Engineering Manager, Linux Team

Cloudflare; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 303,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Diversity and inclusiveness focus

Job summary

Cloudflare in San Francisco seeks a Lead Kernel Engineer to manage a high-performing team and oversee the delivery of Linux Kernel and core OS components. The role demands strong leadership, a deep understanding of Linux internals, and experience with CI/CD pipelines.

Compensation for this position ranges from $190,000 to $303,000 annually, depending on experience and location, and includes participation in the equity plan.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience managing engineering teams, ideally in low-level systems or kernel development.
• Deep understanding of Linux Kernel internals and OS design fundamentals.
• Experience building or managing CI/CD pipelines for foundational software.

Responsibilities

• Manage a high-performing team of engineers with a culture of collaboration.
• Oversee end-to-end delivery of the Linux Kernel and core OS components.
• Steer the kernel development roadmap balancing features with production stability.

Skills

Systems Leadership

Low-Level Expertise

Automation Mindset

Open Source Pedigree

Operational Empathy

Strategic Communication

Resilience

Job description

Locations

Austin, TX; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA

What You’ll Do

• Lead and Mentor: Manage a high-performing team of kernel and systems engineers, fostering a culture of "collaboration-first" and continuous knowledge sharing both internally and with the global open-source community.
• Own the OS Lifecycle: Oversee the end-to-end delivery of the Linux Kernel and core OS components. Your goal is a fully automated continuous delivery pipeline that moves from merge to 100% production in less than 30 days.
• Drive Technical Vision: Steer the Cloudflare kernel development roadmap. You will balance the need for cutting‑edge features with the absolute requirements of production stability, security, and performance.
• Upstream Advocacy: Promote a "minimal patch" philosophy by ensuring your team is a top contributor to the Linux Kernel. You will support engineers in becoming upstream maintainers for critical subsystems.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as a consultant to hardware and service teams, helping them onboard new hardware and optimize workloads for our OS. You’ll lead a "virtual team" environment where any engineer at Cloudflare can contribute to the kernel.
• Innovate Debugging: Tackle the "impossible" challenges of kernel-level debugging. You will lead the development of automated systems that collect critical telemetry when a system crashes, even when traditional debuggers cannot run.
• Measure Success: Use DORA metrics and team-specific capabilities - such as the "time to fix a kernel issue" and upstream commit volume - to track and improve team impact.

What You’ll Bring

• Systems Leadership: 5+ years of experience managing engineering teams, ideally in low-level systems, kernel development, or large-scale infrastructure environments.
• Low-Level Expertise: A deep understanding of Linux Kernel internals, x86/ARM architecture, and OS design fundamentals. You should be comfortable discussing memory management, schedulers, and network stacks.
• Automation Mindset: Experience building or managing CI/CD pipelines for foundational software. You believe that "toil" is a bug and automation is the feature.
• Open Source Pedigree: A proven track record of engaging with the open-source community. You understand the nuances of upstreaming and how to navigate community dynamics effectively.
• Operational Empathy: An understanding of the unique challenges of a global "reboot-limited" production environment. You prioritize stability and have experience with pre-production QA and synthetic workload evaluation.
• Strategic Communication: The ability to translate complex kernel-level obstacles into actionable business insights for stakeholders across the company.
• Resilience: You aren't intimidated by the "impossible." Whether it's a non-reproducible race condition or an unwelcoming upstream thread, you lead your team through the challenge with a pragmatic, solution-oriented mindset.

Compensation

Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location.

• For New York City and California (excluding Bay Area) based hires: Estimated annual salary of $170,000 - $275,000.
• For Bay Area based hires: Estimated annual salary of $190,000 - $303,000.

Equity

This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare’s equity plan.

Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer.

Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at [e-mail] or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.