Elevate Quantum Chief Executive Officer
Location: Based in Denver/Boulder, Colorado or Albuquerque, New Mexico with frequent travel to the other and to Washington, D.C.
Compensation: $210,000 – $255,000 annually
Type: Full-time
Organization: Elevate Quantum
1. The Opportunity
Elevate Quantum (EQ) is America’s Quantum Tech Hub. A federal designation given by the Department of Commerce, EQ represents both the largest concentration of quantum organizations anywhere in the world and the U.S. government’s only major place-based investment in quantum technology. Our 150+ member coalition spans industry, academia, national laboratories, and government across Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Our mission is to dramatically accelerate the commercialization of quantum technology.
Quantum will be as important to the next 50 years as semiconductors and the internet have been to the last 50. The Mountain West is where this future is being built with the talent, research institutions, capital providers and companies necessary to lead this transformation. We have more 21st century quantum Nobel Prizes, more quantum-focused organizations, and more quantum jobs than anywhere else in the world. EQ exists to convert that foundational advantage into lasting economic impact. EQ is in its execution phase. The founding era produced a Tech Hub designation, $40.5M in federal funding, $12.6M in direct state funding, and a series of commercial and policy wins that have unlocked over $360M in additional government investment and almost $1B in incremental commercial investment in the region.
The next CEO will lead EQ through its most consequential period: delivering on contractual existing commitments to the federal government and the states of Colorado and New Mexico, building, aligning and marketing a durable regional ecosystem, and securing the capital necessary to scale quantum commercialization infrastructure, while capturing the enormous opportunities now in front of us.
2. The Role
The CEO is the top executive at Elevate Quantum, reporting to the Board of Directors. The CEO also serves as Regional Innovation Officer (RIO), a U.S. Department of Commerce designation for the leader of a federally designated Tech Hub. This role combines executive leadership, strategy and operations, with direct responsibility for delivering measurable results tied to executed federal and state against contracts and deadlines. The CEO must ensure Elevate Quantum fulfills its contractual obligations, operates effectively as an independent organization, and mobilizes the ecosystem to achieve shared economic development goals. The CEO can expect to meet cabinet secretaries in the morning and take out the trash – literal and metaphorical – at night.
You will be running end-to-end operations for an independent organization that is accountable to the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration for the execution of a multi-year program expected to receive over $1 Billion in taxpayer funding. You will be responsible for a program overseeing the deployment and operation of highly technical infrastructure across two states, novel workforce development programs, and the activation of a highly diverse set of quantum stakeholders.
The 6 core business units overseen by this role include:
● Advanced Packaging Facility – Elevate Quantum’s packaging facility is focused on high-mix, low- to medium-volume production, serving the needs of quantum, quantum adjacent, and advanced photonics companies. Core packaging operations include chip and photonics-based techniques (advanced wirebonding, ultra-low-loss, fiber-to-chip connectorization, flip chip, precision die attach, world-class metrology, and much more). Through our partnership with Sandia National labs, Elevate Quantum is serving as the bridge between breakthrough research and high-volume foundries to de-risk scale-up and prepare tech for defense and commercial production.
● PIC Fabrication Facility – Elevate Quantum’s PIC fab is focused on high-mix, low-volume, rapid-turn, fabrication of PICs. Elevate Quantum’s facility operates with a host of quantum relevant materials (silicon nitride, barium titanate, tantalum pentoxide, thin-film lithium niobate) serving the unique needs of this industry. The facility aims to operate with lead times of 3-4 weeks instead of the lead times experienced by quantum companies today of 3-6 months+.
● Commercialization Labs – Elevate Quantum’s Commercialization Labs offers cutting edge, shared use equipment and a variety of labs, offices, and suites for lease. This facility allows access to the United States’ first open access, open architecture, quantum computer in addition to a variety of top of the line equipment and service offerings including, but not limited to cryogenic test-beds, atomic clocks, environmental testing, prototyping equipment, test and measurement equipment, and much more.
● Workforce Development – Spanning Colorado and New Mexico, Elevate Quantum’s workforce development efforts include not just activating the stakeholders in the quantum workforce development ecosystem (executing on projects with partners that have already reached 1,000’s of learners), but also includes running on on-premise training programs leveraging the equipment at the commercialization labs. Our training programs will be focused on building the next generation of quantum technician talent with initial programming centered on building up the cryogenic technician workforce.
● Consortium Engagement – EQ is also responsible for the management and alignment of the overall consortium. This includes building out strategic cross-border collaborations, partnering on funding applications, and activating the region. EQ oversees 3 advisory boards (industry, science, and workforce) as well as a workforce collaborative. Additionally, Elevate Quantum convenes one or more major quantum events each year, and holds bi-monthly CEO roundtables. The organization also supports NM and CO state organizations to attract new company investment into the region.
● Business Recruitment & Inward Investmen – Convert the Mountain West’s technical superiority into a permanent, densified industrial cluster with defensible structural advantage. This includes identifying, courting, and relocating global quantum companies, supply chain anchors, and venture-backed startups to the Colorado-New Mexico-Wyoming corridor and marketing the Quantum Tech Hub on a national and global scale, to ensure the world knows that the Mountain West is the number one place for Quantum business development. Success in this area is measured by the number of new corporate HQs established, net new jobs to the region, the relocation of critical supply chain partners, additional federal awards, and the volume of private capital successfully landed in the region.
Oversight of these key functions must be done while also hitting federal, state, and revenue milestones, managing state contracts and tenant relationships, and ensuring that every dollar of public investment and earned program revenue produces measurable commercial and economic impact. You will serve as the central convener for a large coalition of organizations that often have competing individual agendas but a shared common goal. The role will regularly engage with governors, legislators, university presidents, lab directors, national leaders, and CEOs across our ecosystem. The role requires someone who can provide clear answers and strategy, maintain alignment across partners, and drive progress even when interests diverge. It will be deeply rewarding, but also really hard.
3. Key Responsibilities
Set Strategic Direction
● Define and own the strategic vision for EQ, translating a broad and ambitious mission into a focused set of priorities with clear sequencing and measurable outcomes.
● Build board alignment around strategic direction, ensuring the organization’s leadership is working from a shared understanding of what matters most and why.
● Continuously reassess strategy as the quantum landscape evolves, keeping EQ ahead of shifts in technology, policy, and market dynamics.
● Strengthen, recruit, build and lead develop a high-performing senior leadership team, with technical expertise, and strengths in sales, fundraising, partnerships and ecosystem development, strategic judgement, and relationship-building capabilities required to operate a high-scale, complex, multi-program organization.
Maintain Positive Direction and Momentum
● Hit every EDA Tech Hub milestone on time and on budget, including revenue sustainability goals.
● Stand up and operationalize the Colorado-based photonic integrated circuit cleanroom and open-access quantum laboratories, in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines.
● Stand up and run the advanced photonics packaging facility in New Mexico, driving technology transfer of novel packaging techniques in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico.
● Design, fundraise for, and execute on 6 new technician training programs leveraging the infrastructure found in EQ and partner-owned facilities in both Colorado and New Mexico.
● Ensure that contractual obligations to Colorado and New Mexico are satisfied with outsized impact achieved as measured in jobs created, companies attracted, technologies commercialized, and infrastructure built in the two states.
● Oversee reporting, audits, and compliance with the rigor and transparency that continued funding requires to maintain federal and state support.
● Build operational systems to track progress, surface problems early, and keep partners and funders informed with data.
Partner to position the region for global leadership
● Partner with state governments to position the region that highlights Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming’s value proposition independently, while promoting the region as a whole for longterm global leadership in quantum technologies
● Help New Mexico efficiently and effectively deploy its recently announced $270M+ in quantum investment across venture, infrastructure, and workforce programs. Ensure EQ is an indispensable partner in that effort.
● Help Colorado efficiently and effectively deploy its $77M+ in quantum investments across EQ, Shared Facilities (at CU Boulder and Mines), Innovative Lending Fund, and workforce programs. Ensure EQ is an indispensable partner in that effort.
● Deepen the strategic alignment between Colorado and New Mexico so that both states’ assets produce maximum regional economic impact.
