NIC Kernel Driver Managing Engineer

Cornelis Networks, Inc.; New York (NY); Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Cash incentives

Health, dental, vision coverage

401(k) with match

Job summary

Cornelis Networks, Inc. is seeking a seasoned kernel driver leader to drive a high‑performance Linux driver team. You will own release planning, guide reviews, and coordinate complex feature delivery aligned to our product roadmap.

Remote work is supported within the United States, with equity, incentives, and a comprehensive benefits package. You will collaborate with ASIC, firmware, and software groups to stabilize ioctls, mmap rings, and DMA memory interfaces while building robust CI and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of systems/kernel software engineering on Linux (C).
• 2+ years formal or informal leadership experience (people manager, team lead, or tech lead).
• Hands-on Linux device driver development: PCIe, BAR/MMIO, DMA, interrupt handling, locking, kernel debugging.
• Depth in at least one high-performance networking subsystem (RDMA core, netdev, XDP/AF_XDP).
• Experience contributing to open-source projects with upstream processes.
• Strong written and verbal communication to leadership and customers.

Responsibilities

• Lead kernel driver team and own release planning and execution tracking.
• Review code, contribute patches, and lead debugging of complex kernel issues.
• Drive pre-silicon bring-up with emulation, FPGA prototypes, and virtual PCIe models.
• Drive patch submission and review cycles on upstream Linux projects.
• Collaborate with ASIC/silicon, firmware, and software teams to stabilize interfaces.
• Establish CI, regression, and stress coverage; own documentation and release readiness.
• Triage escalations and translate findings into prioritized fixes with stakeholders.

Skills

Linux kernel

Driver development

Leadership

Open source

Networking subsystems

Performance debugging

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE

Advanced degree a plus

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

• Team Leadership & Delivery: Lead the kernel driver team; own release planning, execution tracking, and delivery of driver features aligned to the Cornelis product roadmap. Engage in headcount planning, performance management, and hiring.
• Hands-On Technical Contribution: Perform code and design reviews, contribute patches, and lead debug of complex kernel issues (PCIe/MMIO, DMA, MSI-X and interrupt handling, memory registration and address translation, command/completion ring management, device reset and error recovery).
• Pre-Silicon Bring-Up: Drive driver enablement ahead of tapeout using emulation, FPGA prototypes, and virtual PCIe device models, so first-silicon bring-up is measured in days rather than months. Emulation is deployed from day one on our ASIC programs; your team is a first-class consumer of it.
• Upstream & Open-Source Stewardship: Drive patch submission and review cycles on linux-rdma, netdev, and related mailing lists; keep drivers in-tree and supported across RHEL, SLES, and Ubuntu distributions.
• Cross-Stack Collaboration: Partner with ASIC/silicon, firmware, libfabric provider, middleware, and validation teams to define and stabilize the kernel/user-space interface (ioctls, mmap'd rings, doorbells, dma-buf for GPU and accelerator memory).
• Quality, Test & Release:
  Establish and maintain CI, regression, and stress coverage for driver changes; own driver documentation, module packaging, and release readiness.
• Customer & Field Impact: Triage escalations, reproduce customer-reported issues, and translate findings into prioritized fixes with clear status communication to stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 8+ years of systems/kernel software engineering experience in C on Linux; Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience). Master's or Doctorate a plus.
• 2+ years of formal or informal leadership experience (people manager, team lead, or tech lead) with demonstrated interest in people management.
• Hands-on Linux device driver development: PCIe device enumeration, BAR/MMIO register access, DMA mapping, interrupt handling, locking and concurrency, and kernel debugging (crash/kdump, ftrace, perf, kgdb).
• Depth in at least one high-performance networking subsystem — for example, the Linux RDMA core stack (uverbs/ib_core, rdma-core, QP/CQ/MR lifecycle), the netdev datapath (NAPI, multi-queue, XDP/AF_XDP, ethtool/devlink), or an upstream vendor NIC/fabric driver such as mlx5, irdma, ice, bnxt_re, efa, or hfi1.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose performance and correctness issues in low-latency, high-throughput data paths.
• Experience contributing to open-source projects, with familiarity with upstream Linux patch and review processes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to represent the team's work to engineering leadership and customers.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience as a maintainer or reviewer for an upstream Linux driver.
• Familiarity with HPC fabrics, such as Omni-Path, InfiniBand, Slingshot or other host fabric interface drivers.
• Experience with RoCEv2, congestion control, and/or Ethernet-based RDMA deployments.
• Familiarity with Ultra Ethernet (UEC/UET) specifications.
• Knowledge of libfabric/OFI provider interfaces and kernel/user-space co-design.
• Experience with GPUDirect RDMA, dma-buf, and CUDA/ROCm memory interoperability.
• Experience with driver packaging and distro enablement (RHEL/SLES/Ubuntu), and cluster-scale benchmarking, profiling, and optimization.

Location:

Remote: This role fully supports remote work for employees residing within the United States

We offer a competitive compensation package that includes equity, cash, and incentives, along with health and retirement benefits. Our dynamic, flexible work environment provides the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most influential names in the semiconductor industry.

At Cornelis Networks your base salary is only one component of your comprehensive total rewards package. Your base pay will be determined by factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and location relative to the hiring range for the position. Depending on your role, you may also be eligible for performance-based incentives, including an annual bonus or sales incentives.

In addition to your base pay, you’ll have access to a broad range of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, as well as disability and life insurance, a dependent care flexible spending account, accidental injury insurance, and pet insurance. We also offer generous paid holidays, 401(k) with company match, and Open Time Off (OTO) for regular full-time exempt employees. Other paid time off benefits include sick time, bonding leave, and pregnancy disability leave.

Cornelis Networks does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee-based recruitment services. Cornelis Networks is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants’ needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.