AI & Automation Working Student (m/f/d)

Your mission

At planqc, we are building scalable quantum computers based on neutral atoms. Turning this technology into practical systems requires expertise across physics, engineering, software, and operations. 
As our AI & Automation Working Student, you will help our colleagues get the most out of AI in their daily work: supporting onboarding onto AI platforms, answering usage questions and resolving everyday AI issues, while also contributing small improvements to the internal tools our teams rely on. 
You will work closely with our software and IT teams, as well as with colleagues across physics, engineering and operations, to make AI and internal tooling genuinely useful in day-to-day work. 
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys helping people, likes working hands-on with modern AI development tools, and is happy to switch between supporting colleagues, writing code and keeping documentation in good shape.

Your responsibilities

• Support colleagues onboarding onto Claude or similar AI platforms, helping them get started, answering usage questions and sharing practical tips.
• Act as a point of contact for everyday AI questions and resolve simple issues with AI usage.
• Take on small feature work on our internal tools in Python and TypeScript (UI and API additions as well as bug fixes).
• Keep our internal documentation and how-to guides up to date so knowledge stays easy to find.
• Collaborate with colleagues across software, IT and the wider company to understand where AI and tooling can genuinely help.
• Identify opportunities to simplify or automate recurring manual work.

What you bring

• Enrolled student in computer science, physics, engineering or a comparable field.
• Python fluency: you are comfortable reading and modifying an existing codebase.
• Some agentic engineering experience: a feel for agentic coding and hands-on use of modern development tools such as Claude Code, Codex or similar.
• Reliability: you show up, follow through on small tasks without hand-holding and flag blockers early.
• The ability to explain technical topics clearly to colleagues with different levels of AI experience.
• A structured, hands-on and solution-oriented approach.
• The ability to work independently, take ownership and move topics forward.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills in an interdisciplinary environment.
• Curiosity and a continuous-learning mindset.
• Fluent English; German is a plus.

Nice to have

• Experience with LLM APIs, e.g. the Anthropic or OpenAI SDKs.
• Basic web app development experience.
• Some product and UX intuition: a sense for what makes an internal tool pleasant to use.
• Previous experience in a startup, scale-up or deep-tech environment.

What characterizes you

• You take initiative and enjoy owning your topics.
• You are pragmatic and solution-oriented and know when something needs to be perfect – and when good is good enough.
• You enjoy questioning existing approaches and improving the way things are done.
• You are curious and enjoy learning new things.
• You communicate openly and enjoy working with people from different disciplines and backgrounds.
• You bring positive energy to the team. We care deeply about our work, but we also believe that kindness, curiosity and a good sense of humour make work more enjoyable.

Why join planqc

• You take initiative and enjoy owning your topics.
• You are pragmatic and solution-oriented and know when something needs to be perfect – and when good is good enough.
• You enjoy questioning existing approaches and improving the way things are done.
• You are curious and enjoy learning new things.
• You communicate openly and enjoy working with people from different disciplines and backgrounds.
• You bring positive energy to the team. We care deeply about our work, but we also believe that kindness, curiosity and a good sense of humour make work more enjoyable.

About us

planqc builds neutral-atom quantum computers based on arrays of optically trapped atoms controlled with high-precision laser systems. Our platform combines technologies from optical lattice clocks, quantum gas microscopes and fast Rydberg gates into a scalable computing architecture.

Founded in 2022 as a spin-off from MPQ and LMU Munich, we translate more than a decade of AMO research into deployable quantum systems. Our work spans vacuum and laser hardware, control electronics, firmware, system software and algorithm integration. We focus on turning complex experimental setups into stable, reproducible systems that operate in real computing environments.
Behind this technology is a team that pushes technical boundaries, values open exchange and shared ownership. Physicists, engineers, software developers and business specialists work closely together, often across disciplinary limits. We believe progress comes from combining deep expertise with practical engineering and from giving people the responsibility and trust to shape their domain.

As we grow across our locations in Garching, Ulm, and Innsbruck, we continue to build a company where people take ownership, learn from each other, and directly shape the systems we bring into operation.