Summer Intern 2025 - QEC Open-source Software

Seattle, US | Full-time | Fixed-term (12 weeks)

About us

Riverlane’s mission is to make quantum computing useful, sooner. From advances in material science to complex chemistry simulation for drug design and discovery, quantum computers will help solve some of the world’s most important challenges. Riverlane is building the quantum error correction stack, Deltaflow, to make this happen. It’s a complex problem that requires a range of skills, talent and passion. We recently raised $75M in Series C funding to accelerate our cutting-edge R&D in quantum error correction (QEC), and are partnering with many of the world’s leading quantum hardware providers and government agencies to make fault-tolerant quantum computing a reality. We’re making remarkable progress and growing fast.

About the internship

We have an exciting opportunity for an intern to gain experience with our rapidly growing open-source software team, as we embark on a brand-new program to create, build and develop a suite of engaging educational tools to support the wider quantum ecosystem.

As quantum computing enters a new “QEC era” marked by significant advancements in quantum error correction and fault tolerance, it presents new technical challenges and a growing need to empower the next generation of learners and innovators.

Riverlane has committed to leading the QEC community into fault-tolerant quantum computing by making a substantial investment in a new open-source tools strategy, complemented by scalable education and enablement.  We aim to accelerate advances in QEC research by building out Riverlane’s open-source software (OSS) libraries and developer APIs to provide critical tools for QEC workflows, such as logical circuit generation, simulation, decoding and noise modelling.  As Riverlane integrates Deltaflow QEC data streaming capabilities into QPU providers, the community will need to upskill to prepare for working with logical qubits and error corrected systems.

Today, QEC research is dominated by three software tools: Stim, PyMatching and BP-OSD.  Various combinations of these allow rapid simulation of QEC protocols, particularly for variants of the surface code.

This internship is an excellent opportunity to gain exposure as a founding member of our OSS team, assisting with the hands-on development and delivery of new software tools to contribute to this ecosystem, based on learnings from Riverlane’s world-class QEC science mission.

What you will do

Reporting to the Sr. Engineering Manager, Open-source Software, you will join a small team of engineers dedicated to rapidly building and iterating on the software tooling needs of the QEC user community.  This exciting internship is an outstanding opportunity to help pioneer and build zero-to-one that will empower the next generation of learners and innovators in QEC.

In this role, with support from your supervisor you will:

• Help execute Riverlane’s open-source and developer API strategy for QEC experiment workflows
• Collaborate with the Customer Enablement, Open-source Software teams and affiliated researchers to develop QEC software tools
• Write a software demo and blog post about your work

What we need

• Studying for a Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Computer Science (or a similar related field)
• Proficiency in Python and/or web development
• Ambition to enable the QEC user community with useful tools
• Basic proficiency with git and collaborative software development best practices such as issue tracking, code review and CI/CD
• Experience writing software unit tests and demo examples
• A passion for learning and a curious mindset

Even better if you have

• Basic experience with quantum programming
• Experience building interactive data visualization tools for Python or web

Important notes

• Summer internships are full-time and generally 3 months in length. the starting date will typically be in July 2025.
• Internships are based in Seattle, USA with a hybrid arrangement.
• We require a signed agreement from you assigning the ownership of any IP produced during your internship to Riverlane.
• Regrettably we are only able to consider applications from those that already have authorization to work in the US.

What can you expect from us 

• A diverse work environment that brings together experts in many fields (including software and hardware development, quantum information theory, physics and maths) and over 20 different nationalities

• Mentoring from and collaboration with senior engineers and researchers
• A learning environment that encourages open discussions and growth mindset

How to apply 

Please upload a CV and covering letter by clicking 'Apply Now'. Your covering letter should explain why you are applying for the job and what skills and experience you can bring to the role, and what you are looking to learn and take away from your internship at Riverlane.

We review CVs as we receive them and interview as soon as we have applications that look like a good match (usually within one week). We do not use closing dates. So, please apply as soon as possible to avoid missing out on this role.

If you have any queries, please contact jobs@riverlane.com.

Everyone is welcome at Riverlane. We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from eligible and suitably qualified candidates regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender reassignment, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity/paternity.

Studies have shown that women tend to apply to jobs if they meet all or almost all the requirements whereas men apply even if they meet only some of the requirements. If that sounds like you then please apply – we are happy to review your application and let you know if we think you might be a good fit.

If you need any adjustments made to the application or selection process so you can do your best, please let us know. We will be happy to help.