Aerospace Engineer and Computer Scientist with over a decade of professional and hobbyist software engineering experience in astrodynamics, numerical programming, quantum computing, machine learning and data analytics, embedded and real-time operating systems, and full-stack web development.

Native speaker of English and Portuguese; intermediate (approx. N2) in Japanese.

experience

JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency)

Research Student — Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)

Sep 2019 — Sep 2021

Master's student in the Tsuda Laboratory (previously Kawaguchi Lab) at Japan's national space agency in Tokyo. Research and development of next-generation astrodynamics software, OrbitalTrajectories.jl (available on GitHub), a modern space mission trajectory design library making contributions in differential systems modelling to the Julia programming language's open-source ecosystem.

Research Intern — Institute of Aeronautical Technology

Nov 2014 — Jan 2015

Previously a research intern in the Flight Research Center at Chofu Aerospace Center, Tokyo. Developed and evaluated a C++ reinforcement-learned flight control system for motion-tracked micro-aerial vehicles.

Rigetti Computing

Jul 2019 — Apr 2020

Systems & Software Engineer

Research software engineer in a newly formed applications team at an eminent quantum computing hardware company, joining as part of an acquisition of quantum software start-up QxBranch.

Quantum computing firm Rigetti acquires QxBranch

QxBranch

Jan 2015 — Jul 2019

Systems & Software Engineer

Software engineer for a quantum computing start-up, developing classical and quantum machine learning applications for investment banks, hedge funds, and logistics clients. Involved in various roles including in the design of engineering processes, client proposals and engagement, and project management.

Shoal Engineering

Aug 2012 — Aug 2014

Research Engineering Intern

Involved in the establishment of a software research and development services spin-off company, QxBranch, including technical engagement of clients and stakeholders, design of engineering processes and quality management systems, and R&D work on software prototypes.

University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Teaching Assistant — School of Computer Science

Feb 2013 — Nov 2014

Taught software development classes and assessed over 120 undergraduate students in C, Perl, Python, Linux systems and tools, algorithmic design, and principles of software engineering.

Engineering Student Ambassador — Faculty of Engineering

Mar 2012 — Nov 2014

Official representative of the UNSW Faculty of Engineering at various engineering outreach programs involving interaction with public, media, high school and primary school students.

NICTA (now Data61 @ CSIRO)

Jul 2010 — Aug 2013

Research Engineer — Software Systems Research Group (SSRG)

R&D software engineer in Embedded Real-Time Operating Systems (ERTOS) at Australia's national research institute for information and communications technology.

education

University of Tokyo (東京大学大学院)

2019 — 2021

Master of Aerospace Engineering (工学系研究科航空宇宙工学専攻 修士課程)

  • Japan Space Forum Satellite Design Contest (衛星設計コンテスト) — ARETHUSA team leader

University of New South Wales (UNSW)

2010 — 2014

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Aerospace)First Class Honours (GPA 4.0/4.0)

Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)High Distinction (First Class)

  • Thesis: Solving NP-Hard Problems on an Adiabatic Quantum Computer
  • Design project: aerodynamic design, analysis, and optimisation for a heavy-lift helicopter
  • UNSW Aerospace Society — executive committee (2011 – 2013)
  • Computer Science and Engineering Society (CSESoc) — executive committee (2011 – 2012)
  • RoboCup Standard Platform League (2013) — Reinforcement Learning for Bipedal Stabilisation
  • UNSW BLUEsat Experimental Satellite — embedded software (Critical Systems Computer)

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Fall 2013

Aerospace Engineering (Student Exchange, Senior Year) — GPA 3.44/4.00

  • Michigan Balloon Recovery & Satellite Testbed (MBuRST) — embedded software (Flight Test Unit)
scholarships & awards

衛星設計コンテスト アイデア大賞 + 日本天文学会賞 — Satellite Design Contest Idea Grand Prize

2020

エプソン国際奨学財団の奨学生 — Seiko Epson Corporation International Scholarship

2020 – 2021

文部科学省外国人留学生学習奨励費 — JASSO Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship

2019 – 2020

UNSW Engineering Dean's Honours List (multiple years)

2011 – 2014

UNSW Student Exchange Scholarship

2013

RoboCup SPL Technical Challenge — 3rd place (for Reinforcement-learned Bipedal Stabilisation)

2013

UNSW CSE Undergraduate Performance Award

2010

UNSW Programming Competition Scholarship

2010
research & development
2021

Padilha, Composable Astrodynamics Software via Multiple Dispatch and Meta-Programming, Master's Thesis, The University of Tokyo, Japan.

2021

Padilha, Designing Spacecraft Trajectories with Julia, presentation, JuliaCon 2021.

2021

Padilha, Dei Tos, Baresi & Kawaguchi, Modern Numerical Programming with Julia for Astrodynamic Trajectory Design, 31st AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Charlotte, NC, USA.

2021

Kalev, Paini, Padilha & Ruck, Estimating expectation values using approximate quantum states, Quantum 5, 413 (2021).

2020

Padilha, Designing a Programming Toolkit for Ballistic Capture and Station-Keeping, presentation, 30th Workshop on JAXA Astrodynamics and Flight Mechanics.

2019

Padilha, Weinstock & Hodson, QxSQA: GPGPU-Accelerated Simulated Quantum Annealer within a Non-Linear Optimization and Boltzmann Sampling Framework, 2019 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Conference (HPEC), Waltham, MA, USA.

2017

Padilha, Training L0-regularised Linear Regression and Classification Models with a Quantum Annealer, presentation, Sixth Conference in Adiabatic Quantum Computing (AQC 2017), Tokyo, Japan.

2016

Hodson, Fletcher, Padilha & Cook, Rapid Prototyping with Symbolic Computation: Fast Development of Quantum Annealing Solutions, 2016 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Conference (HPEC), Waltham, MA, USA.

2016

Padilha & Wilson, Taking a Systems Engineering Approach to Quantum Computing Software, invited presentation, DSTG Quantum Technology in an Australian Context Symposium, Canberra, Australia.

2015

Hodson, Zick, Jones & Padilha, A Novel Embedding Technique for Optimization Problems of Fully-Connected Integer Variables, Fourth Conference in Adiabatic Quantum Computing (AQC 2015), Zurich, Switzerland.

2014

Padilha, Solving NP-Hard Problems on an Adiabatic Quantum Computer, Thesis, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

2012

Padilha, Butt, Tisato & Wilson, The Australian approach to Ground Population Modelling and Risk Management; Creation of Debris Catalogs using Fractal Fragmentation; Determining Appropriate Failure Response Mode Probabilities for High-altitude Sounding Rockets, 4th IAASS Workshop on Launch & Re-Entry Safety, NASA Wallops, VA, USA.

other experience

UNSW School of Computer Science — peer mentor, events organiser and leader

2011 – 2014

Australian Space Development Conference — conference volunteer

2013

Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix — Scrutineer, Pit Lane Marshal, Track Marshal, Flag Marshal

2013

Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) — website administrator (Australian division)

2012 – 2013

Young Scientists of Australia — volunteer for science school events

2012

UNSW CSE Revue / UNSW Medical Revue — organising committee

2011 – 2012
skills & certifications

AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA) + Cloud Practitioner (CLF) — Amazon Web Services

Jan 2020

Systems Engineering Fast Track — University of Oxford

Nov 2016

DO-178C/ED-12C — Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment

Nov 2012

Significant experience with modern software engineering and development, including:

Experience in software design and application development using quantum computer hardware/software:

Experience with 2D and 3D CAD, numerical computing, PCB design, CFD, and FEA: