Remote Linux Kernel Engineer (Upstream & Consulting)

Remote; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Conference attendance

Open source time

Office setup budget

Sabbatical/Retention of Services

Co-working policy

Wellness assessments

Fully remote

Global team

No on-call rotations

Flexible hours

Job summary

Collabora is seeking a skilled Linux kernel engineer for a fully remote role. You will drive upstream Linux development for flagship devices, collaborating with client teams to translate needs into upstream-friendly solutions. The role blends deep kernel work with remote consulting and technical leadership.

You will contribute to core subsystems and help shape a long-term upstream profile while engaging with global Collabora engineers and attending conferences as needed.

Qualifications

• Product support experience with diagnosing end-user issues.
• Solid Linux kernel development experience and upstream awareness.
• Strong English communication for patch reviews and client discussions.
• Self-directed, able to work effectively in a remote, asynchronous environment.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to mainline Linux kernel development including schedulers and drivers.
• Impact real-world devices by optimizing Linux for popular consumer hardware.
• Tackle hard kernel problems and push upstream changes.
• Collaborate with upstream maintainers and represent Collabora at conferences.
• Translate client needs into upstream-friendly technical solutions.
• Balance technical excellence with deadlines and hardware limits.
• Explain complex kernel decisions to product teams with honest timelines.

Skills

Product support

Linux kernel development

English communication

Self-directed work

Tools

KernelCI

Jenkins

LAVA

CI/CD

BSP development

Board bring-up

Arch

Debian

Yocto

Buildroot

Rust

Job description

Collabora is seeking a skilled Linux kernel engineer for a fully remote role. You will drive upstream Linux development for flagship devices, collaborating with client teams to translate needs into upstream-friendly solutions. The role blends deep kernel work with remote consulting and technical leadership.

You will contribute to core subsystems and help shape a long-term upstream profile while engaging with global Collabora engineers and attending conferences as needed.