Senior Staff Linux Kernel Engineer

Crusoe•Sunnyvale, CA

1d•$250,000 - $300,000

About The Position

Crusoe is looking for a Senior Staff Linux Kernel Engineer to set the technical direction for their Linux kernel team. This role involves owning the roadmap and architecting critical development projects, requiring a blend of high-level architectural design and hands-on kernel coding. The engineer will address complex kernel problems, mentor other engineers, and deliver production-ready infrastructure at scale. The work will focus on designing and implementing advanced virtualization technologies for GPU-accelerated AI and HPC workloads, optimizing the stack for low latency and high scalability. This includes developing and maintaining upstream-first kernel code and device drivers, optimizing memory management, scheduling, and I/O subsystems. Additionally, the role involves deep-dive root-cause analysis of OS and hardware issues, leading triage and backporting for kernel CVEs, and building automated tooling for vulnerability analysis. Leadership responsibilities include driving engineering excellence through technical mentorship, code reviews, and alignment with product and hardware teams.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in systems software engineering.
At least 3 years in a technical leadership role managing low-level systems or infrastructure teams.
Expert-level knowledge of Linux kernel internals (memory management, scheduler, I/O).
Expert-level knowledge of virtualization technologies (KVM, Xen, or QEMU).
Strong C programming skills.
Fluency with the kernel development workflow, including patch submission and debugging security vulnerabilities.
Proficiency in modern systems programming (Go, Rust, or Python).
Familiarity with CI/CD and deployment automation tooling.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with accelerators (GPUs, TPUs) and related technologies like CUDA or ROCm.
Experience with high-performance networking (e.g., InfiniBand, RoCE).
Experience tuning virtualization stacks for HPC workloads.

Responsibilities

Set the technical direction for Crusoe's Linux kernel team.
Own the roadmap and architect critical development projects.
Design and implement advanced virtualization technologies tailored for GPU-accelerated AI and HPC workloads.
Optimize the stack for low latency and high scalability across hypervisors and device emulation.
Develop and maintain upstream-first kernel code and device drivers.
Optimize memory management, scheduling, and I/O subsystems proactively to support hardware accelerators and high-throughput compute use cases.
Perform deep-dive root-cause analysis of issues across the OS and hardware layers.
Lead the triage and backporting for kernel CVEs.
Build automated tooling for vulnerability analysis.
Lead and grow a high-performing systems team.
Drive engineering excellence through technical mentorship, comprehensive code reviews, and alignment with product and hardware teams.