Thomas Alexander
Quantum Error Correction Infrastructure R&D at IBM
Greater Halifax Metropolitan Area Canada
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolThomas Alexander is a software-oriented technical lead with 13 years of experience building the low-level toolchains that turn racks of control electronics into production quantum computers. At IBM Quantum he has driven design and delivery across compilers, runtimes, real-time control, OpenQASM 3 and Qiskit Pulse—leading product launches such as dynamic circuits and an MLIR-based qe-compiler. He now focuses on integrating quantum error correction at scale, spanning execution models, control-system architectures, decoding and compiler/runtime co-design. A core contributor to Qiskit and OpenQASM, his open-source work includes schema validation, pulse-schedule tooling, and extending OpenQASM grammar with calibration primitives that directly enable hardware-aware programming. Trained in experimental quantum computing (IQC) and with hands-on experience in NMR and NV-center experiments, he blends experimental physics intuition with systems software engineering. Based in Halifax, he combines cross-disciplinary leadership with a rare depth in both pulse-level control and production-grade quantum infrastructure.
12 years of coding experience
9 years of employment as a software developer
Masters of Physics, Experimental Quantum Computation, Masters of Physics, Experimental Quantum Computation at Institute for Quantum ComputingBachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, First Class Honours with distinction, Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, First Class Honours with distinction at Mount Allison University
English
Stackoverflow
73reputation
10kreached
0answers
2questions
Github Skills (20)
schema-validation10
python10
json-schema10
validation10
grammar10
json-validation10
grammars10
quantum-computing10
qiskit10
json-schema-validator10
user-manual9
antlr9
jupyter-notebook9
testing8
api7
Programming languages (9)
Github contributions (5)
openqasm/openqasm
Jan 2021 - Jun 2022
Quantum assembly language for extended quantum circuits
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:164 reviews, 92 commits, 32 PRs in 1 year 5 months
Contributions summary:Thomas contributed significantly to the `openqasm/openqasm` repository, specifically in modifying the OpenQASM 3.0 grammar and incorporating enhancements like the `pow` modifier for gate power operations and introducing the `cal` block for calibration grammar. They also merged branches and updated documentation, showing an active role in the language's development. Further edits focused on integrating calibration blocks, which is essential for extending the language to hardware-specific features.
assembly-languagequantum-circuitsquantum-computingcircuitsextended
Qiskit/qiskit
Aug 2018 - Jan 2022
Qiskit is an open-source SDK for working with quantum computers at the level of extended quantum circuits, operators, and primitives.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:334 reviews, 107 commits, 187 PRs in 3 years 5 months
Contributions summary:Thomas primarily focused on enhancing the Qiskit library's core functionality. They implemented a schema validation module, including the creation of a `SchemaValidationError` and the loading of default schemas, allowing for robust validation against JSON schemas. Furthermore, they introduced new features for working with pulse schedules, including methods for replacing instructions, which enhanced the existing pulse capabilities. The user also fixed multiple bugs in the codebase and contributed to documentation improvements.
pythonquantum-circuitsquantum-computingcircuitsquantum-circuit
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