Postdoctoral Position in Applications of Quantum Computing

Are you a highly motivated post-doctoral researcher with excellent skills for exploring applications of quantum computing? Then you could be the candidate we are looking for.

We have available a three-year postdoctoral research position, in a joint initiative between the Netherland's Quantum Application Lab (QAL) and IBM Quantum. You will be employed by the Institute of Physics of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and your main research environments will be the QuSoft research center (housed by CWI) and the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory where you will be able to interact and collaborate with IBM Quantum Researchers.

What are you going to do?

You will be conducting research aimed at understanding and demonstrating potential Quantum Advantage by improving near term algorithms, such as VQE for chemistry and material science, QAOA for optimization, or other heuristic algorithms that run on near term computers. You will address questions such as

• How do we bring these algorithms to the next level, i.e., improve their performance and increase the complexity of considered problem instances?
• Under what conditions, or set of assumptions, and for which applications do certain algorithms offer a Quantum Advantage?
• What are the right metrics to measure such a Quantum Advantage? Can we bring in other metrics other than speed. For example, by looking at the quality or accuracy of the output compared with classical approaches (even if the quantum algorithm runs longer than classical but still in polynomial time)?
• Can we develop a tool that can predict or guide which techniques will work on certain applications?
• How can we run experiments on IBM Quantum systems, simulators and other QAL resources to validate the performance of potential solutions? How can we handle the hardware noise and scale to relevant problem sizes?

The successful candidate should have

• a completed PhD in computer science, math or (computational or theoretical) physics,
• experience with and affinity for quantum computing,
• Knowledge of Qiskit and IBM Quantum systems (Preferred)
• strong motivation for a cross-disciplinary environment at the interface of an academic and an industrial environment.

We offer a temporary employment contract for 38 hours per week for a period of 12 months with a extension of another 24 months depending on a positive assessment. The preferred starting date is as soon as possible

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 2,960 to € 4,670 (scale 10). This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year-end allowance. The function profile 'researcher' is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the '30% ruling', may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on a fulltime appointment);
• multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• access to IBM Quantum Network benefits and collaboration with IBM Quantum Researchers
• 7 weeks maternity/paternity leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• partly paid parental leave;
• the possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• a pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
• the possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• help with housing for a studio or small apartment when you're moving from abroad.

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here.

The University of Amsterdam is the Netherlands' largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 30,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity. The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. The mission of the Institute of Physics (IoP) is to carry out excellent research in the field of experimental and theoretical physics, to provide inspiring teaching within the physics and other curricula and to transfer our knowledge of and enthusiasm for physics to society. The IoP has over 50 faculty and 180 researchers in total. The combination with the NWO Institutes at Amsterdam Science Park constitutes the largest physics hub in the Netherlands and is an international centre of excellence.

QuSoft is a research center founded in 2015 as a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam and the Centrum Wiskunde en Informatica (CWI). The overarching challenge for QuSoft is to harness the power of quantum information, through the study of quantum information science and the development of new protocols, algorithms and applications that can be run on small to medium-sized prototypes of a quantum computer or a quantum network.

The Quantum Application Lab (QAL) is an open innovation ecosystem that bridges the gap between academic research of quantum computing and industrial applications to solve some of our most pressing societal challenges in areas such as health care, energy and technology.

IBM Quantum is an industry-first initiative to build commercial universal quantum systems for business and science applications. For more information about IBM's quantum computing efforts, please visit https://www.ibm.com/quantum.

Any questions?

Do you have any questions or do you require additional information? Please contact:

• Prof. Kareljan Schoutens: c.j.m.schoutens@uva.nl; +31 20 525 5664