Solutions Engineering Program Manager
Qblox
Operations
Delft, Netherlands
What will you do?
The Reality of the Role
Let’s be completely honest: this is not a standard, slow-moving PMO job. You won’t be managing a predictable roadmap, chasing people for timesheets, or hiding behind layers of corporate red tape.
At Qblox, we build the modular quantum control stacks that drive next-generation quantum computers. When a massive, strategic enterprise customer comes to us with a Non-Standard Request (NSR) or needs a Proof of Concept (POC) to sign a multi-million-euro deal, they don't want it next year. They want to know how we can make it happen now.
As the Solutions Engineering Program Manager, you are essentially the Chief Operating Officer of the Deal.
You will sit right at the center of a high-tension triangle: Sales (who want the feature built yesterday), Mainline R&D (who want to protect their core product roadmap), and The Customer (who wants a bespoke solution to a physics problem).
Your job isn't to please everyone. Your job is to drive execution velocity, allocate an elite multidisciplinary team of engineers, and ensure we win the deal without bankrupting our engineering capacity or burying the product in technical debt.
What You’ll Actually Be Doing on a Tuesday Morning
Playing the Gatekeeper: You’ll sit down with the Solutions Architect to vet incoming customer requests. While they validate if it’s physically possible, you will validate if it’s economically and temporally viable. If we don’t have the headcount or the budget to hit the deadline, you have the authority—and the backbone—to say "No."
Protecting the Core: You’ll negotiate the "tax" we place on our mainline product teams. You ensure that the "quick wins" we build to close a deal don’t create unmanageable technical debt or pull critical resources away from our core architectural milestones.
Accelerating Velocity: When we are in a "win-the-deal" scenario, timelines are measured in days and weeks, not months. You’ll be hunting down blockers—whether that’s fast-tracking equipment procurement, clearing lab access, or smoothing over an intellectual property hurdle—so your engineers can keep their heads down and build.
Managing the Friction: When an "off-roadmap" feature hits turbulence in the lab, you’ll be the one talking to the customer’s PMO and our Strategic Account Managers. You excel at translating complex, low-level technical milestones into clear business progress, managing expectations when things get rocky.
Building the Handover Bridge: Once the POC is successful and the deal is secured, your job isn't done. You will take the "as-built" designs from the architect and translate them into a clean, frictionless project plan that our mainline System Architects and Team Leads can smoothly absorb into the permanent product line.
Why You’ll Love It
Genuine Autonomy: You will operate in an "Agile-Lite" rapid-prototyping environment. We don't care about rigid, outdated waterfall charts; we care about delivery and deal velocity. You have the freedom to build the process architecture that works.
Zero Boredom: You get the excitement of a pre-sales environment combined with the deep satisfaction of working on real, cutting-edge hardware/software co-design.
A Rare Technical Space: You’ll be managing a team of exceptionally sharp minds working at the absolute frontier of quantum technology. It's a line on your CV that very few people globally can claim.
What We Offer
We believe in giving you the flexibility to fit your role around your life. On top of a highly competitive salary and benefits package, you’ll get genuine hybrid flexibility and three weeks a year to work from abroad—whether that’s to visit family, extend a holiday, or just enjoy a change of scenery.
Job requirements
Enough about us, what about you?
We are looking for a heavyweight. To command the respect of deep-domain quantum hardware and software experts, you need to speak their language.
The Track Record: You have 8 to 12+ years of Program/Project Management experience under your belt. This needs to be from high-complexity, low-volume sectors where hardware meets software (e.g., Semiconductors, Aerospace/Defense, Automotive, or Tier-1 Cloud Infrastructure).
Deep-Tech Literacy: You must thoroughly understand the hardware development lifecycle (V-Model). You should instinctively know why an FPGA timing violation or a multi-layer PCB re-spin impacts a tight deadline entirely differently than a software bug.
Diplomatic Authority: You know how to make hard "Pivot" decisions under intense stakeholder pressure. You are a natural mediator who leads through influence, logic, and a deep understanding of ROI, rather than corporate hierarchy.
Comfort with Ambiguity: You thrive in the unstructured, fast-paced nature of winning new business. If you need a perfectly defined manual to operate, this won't be the right environment for you.
Ready to step up?
If you have the technical depth to lead elite engineers and the strategic backbone to manage high-stakes deals, we’d love to hear from you. Apply today and let’s talk.