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Juan Cruz-Benito

AI for Quantum Product Owner & Senior Software Engineering Manager

IBM Quantum

Juan Cruz-Benito

I build AI tools that make quantum computing accessible to developers. As AI for Quantum Product Owner at IBM Quantum, I lead projects like qiskit-ibm-transpiler and Qiskit Code Assistant—an LLM trained on quantum code.

My work sits at the intersection of quantum computing, machine learning, and open source. I hold IBM Master Inventor status and have contributed to tools used by millions of developers worldwide.

Background: PhD in Computer Engineering (University of Salamanca, 2018), 80+ publications, 2019 SCIE-BBVA Award for best young researcher in Computer Science in Spain.

Interests

  • Quantum+AI
  • Applied Machine Learning
  • Open Source

Education

  • PhD in Computer Engineering, 2018

    University of Salamanca, Spain

  • MEng in Intelligent Systems, 2013

    University of Salamanca, Spain

  • BSc Degree in Computer Engineering, 2012

    University of Salamanca, Spain

  • IT Systems Engineer, 2011

    University of Salamanca, Spain

Projects

Qiskit Code Assistant

Family of open-source LLMs (8B–24B) for quantum code generation, plus the Qiskit HumanEval* benchmarks
Blog Models HumanEval HumanEval Hard

qiskit-ibm-transpiler

AI-powered quantum circuit optimization library — Ranking 3rd in Unitary Foundation 2025 Survey, 929K+ downloads
Blog GitHub Docs Models

Qiskit Gym

Reinforcement learning environments for quantum circuit synthesis — powers the AI transpiler passes
GitHub Models

Qiskit MCP Servers

Model Context Protocol servers connecting AI assistants to IBM Quantum services
GitHub

Posts

Certified as Senior Software Engineering Manager at IBM

After a few months acting as an in-country Senior Manager, I got officially certified for the Senior Software Engineering Manager role at IBM.
Last updated on Jan 16, 2026 1 min read Career

Run Qiskit Code Assistant Locally easily!

You can now run the Qiskit Code Assistant locally easily. Download optimized models in GGUF format, install Ollama, and configure your VSCode or JupyterLab extension with a single command.
Last updated on Jan 16, 2026 1 min read Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source

Seeing AI Through the Curry–Howard Lens

The Curry–Howard correspondence—propositions as types, proofs as programs—offers a conceptual framework for understanding what’s missing in current LLMs and what becomes possible when AI systems learn to construct and verify proofs natively.
Last updated on Dec 2, 2025 2 min read Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing

Qiskit Code Assistant Upgraded to Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Qiskit

We’ve upgraded the Qiskit Code Assistant! Last month, we introduced mistral-small-3.2-24b-qiskit, replacing granite-3.3-8b-qiskit, delivering better accuracy across key benchmarks and more precise responses for quantum programming tasks.
Last updated on Jan 16, 2026 1 min read Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source

qiskit-ibm-transpiler Ranks #3 in Unitary Foundation 2025 Survey

The qiskit-ibm-transpiler library advanced to #3 in the Unitary Foundation 2025 Survey for full-stack development platforms, surpassing 929K downloads in under two years. AI transpiler passes now run in local mode without requiring an IBM Quantum premium plan.
Last updated on Jan 16, 2026 2 min read Quantum Computing, AI for Quantum, Software Development
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Publications

Quickly discover relevant content by filtering publications.
Juan Cruz-Benito, Ivan Duran Martinez, Francisco Jose Martin Fernandez, Ismael Faro Sertage, David Kremer Garcia, Alexandra Rivero Garcia (2025). Intelligent and automated system for solving computational problems using quantum computation. US Patent App. US20250378358A1.

PDF Source Document

Victor Villar, Juan Cruz-Benito, Ismael Faro, David Kremer (2025). AI Methods for Permutation Circuit Synthesis Across Generic Topologies. Proceedings of the AAAI Fall Symposium Series, 7(1).

PDF Project Project Source Document DOI

Lucy Xing, Sanjay Vishwakarma, David Kremer, Francisco Martin-Fernandez, Ismael Faro, Juan Cruz-Benito (2025). Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) processing time Prediction with Machine Learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.20630.

