Johannes Otterbach
AI And Quantum SPRIN-D at Orthogonal Otter UG
Berlin, Germany
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolJohannes Otterbach is an AI and quantum engineer with 11 years of experience bridging research and production, currently leading AI and quantum efforts at SPRIN-D while running a Berlin-based tech venture, Orthogonal Otter UG. He has a strong research foundation (PhD and postdoc in physics) and industry pedigree from OpenAI, Rigetti, and Merantix Momentum, where he led machine learning research and quantum engineering initiatives. A hands-on back-end developer and QA contributor to notable open-source projects like Owl (OCaml scientific computing) and Rigetti's pyquil, he has implemented core numerical functionality and improved Pauli algebra handling for quantum programming. Johannes combines deep theoretical knowledge with practical software craftsmanship—writing robust unit tests, fixing subtle complex-number and dataset-loading bugs, and cleaning APIs to make research-ready tools production-capable. He is comfortable shifting between CTO-level strategy and low-level code, demonstrating an unusual blend of academic rigor and product-focused engineering.
11 years of coding experience
12 years of employment as a software developer
Post-doctoral studies Physics, Post-doctoral studies Physics at Harvard UniversityDoctor of Philosophy (PhD) Physics, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Physics at RPTU Kaiserslautern-LandauUppsala University
German, English, French, Swedish
Github Skills (18)
unit-testing10
matrix10
python10
ocaml10
automatic-differentiation10
mat10
quil10
linear-algebra10
testing9
numerical9
pytest9
numerical-methods9
numerics9
scientific-computing9
numeric9
Programming languages (11)
Github contributions (5)
rigetti/pyquil
Apr 2017 - Mar 2018
A Python library for quantum programming using Quil.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:1 release, 28 commits, 23 PRs in 11 months
Contributions summary:Johannes primarily focused on refactoring and improving the `pyquil` library. Their contributions include removing parametric programs from Pauli operators, cleaning up imports, and implementing the Meyer-Penny Game example. They also worked on bug fixes, ensuring proper buffer handling and deterministic ordering. The user's work involved modifying the Pauli algebra functionality and adjusting API usage for internal operations.
python-librarypythonquantum-computingquantumquantum-programming
owlbarn/owl
Jul 2017 - Apr 2020
Owl - OCaml Scientific Computing @ https://ocaml.xyz
Role in this project:Back-end Developer & QA Engineer
Back-end Developer & QA EngineerContributions:5 commits, 3 PRs, 4 comments in 2 years 9 months
Contributions summary:Johannes implemented Kronecker product functionality, adding it to the core matrix operations of the Owl library. They integrated the new functionality and ensured compatibility by adding unit tests. Additionally, the user addressed an issue in complex number handling and expanded the unit tests to cover complex vector operations, confirming the library's robustness. Furthermore, the user corrected a path issue in the dataset loading functionality.
lapackndarrayautomatic-differentiationpde-solvermatrix
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