Full-Time

Linux Kernel Development Engineer

CIQ

CIQ

51-200 employees

Open-source Linux platform for enterprise infrastructure

No salary listed

Remote in USA

Remote

Bachelor's, Master's

Category
Software Engineering (1)
Required Skills
Git
C/C++
Linux/Unix

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Requirements
  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent Experience.
  • Minimum of 5 years of experience in Linux kernel development, with a strong focus on system-level programming and device driver development.
  • Extensive experience in designing and developing Linux kernel components, including process management, memory management, and inter-process communication.
  • Experience with version control systems, preferably Git, and collaborative development workflows.
  • Proficiency in C programming and a deep understanding of low-level system programming concepts.
  • In-depth knowledge of Linux kernel internals, file systems, device drivers, and kernel module development.
  • Familiarity with hardware platforms and architectures, including x86 and ARM, and their interactions with the Linux kernel.
Responsibilities
  • Lead the design, development, and maintenance of Linux kernel components for our products/services at CIQ.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather requirements and translate them into efficient and scalable kernel designs.
  • Write high-quality, modular, and well-documented code in C and other relevant languages, adhering to coding standards and best practices.
  • Develop and maintain kernel-specific testing and automation tools to improve how we build, test, and release kernels.
  • Debug and resolve complex kernel-level issues, including memory management, process scheduling, and inter-process communication.
  • Collaborate with hardware engineers and other stakeholders to ensure seamless integration of kernel components with hardware platforms.
  • Stay updated with the latest advancements in the Linux kernel community and relevant technologies, evaluating their potential impact on our products and services.
  • Review code submissions from team members and provide constructive feedback to maintain code quality and consistency.
  • Conduct performance analysis and optimization of kernel components to meet specified performance targets.
  • Document design decisions, APIs, and processes for future reference and knowledge sharing.
  • Provide guidance and mentorship to junior developers, fostering their growth and development.

CIQ provides Linux-based infrastructure solutions for enterprises, focusing on a secure, open-source platform. Its products secure the software supply chain from build to server, reveal CVEs on every host, and offer FIPS-compliant, hardened, long-term supported images. The company supports AWS, GCP, OCI, Azure, on-premises, OEM hardware, and edge deployments with migration, management, and support services. Its goal is to help businesses run secure, reliable, and efficient Linux infrastructure at scale across diverse environments.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Series A

Total Funding

$30M

Headquarters

Reno, Nevada

Founded

2020

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • August 2026 federal launches position CIQ for agencies needing three-day CVE remediation.
  • AMD partnership and DGX Spark support expand CIQ into AI and HPC infrastructure budgets.
  • Enterprise Linux Manager, C3, and self-service portal reduce adoption friction and shorten sales cycles.

What critics are saying

  • Red Hat still dominates enterprise Linux renewals, compressing CIQ’s pricing power through 2027.
  • CIQ’s federal bet hinges on BOD 26-04 and 2026-2027 compliance deadlines; slip destroys momentum.
  • Rocky Linux community goodwill can break if CIQ monetizes too aggressively and forks erode adoption.

What makes CIQ unique

  • Gregory Kurtzer’s CIQ owns Rocky Linux’s commercial stack, from RLC Pro to Ascender Pro.
  • CIQ bundles FIPS, hardened images, fleet management, and CVE remediation into one enterprise platform.
  • Fuzzball spans AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, CoreWeave, and on-premises AI and HPC.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Remote Work Options

Stock Options

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-5%

1 year growth

-6%

2 year growth

3%
Associated Press
Aug 11th, 2026
Rocky Linux founder launches OpenWALDO to build shared AI training data corpus

Gregory Kurtzer, founder of Rocky Linux and CentOS, has launched OpenWALDO, an open source project building a shared corpus of AI training data. Sponsored by CIQ, the project aims to provide a transparent foundation for AI development, addressing issues like model collapse and unclear data provenance. OpenWALDO offers an AI Bill of Materials that traces sources, licences, and training runs, allowing developers to verify and build upon a common baseline. The project addresses the industry's problem of duplicated foundational work, where each AI team assembles training material independently. The community-governed initiative is open to individuals, researchers, and companies. CIQ, founded by Kurtzer in 2020, supports the project whilst the community maintains governance. Contributors can join via Slack and GitHub to participate in developing the public corpus.

