Cryogenic & RF Platform Operations Manager H/F

About the role :

Every qubit we design has to be cooled to 10 millikelvin, wired and instrumented before anyone can measure anything. Between the chip and the measurement sits a full microwave chain: cold RF and DC wiring down the cryostat, attenuation and thermalization at every stage, then the instrumentation and control racks at room temperature. That platform — dilution cryostats and their measurement chains — is one of the company most critical assets, and the Cryogenic & RF Platform Operations team owns it.

You lead that team: 7 engineers and technicians who run cooldown and warm-up cycles, modify cold and room-temperature RF and DC cabling on user request, keep cryostats and instrumentation racks available and qualified, build new systems in house, and act as the single entry point for the QPU design and characterization teams. Your job is quality and availability: every hour the platform is down is an hour the company isn't measuring qubits.

Responsabilities

• Cryostats and RF chains availability

• Keep cryostats, wiring and instrumentation up and running: preventive maintenance plans, corrective action, first-level troubleshooting.
• Own the health of the measurement chains — routine V&V on RF and DC instrumentation, characterization of the signal path, detection of drift and degradation.
• Track and drive uptime; monitor environmental conditions (vibration, temperature).
• Align with the other team leads on RF and hardware architecture standards and implementation practice.

Platform operations

• Plan and schedule operations with the team, against user requests and company iteration cycles.
• Make sure requests are documented and complete, and review the work delivered.
• Contribute directly to cooldown/warm-up cycles and cabling changes when the load requires it.
• Establish and maintain standard operating procedures; manage stock and supplier loops, including RF components and cryogenic consumables.

System build and integration

• Oversee in-house assembly and integration, from components to operational setups: cryostat assembly; cabling assembly — plates, thermalization, attenuators and filtering; assembly and wiring of the instrumentation and control racks; and full system integration.
• Support the design teams during validation: test campaigns, V&V execution, feedback on manufacturability and operability.
• Run final acceptance before a system enters production — tools qualified, documentation ready, team trained.

Team and budget

• Manage and grow a team of engineers and technicians: day-to-day supervision, 1:1s, mentoring, skill development.
• Define hiring needs and drive recruitment with People &Culture team.
• Prepare and oversee the team's budget.
• Drive continuous improvement, technical and organizational (A3 and equivalent).

Requirements

Educational Background:

• A Master degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or Production management — or equivalent experience. 

Experience:

• 7+ years operating, building or maintaining RF/microwave measurement chains, cryogenic systems, test benches or comparable critical experimental infrastructure — in industry, in a large research facility, or on a pilot line.
• Practical command of RF instrumentation and signal chains: VNA or spectrum analyser measurement, cabling integrity, troubleshooting.
• Hands-on credibility: you have personally built, wired, debugged or commissioned systems, and the team will know it.
• Experience leading a technical team, or clear readiness to step into it.
• Strong planning ability under constraint: tool availability, maintenance windows, competing user demands.
• Pragmatism in real time — you decide with incomplete information and communicate the call.
• A service-oriented mindset toward internal users, and genuine rigor in documentation and traceability.
• Professional English and French.

Nice to have — dilution refrigerators or sub-kelvin cryogenics; microwave measurement at low temperature; quantum technologies; Lean or operational excellence practice.

Working conditions

The platform is split across two sites in Île-de-France, Aubervilliers and Paris 15ième. The role is on site, with regular travel between the two — expect roughly 80% on Aubervilliers, and 20% on Paris 15ième.

Recruitment process

• Screening Call with Alexandra Talent Acquisition Specialist (30 min)
• Hiring Manager Interview with Antoine, your future manager  (45 min)
• Technical case study on site (60 min) — prepared and presented on the day, nothing to do beforehand
• Leadership and Fit Interview (60 min)