Senior Linux Kernel Engineer – Memory Management & PCIe/CXL (Not Admin)

San Jose, CA (Onsite)
Contract

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Software Engineer with deep expertise in Linux Kernel development and device driver engineering to support next-generation AI and data center platforms.

This role focuses on Linux kernel memory management, heterogeneous memory systems, high-speed interconnects, virtualization, and SoC bring-up. The ideal candidate will have strong low-level systems programming experience and a solid understanding of hardware-software co-design.

Key Responsibilities

Linux Kernel Memory Management

• Architect and optimize Linux kernel MM subsystem for heterogeneous memory systems

• Work on Unified Virtual Memory (UVM), memory tiering, and CXL-based expansion

• Improve performance and scalability for AI and data center workloads

Device Driver Development

• Design and implement Linux device drivers for high-performance interfaces

• Support PCIe Gen5/Gen6, NVMe, CXL, and accelerator-based platforms

• Optimize DMA engines, interrupts, and IOMMU functionality

Virtualization & Hypervisors

• Develop and enhance KVM and QEMU support

• Implement interrupt virtualization and hardware-assisted memory management

• Optimize virtualization for performance-sensitive workloads

SoC Architecture & Bring-Up

• Collaborate with hardware architects to define registers and memory maps

• Support ARMv9 and RISC-V silicon bring-up

• Debug pre-silicon and post-silicon environments

System-Level Debugging

• Diagnose kernel crashes, memory corruption, and performance bottlenecks

• Use advanced debugging and tracing tools for root cause analysis

Required Qualifications

• 5-15 years of experience in Linux kernel and low-level systems programming

• Strong expertise in Linux Memory Management (paging, swapping, HugePages, page cache, LRU)

• Deep understanding of PCIe, CXL, cache coherency protocols (AMBA CHI/ACE), and DMA

• Expert-level C programming and Assembly (ARM or x86)

• Experience with Python for automation and performance modeling

• Strong debugging and system architecture skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Contributions to mainline Linux kernel (mm/ or drivers/pci/)

• Experience in cloud or large-scale data center environments

• Familiarity with AI/ML workloads and memory allocator interactions

• Knowledge of hardware security features (TrustZone, ARM CCA, MPU)

Ideal Candidate

• Hands-on kernel engineer with deep systems knowledge

• Experience working closely with silicon and hardware teams

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

• Ability to work independently in complex technical environments