Linux Kernel Upstream Engineer

X4 Life Sciences; City Of London; Remote; GBP 96,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

X4 Life Sciences is seeking a Linux Kernel Engineer to drive upstream ARM SoC enablement. You will implement platform drivers, Device Tree support and DMA, tackle upstream submissions and collaborate with maintainers, working remotely across Europe.

The role emphasizes hands-on hardware debugging on real boards, cross-family IRQ routing, and delivering robust kernel code against new silicon. Prior upstream patches and strong C/Linux fundamentals are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience writing drivers from hardware manuals or datasheets.
• Upstream Linux contributions accepted into mainline.
• Hands-on hardware debugging on real boards.
• Ability to support multiple SoC variants without duplicating drivers.
• Contract role with fully remote work in Europe.

Responsibilities

• Develop peripheral drivers from hardware manuals (SPI, I2C, DMA, interrupts).
• Implement Device Tree support and board bring-up.
• Work on high-speed interfaces like PCIe (helpful but not essential).
• Troubleshoot probe/enumeration and IRQ routing issues.
• Collaborate with upstream maintainers and review patches.

Skills

C programming

Linux kernel fundamentals

ARM SoC experience

Upstream patches

Hardware debugging

Tools

Device Tree

Yocto

pytest/LAVA

Job description

Linux Kernel Engineer - Upstream / ARM SoC Enablement (Contract, Fully Remote)

I'm looking for an experienced Linux kernel engineer to work on new ARM SoC enablement with a major global semiconductor company. This is on a long term, high pay, fully remote working basis.

What the work looks like

This is new-silicon work, not maintenance of an existing BSP. You'd take peripherals from the hardware reference manual through Device Tree and driver development, then on to hardware validation and upstream submission.

The core areas are:

• Peripheral and controller drivers written from the hardware manual: SPI, I²C, DMA and interrupt routing
• High-speed interfaces such as PCIe (helpful, but not essential)
• Device Tree development
• Board bring-up and low-level hardware debugging

You will also touch ASoC, pinctrl, Ethernet/PHY and thermal drivers. You don't need to know all of these in depth.

The kind of problem you'll be solving

A peripheral won't probe, enumerate or raise interrupts, and you have to work out why. Is it the hardware configuration, the clocks or resets, the interrupt routing, the Device Tree, the status register handling, or the driver? There's also the challenge of supporting several SoC variants that share IP but differ in registers, interrupts and quirks, without ending up with duplicated drivers.

What I'm looking for

• Strong C and Linux kernel fundamentals, with ARM/SoC experience
• Experience writing drivers from a hardware manual or datasheet (platform drivers, probe/remove, clocks, resets, interrupts, DMA), not only Device Tree changes or small fixes
• Upstream Linux contributions: patches accepted into mainline, working with maintainers, responding to review, and handling patch series
• Hands-on hardware debugging on real boards
• A bonus: Yocto, CIP kernels, or automated hardware testing (pytest/LAVA)

If you've worked on vendor kernels or BSPs and have upstream patches behind you, I'd like to hear from you. You don't need PCIe experience, or a long list of subsystems on your CV.

Fully remote (work from anywhere in Europe)
Contract role, highly competitive rate
Real silicon, real hardware
Genuine upstream Linux work

#LinuxKernel #UpstreamLinux #EmbeddedLinux #ARM #SoC #DeviceTree #DMA #Firmware #Contract