Principal Systems Software Engineer

Location: India Development Center (IDC)

The Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) team develops and maintains the Linux kernel at the heart of Oracle Linux. We build performance, reliability, and security improvements for demanding enterprise and cloud workloads. Our engineers tackle complex kernel challenges across hardware platforms, partnering with teams across software, firmware, and infrastructure. Join us to solve deep systems problems and help deliver a dependable foundation for Cloud Infrastructure at scale.

We are seeking a Linux Kernel Engineer to help develop, maintain, and secure the kernel software that supports our infrastructure. In this role, you will investigate complex systems issues, review and deliver kernel changes, and collaborate with engineers across regions to improve reliability, performance, and security.

Key responsibilities

• Develop, debug, test, and maintain Linux kernel code and patches.
• Review kernel changes for correctness, maintainability, performance, and regression risk.
• Assess security vulnerabilities, including CVEs, and backport, validate, and deliver fixes.
• Investigate kernel crashes, performance bottlenecks, and production issues using debugging and tracing tools.
• Collaborate with engineering, security, and operations teams to prioritize issues and deliver timely resolutions.
• Contribute to follow-the-sun operational support through clear documentation and effective handoffs across regions.
• Improve testing, automation, and engineering workflows to support a growing kernel workload.

Required qualifications

• Strong proficiency in C and practical experience developing or maintaining Linux kernel software.
• Solid understanding of operating system fundamentals, including memory management, concurrency, synchronization, and process scheduling.
• Experience diagnosing complex systems issues using crash dumps, logs, tracing, and debugging tools.
• Familiarity with kernel patch review, backporting, testing, and regression analysis.
• Experience using Git and collaborating on large codebases.
• Ability to independently own engineering tasks, communicate technical findings clearly, and work effectively with distributed teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience of 6+ years.

Preferred qualifications

• Contributions to the upstream Linux kernel or other systems software projects.
• Experience with enterprise Linux distributions and kernel maintenance across multiple versions.
• Experience assessing and remediating kernel CVEs.
• Knowledge of virtualization, networking, storage, or device drivers.
• Experience supporting production infrastructure and building automated kernel validation tools.

What success looks like

You deliver well-tested kernel changes, resolve complex issues, and help maintain timely security patching. Your work strengthens kernel reliability and supports effective collaboration and operational coverage across regions.

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Key Responsibilities

Systems Software Development:

• Design, develop, and maintain complex system software modules for managing, monitoring, and provisioning kernel and operating system software for computer servers, storage, networking, and GPU subsystems in hyperscale environment.

• Utilizes advanced knowledge to design, develop, and deploy software layers and tooling to automate hardware provisioning and onboarding of servers to large-scale fleet.

• Play a significant role in platform bring-up, firmware updates, platform-level diagnostics, and complex cross-layer debugging.

• Diagnose and resolve complex issues across software, firmware, and hardware layers, working in DevOps and incident response paradigms to maintain reliability and availability.

Software Development and Coding:

• Designs software solutions and analyzes and identifies requirements to achieve business and operational goals, sharing results with manager upon completion.

• Adheres to and improves execution of all phases of the software development lifecycle; provides guidance and coaching to engineers to drive improvements.

• Utilizes advanced knowledge to develop and guide new software features and enhancements leading design specifications, ensuring accessibility, and develops documents to clarify software design and code.

• Leads code reviews in multiple areas to help drive improvements.

• Conducts debugging and troubleshooting to identify and fix complex software issues.

• Develops fixes for identified issues.

• Implements comprehensive software testing (e.g., functional and non-functional testing), quality assurance processes, software error logging, monitoring, and observability for effective debugging, sharing work with manager and/or lead upon completion.

• Conducts performance profiling and optimization of coding, building scalable solutions, and anticipating and resolving potential outcomes.

• Troubleshoots and resolves complex issues related to application programming interface (API) functionality and integration. Implements complex API versioning, lifecycle, and interoperability strategies.

Software Architecture - Software System Structural Design:

• Implements and contributes to developing software, systems, and services, ensuring review by manager and/or senior technical leaders upon completion. Recommends project or design scope.

• Provides technical guidance and coaching to less experienced developers in existing software architecture.

• Contributes to periodic reviews and ensures adherence to architectural standards.

• Collaborates with stakeholders and networks externally to ensure work aligns with software architecture.

• Implements complex performance optimization and scalability strategies in software design.

• Occasionally conducts technology research and evaluation for potential architectural changes that may have an impact on results for the team.

Issue/Defect Collaboration - Software Products Support:

• Collaborates with stakeholders to understand customer issues and align solutions.

• May provide advanced technical guidance and support to customers regarding customer-reported issues.

• Advocates for customers' interests and suggests product enhancements based on feedback.

• Provides input to ensure customer satisfaction through timely resolution of issues and effective communication.

• Identifies and implements customer issue and/or defect handling and training processes.

• Investigates and troubleshoots complex and broad reaching/scoped maintenance issues to ensure customer agreement on short- and long-term solutions (e.g., future enhancements).

Practices and Standards Compliance - Security and Compliance:

• Collaborates with the team and externally to follow development practices and coding standards, providing coaching to less experienced team members.

• Participates in peer review processes, provides technical leadership, and ensures code quality and adherence to broad acceptance criteria during development, independently.

• Demonstrates and shares advanced knowledge of industry best practices and applies them to software development processes.

• Implements complex secure coding practices to prevent security vulnerabilities.

Development Operations - System Maintenance:

• Performs periodic maintenance and testing operations for systems that require upgrading or patching (e.g., for critical vulnerabilities), sharing results with manager upon completion.

• Drives improvements, ensures automation, testing, and debugging of systems to ensure service/product availability, health, support, and reliability.

Core Responsibilities
Planning & Execution:

• Manages and coordinates moderately complex tasks, monitoring timelines and deliverables to ensure timely completion and adherence to requirements for a moderately sized project or initiative.

• Efficiently delegates, monitors, and prioritizes work across multiple projects, providing technical oversight and adjusting plans to address shifts in resources or timelines.

Collaboration & Partnership:

• Collaborates across the organization to align on expectations and achieve shared objectives.

• Leverages understanding of business leaders, stakeholders, and/or customers to ensure proposed solutions meet their needs.

• Supports inclusivity by actively seeking and listening to diverse perspectives, ensuring others feel heard and respected.

Problem Solving:

• Identifies and addresses moderately complex issues by analyzing a wide range of data and/or information to identify solutions in accordance with standard practices.

• Proactively escalates unresolved or critical issues with a thorough assessment and suggests potential solutions.

• Reviews, contributes to, and documents problem solving strategies.

Continuous Learning:

• Pursues learning opportunities to expand knowledge and skills and/or tools in new areas and stays abreast of the latest industry trends and best practices.

• Proactively seeks and leverages ongoing feedback and training to improve skills.

• Coaches and mentors junior team members, fostering continuous learning and knowledge sharing within and across teams.

Continuous Improvement:

• Develops ideas, recommends updates, and/or collaborates on the implementation of process improvements to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, protocols, and workflows across teams, and evaluates the impact on key stakeholders.

• Solicits feedback from others on ideas for alternative approaches and methods for continued improvement.

Performance and Development:

• Contributes to the talent development pipeline by participating in candidate interviews, assessing candidates, and providing hiring recommendations.