Principal Linux Kernel Developer

Description

The company helps customers connect, protect, analyze and act on their data and applications across edge and cloud environments.

This is a hybrid role in the compute area of the Engineering job family, job level TCP05, based in the United States.

Responsibilities

• Set the architecture and design for Linux kernel parts such as filesystems, memory management, networking and I/O.
• Shape the long-term architecture direction of the company's storage platforms.
• Lead root-cause work on critical customer issues and escalations.
• Find and fix complex kernel faults, including crashes, memory corruption and slowdowns.
• Improve performance, scale and reliability across the storage stack.
• Work with storage, networking, firmware and hardware teams on integrated solutions.
• Guide others through design reviews, mentoring and setting engineering practices.
• Contribute patches and reviews to upstream open-source projects such as the Linux kernel and Lustre.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in computer science, computer engineering or a related field.
• 8, 12+ years of experience in systems or kernel-level software development.
• Expert-level C programming.
• Deep knowledge of Linux kernel internals, such as memory management, filesystems, networking and block I/O.
• Strong kernel debugging skills with tools such as crash, perf, ftrace and tracepoints.
• Experience with distributed systems or storage platforms.
• Proven technical leadership and the ability to influence architecture and cross-functional teams.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills within global engineering organizations.
• Preferred: experience with distributed storage systems such as Lustre, Ceph or DAOS.
• Preferred: experience contributing to the upstream Linux kernel or other open-source projects.
• Preferred: knowledge of HPC environments and high-performance computing architectures.
• Preferred: familiarity with RDMA, InfiniBand or high-speed interconnects.
• Preferred: experience with CI/CD, test automation and performance benchmarking.
• Preferred: experience handling customer escalations and production system issues.

Conditions

Hybrid work: on average 2 days per week in a company office.

Base salary: USD 160,000 to 303,000 in Colorado, or USD 152,000 to 349,000 in Minnesota.

Actual offers may vary by location, experience, education, training and skill level.

Variable incentives may be offered in addition to base salary.

The estimated application closing date is October 26, 2026.

The company welcomes accommodation requests during the application and interview process.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and makes decisions based on qualifications, merit and business need, regardless of race, gender or other protected category.

Benefits

• A broad benefits package covering physical, financial and emotional wellbeing, with US benefit details available from the company.
• Development programs to help you reach career goals, from becoming a subject expert to moving into another division.