Senior IT Systems & Cloud Architect - SandboxAQ

About The Role

Sandbox AQ operates at the intersection of AI/ML and quantum, and you will provide the cloud computing and IT backbone to enable a new generation of quantum technologies. You will work across teams to evaluate computing and data security needs, and be the lead architect and administrator for our cloud platform resources. As a secondary goal, you will develop and establish our company IT and cybersecurity infrastructure from the ground up —- implementing a ticket system, onboarding new hires, and managing company domains, platforms, and licenses. You will serve as a competent expert and troubleshooting lead. We seek a builder with a start-up mentality — no task is too big or small!

Core Responsibilities

• Meet Sandbox’s growing needs through deployment of key IT infrastructure
• Drive technical relationships with 3rd-party vendors, managed service providers and SaaS vendors
• Lead best IT and cybersecurity practices, at an individual and organizational level
• When required, establish and maintain both the parent company and federal subsidiary domain where the federal domain will be compliant with all government regulations.
• Identify gaps in current configuration and proactively work towards improvement
• Come up with forward looking strategies for a growing, global company
• Onboard and mentor future IT/Cloud hires

Minimum Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in IS/IT/related or equivalent work experience
• Understanding of device/endpoint security and management, experience with at least one product suite (e.g. JAMF, Intune)
• Ability to architect a unified authentication system using a single root of trust for SSO
• Demonstrated experience in management of cloud communications products (e.g. Google Workspace, Slack)
• 5+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure deployments with AWS, Azure or GCP

Preferred Qualifications

• Successful handling and planning of IT/security incident response
• Background in defensive enterprise security or PII data handling
• Deep understanding of Linux administration and networking
• Certification from a major cloud provider (e.g. AWS, Azure; GCP is preferred)
• Experience obtaining ATO, FEDRAMP and other U.S. Government IT/Cyber certifications to support product development and use in the federal government
• History of designing a partitioned cloud deployment with separate dev, test, and prod infrastructure
• Ability to get US Security Clearance

Pre-interview Problem (If you receive an interview, please prepare a thoughtful answer)

Assume you are the main IT architect for a startup that is currently 100 people, but will go to 300 people within a year, with industry standard attrition rates. The workforce is fully remote and globally distributed, half of which is the technical team. The product being developed is a web application where the back-end runs on modern Linux frameworks and involves storage of proprietary customer data/IP (but no PII). All of the communications, productivity, development and production systems are cloud based and the only user devices are laptops and smartphones. Assuming you are more constrained by timelines and keeping the customer data/IP secure than budget, please be ready to discuss:

• General IT  infrastructure related to service/cloud providers, authentication, data storage
• What cloud-based workloads may be needed for business operations, roughly how to deploy them and partition them using your favorite cloud provider
• High level security policy for endpoints and cloud infrastructure
• Areas in this infrastructure that you would consider highest risk
• What set of IT/Cloud related documents you would have ready the first 3-6 months 

Who We Are

Sandbox AQ is a global team exploring the intersection of physics and artificial intelligence.

We pursue near-term impact through rapid prototyping of quantum and quantum-inspired

platforms that can be deployed by enterprises to surmount real-world challenges. At Sandbox we cross-pollinate ideas among a range of fields --- natural sciences, computer science, medicine, and mathematics, to name just a few --- to approach problems from a novel perspective. We are excited to work with a number of partners in the public and private sectors as we grow our solutions.

We believe that no matter what role you have, every team member has the ability to do transformational work. Inclusion, education, and service leadership are key components of our developing culture. If you are passionate about working in an agile and collaborative startup environment and want to take an active role in nurturing SB culture, this role is for you.