Freelance Linux Kernel Development Jobs in Chicago, IL

Job Type
Full-time
Description
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Epiq Solutions develops cutting-edge software-defined radio (SDR) products and processing solutions to enable spectrum dominance for maritime, land, air, and space domains. With 15 years serving government and commercial enterprise customers and 25K+ devices fielded to date, Epiq Solutions is a trusted partner with a proven heritage of delivering open architecture products in radically small form factors where time-to-market, cost, and performance are critical for mission success.
For more information, visit: https://epiqsolutions.com .
JOB SUMMARY
We are seeking a highly motivated Platform Software Engineering Manager to join our dynamic team. This is a hybrid leadership role combining team management, technical leadership, and hands-on software development. The primary responsibility is leading and growing the BSP/platform software team while ensuring successful execution across multiple product efforts. In addition to team leadership responsibilities, this role will remain actively involved in Linux BSP and kernel-level software development for Epiq's evolving portfolio of radio products. Over time, the role is also expected to provide technical leadership opportunities for cross-functional engineering efforts ranging from feature development and product derivatives to larger platform initiatives, with scope and responsibility growing alongside demonstrated success.
Successful candidates should be comfortable balancing team leadership responsibilities with direct technical contributions in a fast-moving embedded systems environment.
Team Leadership & Management Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team of 5+ BSP/platform software engineers supporting multiple concurrent product efforts.
• Manage team capacity, priorities, and technical execution across projects with competing timelines and business needs.
• Mentor engineers through regular feedback, career development, and technical guidance.
• Establish and refine BSP development processes, tools, and engineering best practices.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous learning, collaboration, and technical excellence.
• Support hiring, performance management, and long-term organizational development.

• Lead cross-functional technical execution across BSP/platform software, FPGA, radio application software, and hardware engineering teams.
• Coordinate technical planning activities including requirements definition, task breakdown, dependency management, technical execution tracking, and delivery planning in collaboration with project stakeholders and subject matter experts.
• Provide technical leadership throughout the full product development lifecycle including architecture, implementation, platform bring-up, system integration, validation, and production readiness.
• Identify technical risks early and drive mitigation strategies to support successful program execution.
• Partner with project management and engineering teams to align technical execution with project schedules, integration milestones, and customer delivery commitments.
• Periodically support customer engagements by responding to technical questions, assisting with issue resolution, and participating in technical customer discussions.

• Develop and maintain Linux BSPs and platform software for custom ARM and FPGA-based embedded systems
• Customize and optimize Linux boot flows, kernel configuration, device trees, and Yocto-based build systems
• Implement power management features and optimize the BSP for performance and power efficiency
• Develop, integrate, and debug Linux device drivers and low-level interfaces including SPI, I2C, UART, PCIe, USB, Ethernet, and DMA, and related peripherals
• Develop and maintain shared platform infrastructure and low-level system services supporting board management, FPGA configuration, hardware monitoring, clock control, and peripheral integration
• Troubleshoot complex hardware/software integration and system-level performance issues throughout the product lifecycle
• Collaborate with hardware, FPGA, and software teams to accelerate board bring-up and validate new platform designs
• Maintain BSP releases including security updates, patch management, feature enhancements, and long-term platform support
• Contribute to automation, CI/CD workflows, SDK development, and overall platform software quality and maintainability

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in embedded Linux, BSP, or low-level systems software development
• Demonstrated experience providing technical leadership, mentorship, or project coordination within embedded software development teams
• Strong hands-on experience developing and maintaining Linux BSPs for embedded ARM and/or FPGA-based platforms
• Strong proficiency with Yocto-based embedded Linux build systems, Linux boot flows, kernel configuration, and device tree development
• Experience developing and debugging Linux kernel drivers and low-level hardware interfaces
• Strong debugging and system integration skills across hardware and software boundaries
• Proficiency in C and scripting languages such as Python or Bash
• Experience with Linux development environments, Git-based workflows, and collaborative code review practices
• Ability to read hardware schematics and troubleshoot complex system-level issues
• Strong communication, technical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Eligibility to work on Federal contracts requiring U.S. Citizenship

• Experience with virtualization and containerization technologies such as Docker, QEMU, and/or KVM
• Experience with AMD Xilinx platforms such as Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC or Versal devices
• Experience with NVIDIA embedded compute platforms such as Jetson modules
• Experience with embedded device update frameworks, A/B partition update strategies, or reliable field software deployments
• Experience with technical planning, task management, and execution tracking using Jira or similar project management tools
• Interest in software-defined radio (SDR), RF systems, or wireless communications technologies

• Join a successful and growing company investing in our future success
• Flexible work hours
• Generous vacation policy
• Paid five-week sabbatical every five years
• 401(k) matching
• Health, dental, vision insurance
• Company paid life, short term, and long-term disability insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Wellness reimbursement
• Charitable Giving Company Match
• Competitive salary commensurate with experience and performance
• Fun, laid-back culture and rewarding work!