Senior/Staff Linux Kernel Engineer (Avionics Software)

Zipline; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline in San Francisco is seeking a Senior/Staff Linux kernel engineer to own hardware bring-up, drivers, and system-level debugging across our embedded flight computers. You will set the technical direction for kernel and platform work and guide validation as our fleet scales to millions of deliveries daily.

You will partner with hardware, firmware, platform, networking, and flight software teams, own crash analysis and performance work, and mentor engineers to raise the bar for quality and

Qualifications

• Proven experience with Linux kernel development and driver ownership.
• Strong C programming skills and kernel internals knowledge.
• Experience debugging on real hardware and using tracing tools.
• Upstream kernel contributions or maintaining a product kernel.

Responsibilities

• Own hardware bring-up, kernel drivers, and system-level debug across embedded flight computers.
• Define technical direction for kernel and platform work; validate readiness for deployment.
• Collaborate with hardware, firmware, platform, networking, and flight software teams.
• Diagnose crashes, hangs, races, and performance issues; turn field failures into tests.
• Develop tooling, diagnostics, and automated tests to improve observability.
• Contribute patches upstream and track regressions.

Skills

Kernel development

C programming

Debugging

System tracing

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE

Tools

ftrace

perf

EBPF/XDP

Device tree

PCIe drivers

IOMMU

Job description

• We’re looking for an experienced Linux kernel engineer to own and solve hard problems across hardware, firmware, kernel, and userspace on our embedded flight computers
• You will set the technical direction for the kernel and platform work, as well as bring up new hardware, develop and maintain kernel drivers, and debug system-level issues, and shape how we build and validate kernel software as the platform scales to millions of deliveries every single day
• As a Senior or Staff Linux kernel engineer at Zipline, you will be responsible for stability and performance of the Linux kernel, which is the foundation of our flight computers
• The kernel operates as a safety-critical software layer that will enable our aircraft to safely make millions of deliveries a day
• You’ll own the kernel drivers, hardware bring-up, and system-level debugging that the rest of the flight software stack depends on
• You will work closely with hardware, firmware, platform, networking, and flight software teams, from the first boot of a new board to diagnosing rare failures across a deployed fleet
• You’ll help define what "ready to ship" means and build the validation that backs it up
• You will also help build reusable kernel tooling, diagnostics, and automated tests that level up our systems’ observability and reliability
• At the Staff level, you will set the technical direction for kernel and platform work, not just execute it
• Diagnose crashes, hangs, races, driver failures, and performance or timing problems across a deployed fleet using crash dumps, kernel traces, logs, and telemetry, and turn rare field failures into reproducible tests
• Drive ambiguous, cross-system issues from investigation to validated resolution, then invest in tooling, testing, and architecture so they don’t come back
• Develop, debug, and maintain Linux kernel drivers and related subsystems, and own them end to end
• Design for failure: define how the kernel and drivers detect, contain, and recover from faults (watchdogs, error handling paths, graceful degradation), and verify that behavior on real hardware
• Bring up new hardware, including device tree configuration, firmware interfaces, and board-support software
• Build diagnostics, benchmarks, and automated tests that catch regressions before they ship
• Measure and improve latency, throughput, CPU and memory use, and networking performance
• Serve as a technical reviewer for kernel and driver changes, and maintain our patch stack across kernel upgrades
• Write and review design docs, and drive cross-team technical decisions to consensus with hardware, firmware, platform, networking, and flight software teams
• Mentor engineers and raise the team’s bar for code quality, debugging practice, and testing
• Contribute patches upstream and track upstream regressions that affect us

Experience writing design docs, leading technical efforts across teams, and mentoring other engineersClear written and verbal communication, including explaining a subtle kernel problem to people who don’t work in the kernelA record of debugging on real hardware and reading datasheets or interface specs to find root causesFluency with kernel debugging and measurement tools such as ftrace, perf, dynamic debug, and crash analysis, and the habit of validating fixes with data7+ years of professional Linux kernel work, including ownership of at least one driver, subsystem, or hardware bring-up from start to finishBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experienceStrong C and deep familiarity with kernel internals: scheduling, interrupts, concurrency, memory management, DMA, MMIO, and the Linux device modelComfort with the upstream patch workflowPCIe, Ethernet/NIC drivers, DMA, IOMMU, MSI/MSI-X, or Linux networkingEmbedded Linux, ARM64, device tree, or board bring-upEBPF, XDP, or high-performance networkingReal-time systems, PREEMPT_RT, or latency analysisKernel CI, stress testing, or performance regression testingUpstream kernel contributions, or maintaining a product kernelHardware debugging tools, firmware, bootloaders, or test automation scripting