Linux Kernel Engineer: CI, Debug & Production Releases

Lex; Dublin; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple is seeking a Linux Kernel Engineer to own the kernel lifecycle end to end, from CI infrastructure to driver enablement and production-ready releases. You will design, build, and operate CI and validation pipelines that test and release Linux kernels across hardware platforms and distributions.

You will triage kernel regressions, investigate crashes and performance issues, port and upstream device drivers, and collaborate with SRE, platform, and hardware teams to ensure kernel stability,

Qualifications

• Experience developing or maintaining the Linux kernel or low-level system software.
• Proven ability to debug kernel level issues using perf, ftrace, bpftrace, crash, gdb, or similar.
• Deep understanding of kernel tuning for stability and performance across many subsystem domains.
• Hands-on experience developing CI/CD systems integrating operating system components and managing kernel releases.
• Strong programming skills in C, plus proficiency in at least one of Rust, Go, Python, or Bash.
• Solid understanding of operating system fundamentals: processes, memory management, filesystems, networking, scheduling, interrupts, and hardware/driver interactions.
• Experience working in a RHEL based Linux environment, including RPM packaging and the RHEL kernel back port and release process.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills; comfortable working with cross-functional teams (SRE, platform, hardware, security).

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate CI and validation pipelines that compile, test, and release Linux kernels across multiple hardware platforms and Linux distributions.
• Lead triage of kernel regressions, investigate crashes and performance issues, drive fixes to resolution, and qualify new hardware at the kernel layer.
• Collaborate with engineers across Apple to port, maintain, and upstream device drivers, shepherd kernel changes into production, and raise the bar on kernel quality and release discipline.

Skills

Linux kernel

C programming

Kernel debugging

CI/CD systems

Kernel tuning

Python

GDB

Cross-functional

System fundamentals

RPM packaging

Education

Bachelor of Computer Science

Tools

Perf

ftrace

bpftrace

Crash

GDB

Job description

Apple is seeking a Linux Kernel Engineer to own the kernel lifecycle end to end, from CI infrastructure to driver enablement and production-ready releases. You will design, build, and operate CI and validation pipelines that test and release Linux kernels across hardware platforms and distributions.

You will triage kernel regressions, investigate crashes and performance issues, port and upstream device drivers, and collaborate with SRE, platform, and hardware teams to ensure kernel stability,