Senior/Principal Linux Engineer

CIQ; United States; Remote; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Employee stock options

Flexible paid time off

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Job summary

CIQ is seeking a Principal Linux Engineer to own Linux OS packaging, patching, and testing for Rocky Linux components. You will drive automation, CVE remediation, and package customization to improve the customer experience, working with engineering, open-source communities, and cross-functional teams.

You will contribute to architecture discussions, documentation, and PoCs, delivering high-quality releases in a fast-paced startup environment with remote collaboration.

Qualifications

• Experience packaging Linux distributions and maintaining RPM/DEB packages.
• Familiarity with CVEs and remediation in shipped code.
• Deep understanding of Linux OS and package interactions.
• Ability to work independently and with a remote team.
• Proven Linux administration, internals, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD experience.
• Familiarity with Ansible playbooks and DoD STIG/SCAP/RADIX processes.
• Strong Bash, YAML, XML, JSON, REST/OpenAPI, and HTTP API skills.
• Proficient in Python, GoLang, Kubernetes tooling, and related engineering tools.

Responsibilities

• Own packages for Rocky Linux and related OS components; build, patch, and test userspace packages.
• Improve tooling and automation in the OS package-building process.
• remediate CVEs in RPM-based distributions shipped to customers.
• Customize and optimize packages to enhance customer experience.
• Develop automated tests for software and system-level testing.
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and open-source communities.
• Participate in architecture discussions, planning, and documentation.
• Drive proofs-of-concept and MVPs; support release cadence and quality.
• Leverage GitHub/GitLab and coordinate with internal teams and open source.

Skills

Linux packaging

CVE remediation

Linux internals

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Scripting & APIs

Tools

GitHub

GitLab

Ansible

RPM/DEB tooling

Job description

Ciq Overview

CIQ builds the enterprise infrastructure that powers the world's most demanding workloads. From the operating system layer through AI infrastructure, high-performance computing, and cloud-native orchestration, CIQ delivers the speed, security, scalability, and sovereignty that major enterprises, government agencies, and research institutions depend on.

CIQ is the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux and the developer of the RLC Pro family of Enterprise Linux distributions, Fuzzball workload orchestration, Warewulf Pro cluster provisioning, and Ascender Pro automation. Our customers include some of the largest and most technically sophisticated organizations in the world, working across HPC, AI/ML, defense, and regulated industries.

We are a company of builders, operators, and open source practitioners. If you want to do work that matters, at a company that is genuinely changing how enterprise infrastructure gets built and run, we want to talk.

Position Summary

Title determined based on qualifications.

Responsibilities

As a Principal Linux Engineer, you will be part of the team that owns software solutions for Rocky Linux from CIQ (RLC) and will be primarily responsible for building, patching, and testing userspace packages in the operating system. You will also work on improving tooling and automation as part of the package-building process in the OS. You need an understanding of CVE ’s and how to remediate CVE ’s in RPM packages that are shipped to customers. You will also be working on how to customize, optimize, and create various packages to improve the customer experience with our products. You will build out testing for both specific software as well as testing the system as a whole. Additional responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Working closely with the engineering, product, open-source community, and sales teams to develop relevant solutions.
• Taking part in architecture-level discussions, planning, and implementation
• Documenting each project to share knowledge and facilitate integration for users.
• Driving proofs of concept and minimum viable products for demonstration.
• Focusing on quality by developing automated tests
• A Releasing fast and releasing often, software development mentality
• Leveraging source control (Github/ Gitlab) for all development while collaborating with internal teams and the open-source community.
• Supporting multiple services before they go live through activities such as system design consulting, software platform and framework development, capacity planning, and launch reviews.
• Deployment on standard server architectures, virtual machines, and cloud infrastructure

Successful Candidates Will Have

• An understanding of Linux OS packaging, like RPM or DEB.
• Familiarity with CVE ’s and remediation of these for older versions of the code.
• Deep understanding of how a Linux Operation system works, including how various packages interact with each other.
• Ability to work independently & collaboratively within a remote team environment.
• Proven experience with Linux administration, Linux internals, Docker, Kubernetes, Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools and processes
• Familiarity with Ansible playbooks and/or DoD STIG/SCAP/RADIX process
• Proficient in: Bash, YAML, XML, JSON, REST APIs / OpenAPI, HTTP Get / Post
• Be familiar with Python, GoLang, Kubernetes, and other tools/technologies within Engineering
• Demonstrate problem-solving, debugging, and communication skills
• Able to pivot to new challenges in a fast-paced startup environment using agile methodologies
• A friendly, collaborative, humble, honest, and always striving to be better attitude.

Education And Experience

• Proven work experience as a Linux Engineer, Linux Development Engineer, or a Software Developer with a focus on the Linux OS.
• At least 4 years of experience supporting Linux and at least 2 years of experience building Linux Packages

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Employee stock options.
• Remote work; no travel required for most positions.