Device Driver Developer

HCLTech; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

We are looking for Software Engineers with 6-11 years of experience to develop, optimize, and maintain kernel-level Host Bus Adapter (HBA) drivers for enterprise SAN storage environments. You will work closely with hardware, firmware, and OS virtualization teams to deliver high-performance driver solutions, including PCIe DMA, interrupt handling, and upstreaming fixes for Linux, ESXi, or Windows kernels.

The role requires thorough debugging, performance tuning, and close collaboration with

Qualifications

• 6–11 years of experience in kernel driver development (Linux/ESXi/Windows).
• Proficiency in C/C++ programming and memory management.
• Experience with PCI/PCIe, DMA, MSI-X, and synchronization primitives.
• Hands-on debugging with GDB, trace tools, and PCIe analyzers.

Responsibilities

• Driver Development & Maintenance: design, write, and maintain high-performance kernel drivers for FC/FC-NVMe/SCSI/SAS HBAs.
• Protocol & Stack Integration: interface with OS storage stacks and manage DMA, interrupts, and queueing.
• Silicon & Firmware Interface: work with hardware datasheets and register maps for I/O and firmware load sequences.
• Debugging & Performance Tuning: debug panics, I/O hangs, and memory leaks using tools and hardware debuggers.
• Upstreaming & Distribution: upstream fixes or package drivers for enterprise distributions.

Skills

C/C++

Kernel driver

Linux kernel

Windows kernel

ESXi

PCIe

DMA

Interrupts

RCU

GDB

Perf

ftrace

Tools

GDB

PCIe analyzers

Trace tools

Crash tools

Job description

Role & responsibilities

Position Overview

We are looking for Software Engineers with 6-11 years of experience to develop, optimize, and maintain kernel-level Host Bus Adapter (HBA) drivers. In this role, the engineer will work closely with hardware, firmware, and OS virtualization teams to deliver high-performance driver solutions for enterprise SAN storage environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Driver Development & Maintenance: Design, write, and maintain high-performance kernel drivers (Linux, VMware ESXi, or Windows) for Fibre Channel (FC), FC-NVMe, and SCSI/SAS HBAs.
• Protocol & Stack Integration: Interface drivers with OS storage stacks (SCSI mid-layer, NVMe subsystem, block layer) and handle low-level Direct Memory Access (DMA), interrupt handling (MSI-X), and queue management.
• Silicon & Firmware Interface: Work with hardware datasheets and register maps to handle register-level I/O, NVRAM/VPD interactions, firmware load sequences, and hardware offload engines.
• Debugging & Performance Tuning: Debug kernel panics, I/O hangs, and memory leaks using PCIe protocol analyzers, kernel trace tools (ftrace, perf), and hardware debuggers.
• Upstreaming & Distribution: Upstream driver fixes to the Linux kernel / open-source tree or package out-of-tree drivers for enterprise distributions (RHEL, SLES, VMware).

Required Qualifications & Must-Have Skills

• Expert proficiency in C/C++ programming, pointer arithmetic, memory management, and concurrent/thread-safe programming.
• 5+ years in Linux/Windows/ESXi kernel driver development (Kernel modules, synchronization primitives: spinlocks, mutexes, RCU).
• Strong knowledge of PCI / PCIe bus mechanisms (Config space, BARs, PCIe Gen4/5/6, TLP/DLLP)
• Hands-on experience with GDB, Kdump/Crash, LeCroy/Teledyne PCIe analyzers, and protocol analyzers (Fibre Channel trace tools).

Good-to-Have Skills

• In-depth understanding of Fibre Channel (FC-P2P, FC-SAN, FCoE), SCSI architecture, or NVMe / FC-NVMe protocols.
• Direct experience writing or maintaining QLogic (qla2xxx) drivers.
• Familiarity with ESXi (VMware Native Driver Kit - NDK) or Windows Device Driver Kit (WDK/KMDF).
• Knowledge of Manufacturing Test Kits (MFG Kits), NVRAM/VPD flashing tools, or manufacturing line diagnostic scripts.
• Scripting capability in Python or Bash for driver test automation.