Staff Design Quality Engineer - NPI

About the role

We are looking for a Design Quality Engineer to join our Manufacturing & Operations team. As a Design Quality Engineer, you'll be part of a cross-functional team whose mission is to lead IonQ on its journey to build the world's best quantum computers to solve the world's most complex problems.

Responsibilities

• Own holistic Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFM/DFA) reviews across the full system, spanning all subsystems, to identify cross-cutting design quality risks, recurring failure patterns, and systemic issues before they propagate into build.
• Drive and ensure adoption and implementation of design standards within Engineering, including GD&T drawing conventions, fastener standards, component design libraries, and interface standards.
• Lead active standardization initiatives already underway, including collimator consolidation, fastener standards, and CAD configuration standards, in close partnership with the System CAD Configurator and Engineering Operations.
• Introduce structured quality planning into IonQ's NPI programs — defining which design quality deliverables (DFMEA, DVP&R, key characteristics, measurement plans) belong at each E/V/P build stage, and working with NPI teams to weave them into the existing program rhythm without adding friction.
• Review Design Verification and Validation plans and reports (DVP&R) in step with IonQ's iterative build cycles; work with engineering to ensure V&V plans are drafted ahead of E builds and matured through validation.
• Review engineering drawings and CAD models for correct, complete, and unambiguous GD&T per ASME Y14.5; perform and review tolerance stack-up analyses to confirm assemblies will fit and function across tolerance ranges.
• Participate in and help refine IonQ's change control process as a quality reviewer — evaluating design changes for V&V impact and configuration consistency across E, V, and P system baselines, and flagging when a change warrants re-verification before the next build.
• Lead structured root-cause and corrective/preventive action for design-related failures from build, test, or the field; verify effectiveness before closure and feed lessons learned back into design rules, checklists, and documentation.
• Support PPAP and first-article inspection (AS9102) activities at the NPI-to-production transition; coordinate prototype and pilot build quality feedback back into the design to improve first-pass yield on future builds.
• Define, track, and report design quality metrics (DFMEA AP burn-down, V&V completion rate, design-review action closure, first-pass yield at prototype/pilot) and use data to drive continuous improvement of methods, templates, and standard work.
• Mentor engineers in design quality methods and serve as the organization's technical authority on design controls, risk methods, and GD&T standards; raise the design quality capability of the broader team over time.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, systems, manufacturing, or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of quality, design, or reliability engineering experience in a precision hardware environment, such as semiconductor, aerospace, defense, advanced instrumentation, or medical devices.
• Demonstrated experience facilitating Design FMEAs (AIAG-VDA or equivalent) and leading structured root-cause and corrective action investigations through to verified closure.
• Strong GD&T proficiency per ASME Y14.5 and hands-on experience with tolerance stack-up analysis; comfortable reviewing, interpreting, and redlining engineering drawings and CAD models.
• Experience developing and reviewing Design Verification and Validation plans (DVP&R).
• Working knowledge of a design controls QMS framework, such as ISO 9001 Clause 8.3, with the ability to apply its requirements to a fast-moving hardware development environment.
• Proven track record of driving cross-functional standards adoption, ensuring engineering teams understand, apply, and maintain them in practice.
• Excellent cross-functional communication skills with the judgment to translate quality risk into clear, actionable decisions for both engineering teams and senior leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with opto-mechanical, photonic, vacuum system, or cryogenic hardware — IonQ's systems are precision opto-mechanical assemblies and this background meaningfully shortens ramp time.
• APQP/PPAP experience and familiarity with first-article inspection (AS9102) or equivalent production-readiness frameworks used at the NPI-to-production transition.
• Familiarity with AS9100 or equivalent aerospace/defense QMS frameworks, including configuration management, key characteristics, and first article requirements.
• Experience standing up or maturing a design quality function from an informal or nascent baseline.
• Comfort working within PLM and change management tooling (such as Windchill, Arena, or Teamcenter) and familiarity with formal ECO disposition workflows.
• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) or Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), or equivalent professional certification.
• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in mechanical engineering, systems engineering, or a related discipline.