Senior Systems Engineer / Linux Plumber (OS Tooling & Distro Customization) Turin, Torino, Italy Software Engineering Posted 14 hours ago

Qualcomm; Piemonte; On-site; EUR 58,000 - 86,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Europe, Inc. Italy Branch Office seeks a Linux Plumber to bridge the kernel and user space, building robust OS-level tooling and advancing our custom Linux distribution with a mainline-first approach.

You will collaborate with Qualcomm's open-source engineers to design, implement, and maintain the distro stack (rootfs, package pipelines, image generation) while optimizing boot, init, and user-kernel boundaries across platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor/Master/PhD with hardware/software experience.
• Strong knowledge of Linux kernel internals and OS concepts.
• Experience with Debian packaging and distribution tooling.
• Proficiency in C, Go, or Rust and scripting languages.

Responsibilities

• Distro customization, rootfs, package pipelines, image generation.
• Upstream-first development ensuring code lands in mainline.
• Maintain and optimize Debian packaging for stability.
• Develop OS-level tooling in C/Go/Rust to interface with hardware.
• Optimize boot sequence, init, and systemd/init integration.
• Collaborate across teams to align OS plumbing with silicon features.

Skills

Linux Internals

Containerization

Systems Programming

Upstream Philosophy

User-Kernel Boundary

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Master's degree in CS/Engineering

PhD in CS/Engineering

Tools

Docker

LXC

Podman

dpkg/apt/debootstrap

Job description

Company:

Qualcomm Europe, Inc. Italy Branch Office

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

We are looking for a Linux Plumber to join our team of world-class engineers. While our kernel team focuses on upstream development and subsystem internals, your mission will be to bridge the gap between the kernel and user space. You will be the architect and mechanic of our custom operating system environment, responsible for building robust OS-level tooling, optimizing the user-space/kernel-space boundary, and driving our custom distribution engineering.

In this role, we strictly adhere to a "mainline first" philosophy, ensuring our work is pushed upstream rather than maintaining fragmented forks. You will work in exceptionally close collaboration with an elite team of Qualcomm open-source engineers, co-developing cutting-edge platforms and ensuring our custom Linux distribution seamlessly integrates with upstream developments.

Key Responsibilities

• Distro Customization & Release Engineering: Own the architecture, assembly, and maintenance of our custom Linux distribution (including rootfs, package management pipelines, and image generation).
• Upstream-First Development: Design and build system-level components with an upstream-first mindset, ensuring code is destined for mainline project acceptance.
• Debian Ecosystem Management: Maintain, build, and optimize our package ecosystem, leveraging deep Debian packaging mechanics to ensure rock-solid stability and reproducibility.
• OS-Level Tooling: Design and build reliable system-level tools, utilities, and daemons in C, Go, or Rust to interface with custom hardware and kernel features.
• Boot & Init Optimization: Optimize the early boot pipeline (bootloaders, initramfs, systemd/init systems) for speed, security, and deterministic behavior.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Act as the technical bridge between our internal teams and Qualcomm’s upstream engineering stars to align OS plumbing with next-gen silicon capabilities.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 6+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 5+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.

Technical Qualifications

Must-Haves (The "Plumbing" Core):

• Deep Linux Internals: Strong understanding of Linux OS architecture (process lifecycle, memory management, VFS, networking stack).
• Containerization & Sandboxing: Proficiency in using containerization and isolation technologies (e.g., Docker, LXC, Podman) to architect reproducible CI/CD build pipelines and enforce granular, secure, on-device application access control.
• Systems Programming: Proficiency in C and at least one modern systems/automation language (Go, Rust, or advanced Python/Bash).
• Upstream Philosophy: Experience contributing to or navigating open-source mailing lists, maintaining a strict adherence to mainline-first development.
• User-Kernel Boundary: Hands‑on experience working with systemd, udev, D-Bus, network configuration, and standard Linux CLI plumbing.

Nice-to-Haves (Big Pluses):

• Debian Expert: Strong expertise in Debian packaging (dpkg, apt, debootstrap), maintaining custom repositories, and managing complex dependency trees.
• Familiarity with Linux security primitives (Namespaces, Cgroups, SELinux/AppArmor, dm‑verity).

Cultural & Team Fit

• The "Glue" Mentality: You enjoy collaborating closely with pure kernel engineers on one side and application/cloud engineers on the other.
• Open-Source Citizen: You thrive in the public eye of open-source development and are comfortable collaborating with external industry leaders.
• Pragmatic Problem Solver: You care about building stable, maintainable, production‑ready systems over theoretical perfection.

Why Join This Team?

You will work alongside world-class kernel experts and rub shoulders daily with some of the top open‑source minds at Qualcomm. You won't be siloed into a single subsystem; instead, you will have a massive impact on the overall performance, reliability, and developer experience of our entire OS platform. We heavily support open-source contributions, encourage participating in the broader Linux plumbing community, and strictly back a mainline‑first engineering culture.

Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits:

€57,600.00 - €86,400.00 annual (Gross)

The above pay range reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay range for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. This range includes two additional months of pay as part of the annual salary. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales‑incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play.

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