Research Associate in Distributed Quantum Computing

Imperial College London Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

United Kingdom

Job summary

Imperial College and UCL recently won a research grant of £3 million for 4 years from the UK EPSRC to develop distributed quantum computing (DQC). While based at Imperial College, this post-holder will join the multi-disciplinary team to develop viable architectures and techniques to efficiently connect quantum processing units (QPUs) for scalable quantum computing. Our work spans from developing the DQC architecture and demonstrating...

Job listing information

Reference ENG02115
Date posted 27 April 2022
Closing date 25 May 2022

Key information about the role

Location South Kensington Campus (map)
Position type Full time, fixed term
Salary £41,593 – £49,210 plus benefits
Department Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Category Researcher / Non Clinical Researcher

Job description

Job summary

The main research focus for this post-holder is to investigate the hybrid architecture with mixed use of QPUs and conventional computer nodes (CCNs) for generic machine learning and optimization algorithms, to reveal tradeoffs among various architectural design choices. We aim to develop algorithms to partition a given computational intensive application into tasks that are allocated to distributed QPUs and CCNs for processing to achieve the highest efficiency, while considering the merits and constraints of QPUs and CCNs.
This position is an excellent opportunity for a researcher with strong background in quantum computing, quantum networks and/or conventional communication networks and distributed computing. Strong analytic skills including stochastic models, optimization and algorithm design will be helpful.

Duties and responsibilities

Research Duties include:

To plan and carry out research in accordance with the project aims and timeframes.
To propose and investigate new techniques, algorithms and architectures for quantum networks and hybrid quantum computing.
To verify and characterize system performance of the distributed quantum computing for optimization and machine learning tasks such as finance and/or aeronautic applications.
To collaborate and cooperate with other research staff and industrial partners of the same project and other quantum projects funded by the UK EPSRC.
To act as the representative for Imperial College in meetings, conference calls and conferences.
To present research at conferences, workshops, open days and meetings, and publish research results in journals.
To liaise with other members of the team and cooperate with them for the benefit of the project objectives.
To develop a sound understanding of ethical and health and safety regulations, and the responsibilities of themselves and their colleagues.
To comply with relevant College policies, including Financial Regulations, Equal Opportunities Policy, Promoting Race Equality Policy, Health and Safety Policy, Information Systems Security Policy and Intellectual Property Rights and Register of Interests Policies.
To undertake any necessary training and/or development.
Any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post as directed by line manager / supervisor.

Essential requirements

Essential requirements include:

Hold a PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience
Near completion of a PhD (or equivalent) Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a closely related discipline
Conventional communication networks and/or distributed computing
Quantum computing and/or communications
Machine learning and optimization techniques
Willingness to work as part of a team and to be open-minded and cooperative