System Software Engineer
System Software Engineer — Linux Kernel & Device Drivers Mountain View, CAWe're partnering with an early-stage AI hardware company building a new generation of high-performance accelerator systems for large-scale AI workloads. They're looking for aSystem Software Engineerto join a small, highly technical team responsible for the software layer that makes custom silicon usable — from Linux kernel drivers and low-level userspace libraries through hardware bring-up, telemetry, and platform integration. This is a strong fit for someone who enjoys working close to the hardware, can take a hardware specification or register map and start building, and is comfortable debugging problems that cross the boundary between silicon, firmware, kernel, and userspace. What You'll Work OnDesign and develop Linux kernel driversfor PCIe-connected accelerator hardware Own areas includingDMA, memory management, interrupts, MMIO, command submission, and device initialization Build low-level userspace libraries and interfaces usingioctl, sysfs, mmap, and direct device access Develop prototype drivers, debug utilities, and bring-up tools for new hardware features Validate software againstsimulation, emulation, and FPGA-based pre-silicon platforms Work directly with hardware and firmware engineers duringfirst-silicon bring-upDebug complex issues spanningRTL, firmware, kernel, PCIe, and userspace Profile and optimize PCIe throughput, DMA performance, interrupt latency, and host-side overhead Build regression and validation infrastructure for driver and systems-software components Expose device health, telemetry, and error information to higher-level platform-management software Provide software input into future chip and system architecture decisions Contribute across adjacent host-software components as the platform evolves
What We're Looking For:
- 8+ years of experience inlow-level systems software, kernel development, firmware, or closely related work
- Strong hands-on experience developing
- Linux kernel device drivers
- ExcellentC programmingskills
- Experience working in bothkernel space and userspace
- Ability to work directly from hardware documentation, register maps, and device specifications
- Strong understanding of:
- PCIeDMAMMIOinterruptsIOMMUvirtual memorymemory hierarchyoperating-system internals
- Experience debugging difficult hardware/software interaction issues
- Comfortable working in an early-stage environment where requirements may still be evolving
- Particularly Relevant Experience - Experience in one or more of the following would be valuable:
- Accelerator, GPU, NIC, storage-controller, or SoC device drivers
- First-silicon or new-platform bring-upPre-silicon simulation, emulation, or FPGA environmentsSR-IOV, VFIO, dma-buf, or PCIe peer-to-peer
- Linux performance tools such asperf, ftrace, or eBPFBMC/OpenBMC or host-to-BMC communicationI2C, SMBus, or other sideband management interfaces
Systems programming inRustThis is a hands-on role with significant ownership and direct exposure to cutting-edge AI silicon from early development through production.
Keywords: Linux Kernel, Device Drivers, Systems Software, Kernel Engineering, PCIe, DMA, MMIO, IOMMU, Linux Drivers, C, C++, Embedded Systems, Low-Level Software, Hardware Software Integration, Silicon Bring-Up, ASIC, SoC, AI Accelerators, GPU, FPGA, Firmware, Computer Architecture, Operating Systems, BMC, OpenBMC, SR-IOV, VFIO, eBPF, Performance Optimization, Pre-Silicon Validation, Hardware Bring-Up