An Oxford spin-out that uses machine learning to tune and control quantum computers so the delicate qubits inside them work reliably.
QuantrolOx is a company that uses machine learning to look after quantum computers. The qubits inside a quantum computer, the basic units that hold information, are delicate. Each one must be measured and tuned carefully before it works well, and this is slow work usually done by a small number of specialists. QuantrolOx builds software that measures qubit behaviour and automates the tuning, so that more quantum computers can be run by fewer experts. Its software is designed to work with different kinds of hardware, and at first it focused on solid-state qubits, which are made from materials a bit like computer chips.
The company was set up in July 2021 as a spin-out from the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford. Its founders include Professor Andrew Briggs, who is executive chair and an emeritus professor of nanomaterials at Oxford, Vishal Chatrath, who is chief executive, Natalia Ares, the chief scientist, and Dominic Lennon, who led quantum technologies. An Oxford Trust interview from March 2022 describes a team of eight people, some of them recent graduates. The chief executive has said the company is "building the foundations of the quantum industry" and that its tools "industrialise quantum hardware and train the people to run it".
In 2022 QuantrolOx was based at the Oxford Centre for Innovation, part of The Oxford Trust's innovation hub, alongside other Oxford quantum companies. It had received a grant connected to the National Quantum Computing Centre. A later news report says the company is now headquartered in Finland, with expansion in North America, and ties it to Oxford through its origins and co-founder Professor Briggs. We could not confirm how many people work in the UK now, or whether Oxford is still a working base, so this is the weakest part of the picture.
Of the culture, the 2022 interview showed founders who value learning and improving step by step, noting that progress came from getting 'better and better' over five years. We found no values page and no description of working life. It is a small company, so people there are likely to work across several areas.
The jobs at a company like this lie in machine learning, quantum physics, software engineering, and in running experiments on qubit hardware, as well as business and customer teams. Physics, maths, materials science and computer science are good subjects to follow if this interests you. Its website is the best place to see what it is hiring for and where its staff sit.
Website: quantrolox.com
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