Staff Engineer - Linux Kernel Server Development

Company: Qualcomm India Private Limited

Job Area: Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Systems Engineering

General Summary

We are looking for a highly skilled and experienced Principal Engineer to lead, execute contribute to the design, development, and upstreaming of Linux kernel features for our next-generation Arm-based Server SoCs. This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader who thrives at the intersection of hardware and software, and is passionate about building robust, scalable, and high-performance Linux platforms for data center and cloud infrastructure.

You will play a critical role in defining kernel architecture, working on new hardware features, and ensuring compliance with industry standards such as Arm SystemReady SR, BSA, SBSA, and BBR.

Key Responsibilities

Will be part of architecture and development of Linux kernel features for Armv8/v9-based server SoCs.

Drive upstream contributions to the mainline Linux kernel, ensuring long-term maintainability and community alignment.

Collaborate with hardware, firmware, and platform teams to enable new SoC features (e.g., RAS, SMMU, GIC, ACPI).

Working knowledge about ACPI, coresight, debug infra for large scale server platforms

Should be hands on with active contributions. Community engagement is a plus.

Develop and maintain kernel drivers, subsystems, and board support packages (BSPs).

Guide the integration of compliance test suites such as FWTS, BSA-ACS, SBSA-ACS, and SystemReady SR validation tools.

Lead kernel bring-up on new silicon and virtual platforms

Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical reviews, design documentation, and architectural decisions

Represent the company in open-source communities and industry working groups

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.

17+ years of experience in Linux kernel development, with a strong focus on Arm architecture.

Deep understanding and contributions to kernel subsystems such as memory management, scheduler, device drivers, power management, and interrupt handling.

Proven experience in upstreaming patches and working with the Linux kernel community.

Familiarity with server-class SoC features: NUMA, RAS, ACPI, PCIe, CXL, and secure boot.

Experience with platform enablement and compliance validation (e.g., SystemReady SR, FWTS, ACS).

Strong debugging skills using tools like ftrace, perf, kgdb, crash, and kernel logs.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with virtualization (KVM, Xen) and container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).

Contributions to open-source projects or maintainership of kernel subsystems.

Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for kernel testing and validation.

Knowledge of firmware interfaces (UEFI, ACPI, Devicetree) and bootloaders (U-Boot, EDK2).

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Systems Engineering or related work experience. OR Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 3+ years of Systems Engineering or related work experience. OR PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 2+ years of Systems Engineering or related work experience.