Job Title:
Senior Embedded Software Engineer – Routing & Data Plane
Location:
Remote
Job Type:
Full-time
Experience:
8+ years
You are a hands-on engineer passionate about building high-performance, policy-driven networking systems. You have deep expertise in data plane programming and open-source routing stacks, and you thrive on solving complex challenges in packet forwarding, traffic shaping, and protocol implementation. If you have experience with
VPP, DPDK, and FRR
and want to shape the future of enterprise networking, this role is for you.
We are seeking a Senior Embedded Software Engineer with deep expertise in
data-plane forwarding, routing protocols, and embedded systems
to design and develop our next-generation networking appliances. The ideal candidate will have extensive, hands-on experience with
VPP and DPDK for high-performance packet processing
and
FRR for routing protocol implementation
.You will be responsible for developing software that enables advanced traffic shaping, policy application, and secure routing across virtualized and containerized environments. Skills: nat,c,mpls,vxlan,rip,aws,azure,c++,linux kernel networking,kubernetes,tcp/ip,dhcp,dpdk,vrf,embedded software,udp,smartnics,ci/cd,gre,openflow,networking,l2/l3 switching,terraform,ospf,firewall,docker,data,open vswitch,asics,nfv,software,segment routing,bird,python,frr,gcp,arp,eigrp,bgp,is-is,routing,vpn,dns,embedded
- Key Responsibilities
- Data Plane Development & Optimization (Primary Focus)
- Architect, develop, and optimize high-performance packet processing pipelines using Vector Packet Processing (VPP) and the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK).
- Implement and enhance L2/L3 forwarding features, including bridging, switching, and IP routing in the fast path.
- Develop and maintain drivers and plugins to integrate with hardware accelerations (e.g., SmartNICs, ASICs).
- Conduct rigorous performance profiling, bottleneck analysis, and latency optimization within the data plane.
- Routing Protocol Implementation & Integration
- Design, develop, and debug routing protocol features within the Free Range Routing (FRR) framework, including BGP, OSPF, and MPLS.
- Implement and maintain tunneling protocols such as GRE, IPSEC, and VXLAN for secure and scalable network overlays.
- Build robust, scalable solutions for VRF-aware routing and policy-based routing (PBR).
- Contribute to the open-source FRR project and manage upstreaming efforts.
- Policy & Traffic Management
- Develop sophisticated software mechanisms for traffic shaping, rate limiting, and quality of service (QoS).
- Design and implement the policy engine for applying access control lists (ACLs), security policies, and traffic steering rules based on L3-L7 criteria.
- Ensure policy decisions are efficiently applied in the data path for minimal performance impact.
- Platform & Systems Integration
- Build and deploy software within virtualized (KVM, VMware) and containerized (Docker, Kubernetes) environments.
- Collaborate with the platform team to ensure smooth integration between the control plane (often in a container) and the high-speed data plane.
- Develop system-level software for configuration management, event logging, and health monitoring.
- Mandatory Technical Requirements (Must-Have)
- 8+ years of professional experience in embedded systems or low-level networking software development.
- VPP & DPDK: Proven, hands-on programming experience with both VPP and DPDK. You must be able to discuss specific projects and contributions.
- FRR: Significant experience developing within the FRR ecosystem. You should understand its architecture and have implemented or modified protocols within it.
- Protocol Expertise: Deep understanding and practical implementation experience with:
- IGPs: OSPF (required), IS-IS (a plus)
- EGPs: BGP (required)
- Tunneling/Security: GRE, IPSEC (required), VXLAN (a plus)
- MPLS: L3VPN, LDP, or Segment Routing (required)
- Traffic/Policy Software: Demonstrable experience building the software components for traffic shaping (e.g., Hierarchical Token Bucket), QoS (DSCP marking/remarking), and policy application.
- Virtualization/Containerization: Professional experience developing software intended to run in virtualized or containerized environments.
- Languages: Expert-level proficiency in C, strong proficiency in C++ (11/14/17), and scripting experience with Python.
- Tools: Mastery of Linux development, git, gdb, and packet analysis tools (Wireshark, tcpdump).
- Desired Skills & Experience (Nice-to-Have)
- Experience with kernel bypass techniques and SR-IOV.
- Knowledge of cloud networking concepts (AWS VPC, Azure Virtual Network, GCP VPC).
- Familiarity with SDN controllers (ONOS, ODL) and network orchestration (NetConf, Yang).
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI) and automated testing frameworks for networking.
- Contributions to open-source networking projects.
- Relevant industry certifications (e.g., CCNP/CCIE, JNCIP/JNCIE).
- Personal Competencies
- Ownership & Initiative: A self-starter who can lead a feature from concept to deployment with minimal supervision.
- Problem-Solving: Exceptional analytical and debugging skills for complex, system-level issues.
- Collaboration: Strong verbal and written communication skills to work effectively in a fully remote, cross-functional team.
- Mentorship: Ability to guide and mentor junior engineers through design and code reviews.
- Education
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
