The development and commercialisation of quantum technologies is an exciting area of research innovation, currently being supported by unprecedented levels of investment on a global level. In the UK alone, last year’s national quantum strategy set out an ambitious ten-year vision for the country to be a leading quantum-enabled economy, with these emerging technologies driving economic growth while also contributing to a strong and resilient society. Access to the appropriate talent and skills are obviously vital to achieving this vision and although well established pathways such as University degrees in physics and engineering can provide access to highly relevant expertise, there are opportunities to join the community – in academia or industry – through less well known routes. Recently, the UK’s Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), through its Office for Quantum, has convened a Quantum Skills Taskforce which comprises many working groups with the remit of helping to  ensure that the UK has the workforce needed to develop and adopt quantum technologies. Their findings are expected to be published by the end of the year. 

For the last three years, the Quantum Communications Hub has been talking to role models from the quantum technologies community in an effort to gain an understanding of the skills required and highlight diverse career trajectories in the field. A first collection of quantum careers fact sheets was published in 2022 on the basis of material collected during these interviews; now the second series has been finalised and made available on the Careers section of the website. If you would like to know more about what a career in quantum technologies would entail and how you can get there, then these fact sheets are for you! Alongside obvious roles such as quantum researchers, quantum engineers and cryptographers, there is also a plethora of support roles, which are crucial to the field and to growing a quantum economy, such as laboratory technicians, business development managers, software developers, communications specialists, patent officers and many more. These are exciting times to be involved in the field of quantum technologies; do have a look at the opportunities available and feel free to contact us for more information!