Virtualization / Compute Systems Engineer ($250K – $300K + Equity) at Blaxel
About The Position
Join a high-performance team building an AI-native cloud platform from the ground up. You will own the virtualization layer, extending a Firecracker fork to achieve sub-25ms cold starts for agentic workloads. This is a foundational role for a systems expert to architect secure, multi-tenant isolation and low-latency compute at massive scale. Why this role is remarkable: Work directly with technical founders who previously built and sold a multicloud data platform to Europe's largest cloud provider. Join a YC X25 company that recently raised $7.3M from First Round Capital and already processes billions of AI agent requests. Impact a critical open-source ecosystem by contributing upstream to Firecracker while shipping code that immediately powers top AI startups.
Requirements
- Deep proficiency in Rust and/or C/C++ with a strong understanding of Linux internals like KVM, virtio, and kernel memory management.
- Proven experience with virtualization technologies such as Firecracker, QEMU, or Cloud Hypervisor in a production or open-source context.
- Skilled in systems performance analysis using modern Linux features like eBPF or io_uring to debug across kernel and userspace boundaries.
Responsibilities
- Design and implement low-level virtualization features on a Firecracker fork, focusing on VM lifecycle and memory optimization.
- Develop kernel-level optimizations and custom device models to minimize latency and maximize throughput for specialized AI workloads.
- Profile and optimize critical paths in the VM creation pipeline while building robust monitoring and observability tools for production.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
1-10 employees
