can improve software quality, system reliability, and developer velocity.
You will lead initiatives spanning quality engineering, test automation, release validation, observability, performance engineering, incident management, and reliability engineering. Working closely with research, engineering, product, and operations teams, you will drive engineering best practices and deliver technical solutions that improve software quality, service availability, platform resilience, and operational outcomes—helping deliver an industry-leading quantum computing platform.
Our work plays a fundamental role in continuing to mature IBM's quantum computing services into a production-ready platform capable of supporting mission-critical scientific and enterprise workloads. Joining this team in this role means stepping into a highly visible leadership role where you will shape the engineering practices, operational maturity, and reliability culture that underpin the next generation of quantum computing services.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and develop a team of Quality Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering professionals, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Partner with product, engineering, and business stakeholders to translate business objectives into priorities, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes for quality and reliability initiatives.
- Define and execute testing strategies spanning integration, end-to-end, performance, resilience, and release validation to ensure high-quality software delivery.
- Drive engineering best practices for software quality, CI/CD, deployment safety, release readiness, and production validation to improve delivery confidence and operational excellence.
- Advance reliability and observability practices by promoting SRE principles and improving metrics, logging, tracing, monitoring, alerting, and operational visibility.
- Lead incident response, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement efforts to strengthen platform reliability and reduce operational risk.
- Build strong cross-functional partnerships and provide technical leadership to align quality and reliability initiatives across engineering teams.
Leaders are expected to spend time with their teams and clients and therefore, are generally expected to be in the workplace a minimum of three days a week subject to business needs.
Required Technical And Professional Expertise
- Deep Expertise in Software Development: Proven experience in designing, developing, testing, and delivering software solutions using leading-edge and/or proven technologies, with a strong focus on innovation and quality.
- Proficiency in Agile Methodologies: Experience working in Agile environments, collaborating with stakeholders to understand requirements and deliver high-quality solutions that meet business needs and goals.
- Advanced Debugging Skills: Deep expertise in debugging complex software issues, designing, developing, and unit testing code fixes for complex problems.
- CI/CD Pipeline Expertise: Experience contributing to automated CI/CD pipelines, ensuring seamless integration and delivery of software solutions.
- Technical Leadership: Experience in providing technical guidance and oversight, ensuring that software solutions are unit tested and meet quality standards.
- Production operational experience: Experience working with large-scale and complex distributed systems in production.
Preferred Technical And Professional Experience
- Quality Engineering and/or Site Reliability Engineering leadership: Experience leading teams in the technical domains of quality engineering or site reliability engineering.
- Advanced Agile Methodologies: Deep expertise in working in Agile environments, collaborating with stakeholders to understand requirements and deliver high-quality solutions that meet business needs and goals.
