Riverlane appoints key leaders for global quantum software

Riverlane has announced the appointments of Abe Asfaw as Head of QEC Enablement and Guen Prawiroatmodjo as Senior Engineering Manager for Open-source Software, drawing on experience from several major technology companies.

The company stated that the field of quantum computing is moving rapidly, requiring not only hardware improvements but also extensive software development and a skilled developer community to realise practical quantum applications. Riverlane aims to address these needs by expanding its quantum error correction (QEC) capabilities and building a wider international community focused on quantum software and education.

Abe Asfaw will assume the newly created role of Head of QEC Enablement. In this role, Asfaw is tasked with establishing and leading Riverlane's global QEC enablement function. His responsibilities will focus on facilitating Deltaflow users, as well as others in the quantum community, in developing the skills required to adopt and implement quantum error correction. This includes developing educational programmes, forming partnerships, and building support mechanisms to foster the practical adoption of QEC techniques.

Asfaw joins Riverlane after a period at Google Quantum AI, where he led educational and outreach initiatives and helped steer the company's global engagement in quantum computing research. He previously served as Global Lead for Quantum Education and Open Science at IBM Quantum, and played a significant role in founding educational initiatives such as the Qiskit Global Summer School and IBM Quantum Challenge.

Regarding his new position, Abraham Asfaw commented,

I am excited to join the talented team at Riverlane that has set its focus on accelerating quantum error correction. This is the key ingredient that will enable the full potential of quantum computers. Accelerating QEC means delivering highly capable and intuitive hardware and software tools and simultaneously building learning pathways to transition the quantum community toward QEC capability with these tools. My focus is on making it easier for researchers and developers to apply QEC in practice, which will in turn drive the broader quantum computing field forward faster.

Guen Prawiroatmodjo has been appointed as Senior Engineering Manager for Open-source Software. She will lead the development of an open-source software development kit (SDK) designed to enable quantum programmers to build, test and run fault-tolerant circuits on hardware. The SDK will offer tools for generating logical circuits, performing simulations, decoding, and modelling system noise. The first version of the SDK is planned for release in the third quarter of 2025.

Prawiroatmodjo's background includes roles at Microsoft, where she developed core elements of the Quantum Development Kit and contributed to Majorana 1, as well as experience at Rigetti Computing and MotherDuck. At Microsoft, she also maintained the Azure Quantum Python SDK, and at Rigetti, was involved in developing a cloud-deployed quantum processor.

Prawiroatmodjo stated that accessible software will be critical as quantum hardware evolves, remarking,

Today, quantum hardware itself is starting to become capable to running fault-tolerant circuits, and widely available software has not integrated QEC capability yet. In the NISQ era, developers were able to run small, noisy quantum algorithms on hardware for the first time, but these often had to be repeated many times to account for noise and errors in the system. With Riverlane's upcoming SDK, quantum programmers will be able to take their existing NISQ circuits and implement, test and run them in a fault-tolerant way using the latest advances in quantum error correction. Our goal is not only to make it easier to run QEC experiments, but also to upskill the broader quantum community so more people can build, test and run fault-tolerant quantum programs.

According to Riverlane, the global pool of experts in quantum error correction remains limited, as highlighted by the scale of attendance at key conferences. The company believes that software is expected to represent a substantial portion of value in quantum computing, similar to trends seen in classical computing, where software generates over 60% of industry revenue.

Riverlane's current strategy, led by Liz Durst, Vice President of QEC Community and former Director of IBM's Qiskit platform, involves strengthening the capacity and reach of its QEC Community team. The company is also actively recruiting across software, quantum science, enablement, and engineering roles, aiming to broaden the base of professionals contributing to QEC infrastructure.

The additions of Asfaw and Prawiroatmodjo reflect Riverlane's broader effort to facilitate scalable QEC and foster the required developer community to advance fault-tolerant quantum computing technologies.