Senior Linux Kernel Engineer (Memory Management & Device Drivers) | Contract | Almost Remote (San Jose, CA - Onsite Once in a Month)

Senior Linux Kernel Engineer (Memory Management & Device Drivers) | Contract | Almost Remote (San Jose, CA - Onsite Once in a Month)

Senior Linux Kernel Engineer (Memory Management & Device Drivers)

San Jose, CA (almost Remote Onsite Once in a Month)
Contract Opportunity

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Linux Kernel Engineer to join a cutting-edge Systems Software team focused on next-generation AI infrastructure and data center platforms. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Linux kernel development, memory management internals, and device driver development for high-performance hardware environments.

This role requires close collaboration with hardware, firmware, and architecture teams to build and optimize scalable system-level software solutions for advanced SoC and accelerator platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and optimize Linux kernel memory management subsystems, including:
  • Paging
  • HugePages
  • Page cache
  • LRU management
  • Memory allocation strategies
• Develop and maintain Linux kernel device drivers for high-speed hardware interfaces such as:
  • PCIe Gen5/Gen6
  • NVMe
  • Accelerator devices
• Work on advanced memory technologies and heterogeneous memory architectures including:
  • Unified Virtual Memory (UVM)
  • Memory tiering
  • CXL-based memory expansion
• Enable and optimize virtualization environments using:
  • KVM
  • QEMU
  • IOMMU
  • Interrupt virtualization
• Collaborate with hardware and silicon teams on:
  • SoC bring-up
  • Register-level programming
  • Memory architecture optimization
  • ARMv9 / RISC-V platforms
• Perform low-level debugging, root cause analysis, and performance tuning using:
  • Kernel tracing tools
  • Hardware debuggers
  • Emulation and simulation platforms
• Contribute to system architecture discussions and solve complex kernel, performance, and memory-related issues.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Strong hands-on expertise in Linux Kernel Development
• Deep understanding of Linux Memory Management (MM subsystem)
• Experience developing Linux Device Drivers
• Strong programming skills in:
  • C
  • C++
  • Assembly (preferred)
• Solid understanding of:
  • DMA
  • Cache coherency
  • Memory subsystems
  • Hardware/software interaction
• Experience with virtualization technologies:
  • KVM
  • QEMU
  • IOMMU
• Strong debugging and performance optimization experience in low-level environments

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with CXL (Compute Express Link) or emerging memory architectures
• Familiarity with ARM or RISC-V architectures
• Exposure to Python, gRPC, or REST APIs for tooling and automation
• Contributions to Linux kernel or open-source projects
• Experience supporting AI/ML or large-scale data center workloads

Education

• Bachelor s or Master s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field

Ideal Candidate Background

Candidates with experience in the following areas will be highly preferred:

• Linux kernel internals
• Systems software engineering
• Storage and memory subsystems
• Semiconductor or SoC environments
• AI infrastructure platforms
• Data center systems
• High-performance computing (HPC)
• Embedded Linux systems