Source Document DOI

Juan Cruz-Benito, Ivan Duran Martinez, Francisco Jose Martin Fernandez, Ismael Faro Sertage (2025). Quantum source code generation based on a modeling system. US Patent App. US18/588554.

PDF Project Source Document

Nicolas Dupuis, Adarsh Tiwari, Youssef Mroueh, David Kremer, Ismael Faro, Juan Cruz-Benito (2025). Quantum Verifiable Rewards for Post-Training Qiskit Code Assistant. arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.14712.

Project Source Document DOI

David Kremer, Alexandra Rivero Garcia, Juan Cruz-Benito, Ivan Duran Martinez, Francisco Jose Martin Fernandez, Ismael Faro Sertage (2025). Characterization, analysis and categorization of quantum programs without executing them. US Patent App. US18/614079.

PDF Source Document

David Kremer, Juan Cruz-Benito, Victor Villar, Hanhee Paik, Ismael Faro Sertage, Ivan Duran Martinez, Francisco Jose Martin Fernandez, Alexandra Rivero Garcia (2025). Reinforcement learning based transpilation of quantum circuits. US Patent App. US18/526120.

PDF Project Source Document

Ayushi Dubal, David Kremer, Simon Martiel, Victor Villar, Derek Wang, Juan Cruz-Benito (2025). Pauli Network Circuit Synthesis with Reinforcement Learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.14448.

Project Project Source Document DOI

Juan Cruz-Benito, Zlatko Kristev Minev, Francisco Jose Martin Fernandez, Ismael Faro Sertage (2025). Reinforced Learning for Quantum Design. US Patent App. US18/463240.

PDF Source Document

Juan Cruz-Benito, David Kremer, Hanhee Paik, Ismael Faro Sertage, Francisco Jose Martin Fernandez, Ivan Duran Martinez, Sanjay Vishwakarma, Vipul Sharma (2025). Reinforcement Learning based Clifford Circuit Synthesis. US Patent App. US18/466323.

PDF Project Source Document

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Awards & Accomplish­ments

Senior Member

IEEE Dec 2025
Senior Member is the highest grade for which IEEE members can apply. It requires significant professional experience and accomplishments.

IBM Master Inventor

IBM Dec 2024 – Dec 2027
The Master inventor recognition is given to employees who have mastered the patent process, mentored broadly, added value to IBM’s portfolio and demonstrated sustained innovation leadership and service. Every year, Master inventors are selected by IBM for their contributions.
See certificate

Qiskit Advocate

Qiskit Community Oct 2019
This badge earner has gathered a deep level of understanding with Qiskit including circuits, algorithms, simulators, qubits and noise. Through their contributions to the Qiskit and the quantum community, this individual has demonstrated an ability and commitment to educate and influence others by sharing ideas, knowledge and expertise in the field of quantum computing.
See certificate

Research Award: best young researchers in Computer Science in Spain

Spanish Scientific Society for Computer Science (SCIE) & BBVA Foundation May 2019
National Award to recognize me as one of the best six young researchers (less than 30 years old) in Computer Science in Spain.
See certificate

Cum Laude, International PhD

University of Salamanca Sep 2018

Best conference paper award

8th International Workshop on Software Engineering for E-learning (ISELEAR’17) / 5th International Conference Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality (TEEM) 2017 Oct 2017
See certificate

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Senior Software Engineering Manager

IBM Quantum

May 2025 – Present Spain / Remote
Leading and contributing to engineering teams building AI-powered tools for quantum computing. Hands-on management delivering products for the quantum computing community.
 
 
 
 
 

AI for Quantum Product Owner

IBM Quantum

Jun 2024 – Present Spain / Remote
Driving product strategy for qiskit-ibm-transpiler and AI transpiler passes (#3 Unitary Foundation 2025, 929K+ downloads), and Qiskit Code Assistant. 9+ patents filed.
 
 
 
 
 

Software Engineering Manager

IBM Quantum

May 2023 – May 2025 Spain / Remote
Built and led the AI for Quantum engineering team while contributing as an IC. Shipped RL-based circuit synthesis and LLM-powered code generation tools.
 
