Dean Kassmann

Dean Kassmann is Vice President of Engineering at IonQ. Prior to joining IonQ, Dr. Kassmann was Senior Director of Advanced Technology for Blue Origin where he established and led the team responsible for company-wide applied research in support of Blue Origin’s launch vehicle, engines, and in-space product lines. He has over 25 years of leadership in software, hardware, and technology development. Dr. Kassmann has contributed to a variety of technology areas across his career, including traditional chemical engineering, supply chain planning and optimization, rockets, and space research.

After getting his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Dr. Kassmann joined Aspen Technology where he created the modeling tools, advanced control algorithms, and planning engines used for real-time operations in refineries, chemical plants, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. At Amazon, he invented the autonomous system that manages order fulfillment flow across Amazon's supply chain. At Blue Origin he grew and led many teams. He was part of the small team that developed the first series of New Shepard rockets that successfully performed the first powered, vertical soft landing from space.

He later ran the Flight Sciences organization which developed the initial architecture for the orbital New Glenn rocket. He went on to establish the first dedicated research and development team within Blue Origin. In that role he led technology development from early idea generation to fielded capabilities across many different disciplines for Blue’s current and future products.

At IonQ, Dr. Kassmann is responsible for designing and developing the software and hardware technology that feeds IonQ’s products.