Associated Press
Aug 6th, 2026
CIQ launches Enterprise Linux Manager for RLC Pro with faster patch approvals

CIQ, the founding commercial sponsor of Rocky Linux, has launched CIQ Enterprise Linux Manager (ELM), a fleet management tool included in all RLC Pro subscriptions. ELM allows enterprise Linux teams to control which updates reach their systems by requiring explicit approval before deployment. The platform enables teams to review, test, and approve security patches and software updates through a single checkpoint. Updates can be rolled forward or back as needed. Unlike traditional fleet management tools sold separately, ELM comes standard with RLC Pro and operates on customers' own infrastructure, including fully disconnected environments. ELM integrates with Ascender Pro, CIQ's configuration management system, synchronising vulnerability and inventory data across platforms. The system can prepare update sets significantly faster than legacy tools whilst maintaining thorough review processes. CIQ Enterprise Linux Manager is now generally available for RLC Pro customers.

PR Newswire
Jul 23rd, 2026
CIQ launches federal Linux solution with real-time kernel exploit detection and three-day CVE remediation compliance

CIQ launched RLC Pro Hardened and Ascender Pro deployment for US federal agencies, providing real-time kernel exploit detection and automated remediation within CISA's Binding Operational Directive 26-04 compliance framework. The directive requires federal systems to remediate highest-risk vulnerabilities within three days of appearing in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue. RLC Pro Hardened is the first Enterprise Linux distribution shipping with runtime kernel exploitation detection enabled by default through Linux Kernel Runtime Guard. The system validates kernel integrity continuously and records exploitation as it occurs, before patches become available. Ascender Pro adds Reaqt, an event-driven engine that monitors fleet logs and automatically executes remediation playbooks. The combined deployment addresses compliance gaps when exploits emerge before patches are released. Agency remediation policies must support BOD 26-04 by 7 August 2026.

PR Newswire
Jul 9th, 2026
CIQ's Ascender Pro automates Enterprise Linux problem detection and fixes across fleets

CIQ, the founding commercial sponsor of Rocky Linux, has announced new features for its Ascender Pro automation platform. The platform now automatically detects and fixes problems across Enterprise Linux fleets without human intervention. New additions include Ascender Reaqt, which watches inventory and fixes issues automatically, and Ascender Registry, which gives teams control over collections and containers. Federated Inventories speeds up job routing to the correct inventory. CIQ has also open sourced Galaxy Proxy, a caching layer that reduces wait times for Ansible Galaxy responses by 75 to 80 percent. The tool is available to the wider Ansible community, whilst Ascender Pro customers receive the full Registry application. Ascender Reaqt, Ascender Registry and Federated Inventories are now available to existing Ascender Pro customers.

PR Newswire
Jun 30th, 2026
Fuzzball turns NVIDIA DGX Spark into ready-to-run AI development environment at any scale

CIQ has announced that its Fuzzball platform now delivers a production-ready AI compute and inference environment for NVIDIA DGX Spark. The platform enables AI teams to develop, tune and deploy workloads on a single DGX Spark system, then scale to thousands of GPUs without rebuilding. Fuzzball eliminates months of infrastructure assembly by providing ready-to-run environments with built-in workflow templates. The platform supports sovereign AI deployments where data cannot leave premises, allowing private model tuning whilst maintaining infrastructure control. Multiple DGX Spark systems can work together under a common Fuzzball environment, with seamless scaling to larger NVIDIA GPU deployments. The platform bridges local DGX Spark systems with HPC clusters and cloud capacity under a single operational model, addressing the traditional split between AI experimentation and production deployment.