 
 
 
 

Data & Intelligence Chapter Lead

IBM Quantum

May 2023 – Jun 2024 Spain / Remote
Led and contributed to data and ML initiatives across IBM Quantum platform teams.
 
 
 
 
 

Research Developer

IBM Quantum

Jan 2021 – May 2023 Spain / Remote
 
 
 
 
 

Senior Software Engineer (contractor)

IBM Quantum, IBM Research

Jan 2018 – Dec 2020 Yorktown Heights, NY, USA / Remote
 
 
 
 
 

Teaching assistant. Human-Computer Interaction

Computer Science Department. University of Salamanca

Jan 2017 – Jul 2017 Salamanca, Spain
 
 
 
 
 

Software engineer & researcher

GRIAL Research Group. University of Salamanca

Sep 2013 – Dec 2017 Salamanca, Spain
 
 
 
 
 

Software engineer

Service of Professional Insertion, Practices and Employment, University of Salamanca

Mar 2012 – Dec 2012 Salamanca, Spain
 
 
 
 
 

Intern. Testing Factory

Ingeniería de Software Avanzado (INSA)

May 2011 – Sep 2011 Salamanca, Spain

Talks

AI for Qiskit. Hackathon starter pack

Technical presentation at the BasQ Qiskit Fall Fest 2025, a two-day quantum computing festival. This talk covers how AI can be applied to …
Nov 5, 2025 4:00 PM Bilbao, Spain (Hybrid: In-person and Online)

Bring useful quantum computing to the world

Metafuturo Bizkaia Quantum was a prominent quantum computing event held at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao, Spain, bringing together …
Sep 24, 2025 12:00 PM Bilbao, Spain

¿Hay vida después del doctorado? / Is there life after the PhD?

In this talk, I returned to my alma mater, the University of Salamanca to share my journey with current PhD students. Speaking about my PhD …
Apr 11, 2025 4:00 PM Hybrid (physical/online) event. Salamanca, Spain

What does an engineer like you do in a quantum place like this?

Quantum computing has the potential to be one of the next big things in computing. This talk will discuss how quantum computers work and …
Apr 11, 2023 4:00 PM Hybrid (physical/online) event. Salamanca, Spain

Data-Driven Human-Computer Interaction: experimenting new user experiences using data

The goal of this talk was to present a real case in which we mixed UX + Design + ML + Research and discuss with the BBVA Design team what …
Dec 14, 2021 3:00 PM Online event
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Media

Oct 06, 2025. METAFUTURO Bizkaia Quantum - Primera jornada 2025

[ES] Mention in Atresmedia Metafuturo article. METAFUTURO Bizkaia Quantum - Primera jornada 2025
Last updated on Oct 29, 2025 Mention

Sep 24, 2025. Juan Cruz-Benito en IBM Quantum señala el próximo gran reto del sector tecnológico: 'Queremos que todo el mundo sea parte de la tecnología cuántica'

[ES] Mention in Atresmedia Metafuturo article. Juan Cruz-Benito en IBM Quantum señala el próximo gran reto del sector tecnológico: 'Queremos que todo el mundo sea parte de la tecnología cuántica'
Last updated on Oct 29, 2025 Mention

Feb 06, 2020. Cabalga El Cometa EP-18 "El grial de la computación cuántica con Juan Cruz-Benito"

[ES] Conversation and interview in the podcast Cabalga el Cometa by Marc Alier. We talk about Quantum Computing, AI, and tools for scientific research in an open-minded environment
Last updated on Sep 21, 2020 Interview

Jan 24, 2020. "El español que democratizará la computación cuántica"

[ES] Interview in Spanish newspaper La Razón. Section Innovadores by Inndux. El español que democratizará la computación cuántica by Alberto Iglesias Fraga
Last updated on Sep 21, 2020 Interview

Dec 17, 2019. "El catedrático de la UPNA Humberto Bustince recibe el Premio Nacional de Informática"

[ES] Mention in the press release El catedrático de la UPNA Humberto Bustince recibe el Premio Nacional de Informática, published by the media noticiasdenavarra.com. Mention related to the SCIE-BBVA award
Last updated on Sep 21, 2020 Mention
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