The Certified Quantum Engineering Professional (CQEP) is an intermediate, vendor-neutral certification for engineers, security teams, researchers and technical leads who work with quantum systems or have to plan for them. It validates that you can reason about qubits, gates and circuits, quantum algorithms, real hardware and its noise, hybrid programming workflows and post-quantum security, and apply that judgement at work. The exam is computer adaptive and performance-based, and the credential is kept current through continuing education.
| Level | Intermediate. Sits between a foundations course and specialist or architect-level credentials. |
|---|---|
| Delivery model | Computer adaptive, three stages. Your score on each stage selects the difficulty of the next, so no two candidates sit the same paper. |
| Format | 80 questions. A performance-based exam that includes performance-based questions and multiple-choice questions. No SDK-specific syntax. |
| Time | 120 minutes for the whole exam, timed. Autosaves every answer. |
| Scoring | You need a score of 700 out of 900 to pass. Results are reported on a scale of 100 to 900, and 700 corresponds to answering 72% of the exam correctly. Harder questions carry more weight, so a score means the same thing on any route. Multiple-response items and PBQs are all or nothing. |
| Retakes | No waiting period after a failed first attempt. Every attempt is paid for at the exam price. See the CertLabz Certification Retake Policy. |
| Voucher validity | 12 months from purchase, for one sitting. |
| Certification validity | 3 years. Renew with 50 CEUs per cycle and the $35 annual CE fee, or pass the current exam. Renewal details. |
| Language | English. |
| Credential | PDF certificate with QR code, public verification page, LinkedIn-ready credential ID. Issuer: CertLabz Certification Board. |
| Free resources | The exam objectives PDF and the ten sample questions PDF. |
| Workforce mapping | NICE Framework work roles: Technology Research and Development (DD-WRL-008). O*NET occupations: Computer and Information Research Scientists (15-1221.00), Computer Systems Engineers/Architects (15-1299.08). Self-declared by CertLabz, not reviewed by NIST or CISA. See the full mapping. |
A signed, verifiable:
Every other quantum certification we could find is multiple choice only. The CQEP is a performance-based exam: it includes performance-based questions alongside multiple-choice questions. Instead of only picking A, B, C or D, you build a circuit in the right order, drag each concept onto the case it applies to, and complete a real analysis table. Theory-only exams cannot tell an employer whether you can actually do the job. This one can.
Superposition, entanglement, measurement and the Born rule, applied to real state vectors and real numbers, not slogans.
Read, trace and assemble circuits in standard notation. Predict outputs and know why a result is wrong.
Coherence budgets, gate fidelity arithmetic, error mitigation versus correction, and what a qubit count really tells you.
Harvest-now-decrypt-later, the NIST standards, hybrid TLS, and how to tell a real advantage claim from marketing.
Quantum and post-quantum work sits in the highest-paid band of technology hiring, and demand has a deadline behind it: United States federal guidance expects agencies and their suppliers to complete post-quantum migration across the early 2030s. Every route is shown here at once, so nothing is hidden behind a control you have to find.
Median United States base pay reported by Glassdoor, checked September 2026. Pay varies by location, employer and experience. No certification guarantees a salary or a job.
| CertLabz CQEP | IBM Qiskit Developer, Associate | Arcitura Quantum Computing Specialist | Tonex CQCP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Certification exam | Certification exam | Certification exam | Course with exam |
| Computer adaptive | Yes | No | No | No |
| Hands-on PBQs | Yes | No | No | No |
| Vendor neutral | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Proctored | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Level | Intermediate | Associate | Specialist | Intermediate |
| Questions | 80 | 68 | Not published | Not published |
| Time | 120 min | 90 min | 90 min | Not published |
| Pass mark | 700 of 900 | 47 of 68 | Not published | 70% |
| Retake wait | None | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Renewal | 3-year CE cycle | None | Not published | Not published |
| Exam voucher | $149 | $200 | $249 | Not published |
Compiled September 2026 from IBM Training, the Arcitura online store, and the Tonex catalog and US NICCS listing. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners; CertLabz is not affiliated with any of them. Confirm current details with each provider.
Six reasons this credential is worth your time, and worth an employer's attention.
One price for the exam, set by its level. Bundles add the study guide and hands-on practice at a saving.
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Every form is drawn from a bank of more than 180 items to these exact weights, whichever adaptive route you take. Filter by the area you want to study.
The exam runs in three stages. Your score on each stage selects the difficulty of the next, so a strong candidate is stretched and a struggling one is measured fairly rather than swamped. No two candidates sit the same paper. Harder questions carry more weight, so a scaled score means the same thing whichever route you took.
Each exam can have up to 5 to 12 performance-based questions, drawn fresh on every attempt, alongside the multiple-choice questions. A PBQ is a task rather than a list: you assemble a circuit in the correct order, drag each concept onto the case it applies to, or complete an analysis table. They are scored all or nothing, so partial guesses do not pass.
Yes. Questions use standard circuit notation and plain pseudocode. You never need to know one SDK's function names. Where a question involves code, it is annotated so any programmer can follow it.
700 out of 900. Results are reported on a scale of 100 to 900, and 700 corresponds to answering 72% of the exam correctly.
There is no waiting period between a failed first attempt and a second attempt. Buy another voucher and sit the exam again when you are ready, and it will draw a fresh adaptive form from the bank. See the CertLabz Certification Retake Policy.
Yes, after three years. Keep it current by logging 50 CEUs during the cycle and paying the $35 annual CE fee before expiry, or by passing the current exam again.
The exam objectives PDF and the ten sample questions PDF. The CQEP Official Study Guide is a $50 ebook, included in two of the bundles. Hands-on practice comes with the All Access plan, included in the Complete bundle.
A laptop or desktop with a webcam and microphone, Chrome, Edge or Firefox, a stable connection, and a quiet private room for two hours. Phones and tablets are not supported.
CQEP is a continuing-education certification, like the CE credentials from CompTIA and ISC2. It is valid for three years from the day you pass. To keep it, log 50 continuing-education units during the cycle and pay the $35 annual CE fee before your expiry date. Or pass the current version of the exam again. Earning a higher-level CertLabz certification renews it too, the way CompTIA certifications stack.
CEUs are logged from your CertLabz dashboard with supporting evidence. A certification that lapses can be reinstated only by passing the current exam.
Buy a voucher, study the objectives, sit the exam when you are ready. Your credential is issued the moment you pass.