● Work directly with governors’ offices, economic development agencies, and state leadership to keep quantum a top priority and public resources producing real results.
● Manage complex stakeholder relationships across the coalition, navigating competing institutional agendas while keeping the ecosystem focused on shared goals.
● Represent EQ to federal agencies (EDA, NIST, DOE, NSF), state governments, and global industry partners.
Drive Capital Formation and Long-Term Sustainability
● Secure diversified revenue streams EQ needs to sustain operations independent of any single funding source, including private sector partnerships, state appropriations, philanthropic support, and earned revenue.
● Land the strategic outside partnerships require to bring in the equipment, infrastructure, and dollars outside of existing Tech Hubs required to hit key milestones and revenue goals.
● Fill the capital gaps that prevent regional quantum startups from moving from lab breakthroughs to commercial scale.
● Position the Elevate Quantum region of CO, NM, and WY as the premier destination for quantum investment in the United States.
● Support ecosystem partners in their own capital-raising efforts where it advances the broader mission.
Serve as a Voice for the Quantum Industry
● Be a credible, visible advocate for the quantum industry with policymakers, media, and the broader public.
● Help shape the national conversation around quantum technology, ensuring the Mountain West’s leadership is recognized and that policy decisions reflect the industry’s real needs and realistic timelines.
● Manage the board with crisp, data-driven reporting focused on strategic priorities.
4. The Ideal Candidate
● You have led organizations through significant growth, stood up facilities, managed complex budgets, and delivered results under pressure. You have experience with deep-tech commercialization or infrastructure buildout.
● You have built or scaled something real. You can set a clear strategic direction and then drive the organization to deliver on it. You understand that strategy without execution is meaningless, but that execution without strategy is just activity.
● You develop trust-based collaborative relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders with shared macro goals but institution specific agendas which allow you to use your extra-ordinary communication skills to solve problems, mitigate conflicts and catalyze win-win solutions.
● You have a passion for meaningful, place-based, workforce development programs that teach real hands-on skillsets needed to succeed in the quantum industry.
● You understand the quantum industry, the EDA Tech Hubs program, and the Mountain West quantum ecosystem.
● You can set long-term direction and make disciplined choices about organizational priorities, even when that means saying no to good ideas that don’t serve the mission or can’t be the priority.
● You have a proven track record securing significant capital across private, philanthropic, and public sources.
● You are equally effective in a meeting with a governor, a panel at a physics conference, or a pitch to a Fortune 500 CTO.
● You can hold a coalition of 150+ organizations together, building consensus where possible and making hard calls where necessary.
5. Background
Elevate Quantum was co-founded by Corban Tillemann-Dick (Founder and CEO of Maybell Quantum) and Zachary Yerushalmi (previously a founding senior investor at Oxford Sciences Innovation, a >$1B joint venture with Oxford University) with seed capital from the Colorado Economic Development Commission. In 2024, EQ was designated by the U.S. Department of Commerce as America’s Quantum Tech Hub, and was the only organization to receive significant funding to accompany this designation. The $40.5M EDA award was described by the Secretary of Commerce as a “down payment” on more than $1B that the Department hopes to invest through the Tech Hub program over the coming decade. Zach is transitioning from his role as CEO of EQ to lead an industry-defining initiative designed to catalyze the quantum industry’s next phase — one that will complement and closely collaborate with EQ as it continues to grow and scale. You will inherit his role as CEO, and also inherit a strong foundation: active EDA contracts, growing state partnerships in Colorado and New Mexico, a 150+ member global coalition, a thriving (if nascent) 70+ acre campus with active tenants, a small but passionate and capable team, and a workforce pipeline serving an industry with 3,500+ jobs in the region. The opportunity and challenge is executing at the pace and scale that this moment demands.
6. Compensation and Location
● $210,000-$225,000 annually
● Based in Denver/Boulder, Colorado or Albuquerque, New Mexico with frequent travel to the other and to Washington, D.C.
● Reports to the EQ Board of Directors. The quantum century is here. If you want to help lead the next phase of this transformation, we want to hear from you
How To Apply
To apply, please click here!