Juan Cruz-Benito

Quantum+AI Manager

IBM Research

Juan Cruz-Benito

I research and develop AI-based systems to tackle complex problems in quantum computing and other relevant areas.

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.

I have a PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Salamanca (2018), have authored 80+ publications, and received the 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

We Got AI Agents to Train RL Models for Quantum Transpilation

A new MCP server that enables AI agents to autonomously train reinforcement learning models for quantum circuit synthesis - including permutation, linear function, and Clifford circuits.

Juan Cruz-Benito

Last updated on Jan 26, 2026 3 min read Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence

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.

Juan Cruz-Benito

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.

Juan Cruz-Benito

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.

Juan Cruz-Benito

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.

Juan Cruz-Benito

Last updated on Jan 16, 2026 1 min read Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source

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Publications

Quickly discover relevant content by filtering publications.

David Kremer Garcia, Victor Villar Pascual, Sanjay Kumar Lalta Prasad Vishwakarma, Juan Cruz-Benito, Francisco Jose Martin Fernandez, Ivan Duran Martinez, Alexandra Rivero Garcia, Ismael Faro Sertage (2026). Intelligent unitary synthesis for quantum computing. US Patent App. US20260105337A1.

PDF Project Source Document

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 Martín-Fernández, Ismael Faro, Juan Cruz-Benito (2025). Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) Processing Time Prediction with Machine Learning. 2025 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE), vol. 1, pp. 387-393, IEEE.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Quantum+AI Manager

IBM Research

Jan 2026 – Present Spain / Remote

Leading a team on R&D at the intersection of Quantum and AI: improving LLMs for the quantum computing domain, AI for scientific discovery, and related problems.

Senior Software Engineering Manager

IBM Quantum / IBM Research

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 – Jan 2026 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.