Vice President of Facilities · Rigetti Computing

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:55:16 GMT
Engineering

Rigetti Computing · Fremont · onsite

Rigetti is building the infrastructure that enables practical quantum computing. Our facilities extend beyond traditional offices and include highly technical environments that must operate with exceptional reliability, security, and regulatory rigor.

As the company continues to scale, facilities are a critical enabler of our technology, operations, and growth. The Vice President of Facilities will provide senior leadership across the company's facilities portfolio, balancing strategic planning with hands-on execution.

This role is responsible for ensuring that facilities are designed, operated, and evolved to meet the needs of a highly technical organization, while supporting long-term growth, capital planning, and operational resilience.

The ideal candidate brings strong judgment, comfort operating in complex environments, and the ability to translate business priorities into clear facilities decisions. They will partner closely with technical and operational leaders, external vendors, and regulators to ensure facilities reliably support the company's mission.

This role serves as a primary facilities advisor to executive leadership, providing expert guidance on risk, investment, and long-term infrastructure decisions.

Facilities Strategy & Planning

Define and execute a multi-year facilities strategy aligned with business growth, technical requirements, and operational priorities.

Evaluate tradeoffs and frame clear decision paths for executive leadership, including cost, risk, timing, and long-term implications, with the confidence to advocate for the right outcome.

Establish frameworks and standards that enable consistent, severity-based decision-making across sites, balancing risk, cost, and operational impact.

Facilities Operations & Execution

Provide oversight of mission-critical facilities, ensuring reliability, safety, and operational excellence.

Balance near-term execution with longer-term planning, maintaining continuity while enabling evolution and scale.

Partner with on-site teams to support detailed operational needs while elevating planning and prioritization.

Capital Projects & Vendor Management

Own facilities-related capital and operating budgets; lead major projects from planning through delivery.

Lead and oversee facilities portfolios spanning multiple sites and geographies, including responsibility for large-scale capital programs ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars across varying regulatory environments.

Manage relationships with external contractors and service providers, including negotiating scope, cost, and performance.

Ensure competitive pricing and accountability across vendors by benchmarking alternatives, soliciting competitive bids when appropriate, and applying strong business judgment to assess cost, scope, and risk.

Compliance, Safety & Risk Management

Ensure compliance with environmental, health, safety, security, and government regulatory requirements, including operating facilities in security-sensitive or government-regulated environments.

Operate comfortably within regulated environments while maintaining a pragmatic, business-oriented approach.

Identify and mitigate facilities-related risks across the portfolio.

Leadership & Collaboration

Build and lead a lean, high-impact facilities organization over time.

Serve as a trusted partner to executives and cross-functional leaders, helping contextualize facilities decisions within broader business objectives.

Foster a hands-on, ownership-driven culture aligned with the company's values.

Expansion & Scalability

Lead planning and execution for new sites as well as facility expansions across a multi-site, global footprint.

Develop repeatable approaches, templates, and playbooks that enable consistent execution as the facilities portfolio scales.

Serve as a facilities subject-matter expert and trusted advisor for internal teams and select external stakeholders, supporting growth, siting, and deployment considerations while exercising sound judgment around information sensitivity.

Required Qualifications

15+ years of senior leadership experience in facilities, infrastructure, or related operational roles within technically complex environments such as data centers, semiconductor fabrication, high-precision labs, or similar environments.

Proven ability to lead large-scale, multi-site capital projects and make high-impact decisions with incomplete information.

Strong experience managing external vendors and service providers.

Demonstrated knowledge of regulatory, safety, and compliance requirements relevant to advanced technical facilities.

Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, evolving organizations.

Preferred Qualifications

Familiarity with quantum hardware facility needs, such as dilution refrigerators, vibration-sensitive environments, and ultra-low temperature control.

Experience supporting or leading facilities across international sites, including navigating differing regulatory, compliance, and operational requirements.

Demonstrated comfort operating at both strategic and hands-on levels, particularly in lean or evolving organizations with high complexity and broad scope.

Additional Information

As engineering leaders, we value diversity and are committed to building a culture of inclusion to attract and engage innovative thinkers. Our technology, meant to serve all of humanity, cannot succeed if those who built it do not mirror the diversity of the communities we serve. Applications from women, minorities, and other under-represented groups are encouraged.