Principal Engineer/Director-Engineering, Linux Kernel Development

Company:

Job Area:

General Summary:

We are looking for a highly skilled and experienced Principal Engineer to lead 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, enabling 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).
• 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 of 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 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

• 4+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Applicants: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail disability-accomodations@qualcomm.com or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.

To all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies: Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at Qualcomm. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. Qualcomm does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Qualcomm employees or any other company location. Qualcomm is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications.

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.