Experimental progress in the development of quantum computers has now led to the establishment of controllable devices at scales approaching those necessary for quantum advantage. As such, a considerable amount of interest has grown around developing practical strategies for implementing useful algorithms on these platforms, a task which is made difficult by the considerable noise rates of current implementations. This thesis expands upon this work, developing strategies for implementing high-fidelity gates on noisy superconducting qubits. Throughout, the practical utility of the strategies is prioritised, with their viability verified through implementations on real hardware.

First, a variational quantum gate optimisation (VQGO) routine is developed that utilises quantum control to maximise an implemented gate's fidelity. To do this, a novel fidelity measure, the $0-$fidelity is developed, analysed and established to be more practical than state-of-the-art fidelity measures for this purpose. This practicality is demonstrated experimentally through the successful optimisation of a three qubit gate.

The VQGO scheme is then extended by developing a pulse-level control scheme that takes advantage of the natural entangling operations in the experimental device. This is highly successful, yielding very high fidelity two and three qubit gates, although it is found that parameter drift precludes the scheme from realising a more complex Floquet-engineered gate.

Finally, the analysis of the physics underpinning the experimental platform is extended through the development of a characterisation and calibration protocol aimed at facilitating analogue quantum simulations on the device. The viability of the platform for such a purpose is experimentally assessed against a set of necessary criteria, during which two unexpected noise sources are identified and characterised. The characterisation and calibration protocols are shown to be practical and useful, with the viability of the platform for analogue quantum simulation being contingent on the development of strategies for overcoming these noise sources.