Diraq Says Quantum Needs 250,000 Jobs by 2030 Beyond PhD-Only Hiring

1 articles · Updated · The Quantum Insider · Aug 14

Diraq said quantum computing cannot scale on PhD-heavy hiring alone, arguing commercial growth will require engineers, technicians and operators trained through undergraduate and technical pathways.
16,500 pure-play quantum professionals were counted worldwide in 2025, the company said, versus projected demand for 250,000 jobs by 2030 and 840,000 by 2035—far beyond a four- to five-year PhD pipeline.
UNSW Sydney’s Bachelor of Quantum Engineering, launched in 2020, is presented as one model: it produces 40 to 50 engineers a year, and Diraq said it is already hiring from the first graduating cohort.
Cryogenics could become a certified trade within a decade, Diraq argued, because operating and maintaining dilution refrigerators at scale is constrained more by missing training pathways than by technical complexity.
Diraq framed workforce mix as a marker of maturity, saying PhDs will remain essential for qubit architecture and error correction, but a company staffed across broader technical roles looks more like an industry than a lab.