An interview with Booz Allen’s Joe Munoz
Joe Munoz’s evolution from computer scientist to quantum computing engineer and team leader captures an emerging shift in how today’s technical careers can unfold. His Booz Allen role demands not just mastery of complex quantum algorithms but also the ability to translate abstract concepts for decision makers, collaborate with tech partners, and guide diverse teams through new territory. In day-to-day work that spans everything from debugging code to briefing other leaders, from mentoring junior researchers to consulting with startups, Joe exemplifies how deep technical expertise can come together with advanced leadership, communication, and strategic thinking skills to make a difference for Booz Allen and our customers.
Tell us about your background and how you first started to explore quantum computing.
I’ve always viewed myself as a computer scientist first. I got my initial experience working on early AI and machine learning models, transfer learning, and high-performance computing. Quantum computing came up as this other regime I hadn’t explored yet. I’d been doing more niche AI research and started seeing articles on quantum machine learning. How do you take this thing that’s already very specific in nature and make it even more performant—and what kind of discoveries can happen there? At the time, I was working in drug discovery, so the idea of using quantum technologies to improve quantum chemistry was really interesting to me.
What is your current role at Booz Allen?
I’m a lead quantum physicist. We have a high-level quantum portfolio across three different disciplines: quantum computing, sensing, and post-quantum cryptography, or PQC. I was very lucky to join another colleague who had just started the PQC team at Booz Allen, so I’m now the other technical lead. That’s my main focus, in addition to the other quantum technologies.
What do you do on a day-to-day basis?
I would say I wear many hats. I’ve always been a technical contributor, and I hope to keep a foot in that realm. Part of my day includes managing folks and efforts, but it’s a mixture, especially regarding PQC and quantum technologies in general. We have so many different engineering and research efforts going on. PQC specifically requires some clever engineering and research to come up with new approaches for goals like cryptographic inventories and transition strategies. We also work on interoperability with startups and large tech companies to get their software in a beta stage that will support some of the new cryptographic standards.
What do you enjoy most about working at Booz Allen?
I very much like having access to all sorts of interesting people with different backgrounds, with very deep knowledge in particular areas. For example, Booz Allen has amazing cybersecurity talent. I can go directly to them to ask incredibly niche questions that maybe influences our PQC roadmap. I have access to quantum information scientists and other physicists to help me upskill. My MacBook is actually standing on a tower of quantum computing textbooks that my colleagues are helping me with; the books are very thick, which makes them great to prop up a laptop. By and large, the folks I interact with at Booz Allen with these skillsets love to talk, and everybody loves to share their knowledge.
How would you explain quantum computing, in a nutshell?
Quantum computers use qubits, or quantum bits. They exploit superposition and entanglement, and this helps them create computational circuits for some very specific problems that may be more efficient. One current focus of the field is exploring quantum algorithms. Under what circumstances will logical quantum circuits be more efficient than classical computers?
Scientists are also exploring how we engineer and build these things. The engineering is a mixture of heavy theory from classical computer science, math, and physics but also fundamental problems like how to fit physical components together to build a new type of computer or co-processor. So, it’s the challenge of building the computer and then also figuring out—while we’re building it—what it’s going to be used for. In the long term, the community would like to come up with a new MacBook—something that’s very general—but in the short term we might come up with an Atari because we found that was the problem we really wanted to solve.
What is Shor’s Algorithm, and why does it matter?
The way we secure all kinds of modern infrastructure in computing environments is based on large numbers that are difficult to factor. In essence, we chose a very hard problem, thinking it would not be solved efficiently, but computer scientist Peter Shor discovered that we could make significant progress if we could build a quantum computer. If you and I send a secret message, and we both pick large numbers that make an even larger number, but suddenly that becomes easy to reverse-engineer, then it’s also easy for our privacy to be impacted. The problem we should all be worried about is that, just like the Y2K scare, it’s very difficult to swap out all of our encryption at the same time. Doing this Indiana Jones maneuver, where we’re swapping idols, is very, very difficult and very expensive and requires a lot of coordination.
Which industries will see quantum’s impact first?
The first impacts are going to be guided by the size of a quantum computer and what it’s relevant for. We’re already starting to see activity in research topics like sensing and those that are directly involved with quantum phenomena. This could include GPS in navigation-denied circumstances or quantum chemistry applications. A second impact would affect the privacy and security of the organizations that keep data. Some impacts may not be announced, such as a cryptographically relevant quantum computer whose application is to attack privacy.
What are some of the challenges the team encounters?
One of the main challenges we have is helping to find the right information for decision makers. How do we gather information to assess the threat of a quantum computer that doesn’t publicly exist yet? But we also need to help them through this transition, and no one has necessarily done this transition yet either. So, helping somebody plan for something as the solutions to it are still developing can be a difficult thing.
What advice would you give to someone interested in quantum work?
I think the first bit of advice would be to just start learning and connecting with others in the field. The field benefits from folks with different backgrounds. If you were to come in with your perspective and your domain, and then upscale on quantum computing, you’re going to be an asset. What’s scary to most people is: “How do I begin to learn?” And a first step is just to meet the people who work in quantum.
What keeps you excited about this field?
I love the idea that there are just too many problems out there for people to solve, which means that there are some left for me to work on. A lot of the solutions we see in these spaces are “what’s old is new again,” so there is always space to contribute. The idea that you can get a very organic group of people or set of approaches and reconstitute that into something that’s novel and modern and helpful to even one other person, that’s what keeps me interested.
