Remote Linux Kernel Development Jobs in California

About the Role

Our software team is growing and we are looking for talented engineers to join our agile, world-class team. Our Robot Platform team is the foundational core of our product, dedicated to providing a robust, reliable, and secure software substrate that accelerates all robot feature development. We own the critical layers that all other software teams build upon: operating system images, bootloaders, kernels, device drivers, and filesystems.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will be a key contributor to the Robot Platform team, focusing on the ownership and delivery of mission-critical operating system components. You will work within established architectural patterns to build and maintain the service management (systemd, k3s) and update mechanisms that power our robots. This role offers the opportunity to tackle complex technical challenges, from optimizing kernel performance to ensuring secure installation and updating mechanisms on our physical systems in the field.

Key Responsibilities

Software Development & Execution:

• Operating System Development: Build and maintain the operating system images used on robots and edge devices, including the bootloader, kernel, device drivers, filesystems, and system libraries.
• System Orchestration & Security: Take ownership of technical projects within the robot platform stack, including:
• Service management and orchestration systems using systemd and k3s.
• Secure local and remote service access mechanisms.
• Robust installation and over-the-air (OTA) software update mechanisms.
• Provisioning and commissioning scripts for core device environments.
• Code Quality & Reliability: Write clean and maintainable code, while contributing to thorough code reviews and automated testing suites.
• Debugging & Troubleshooting: Actively troubleshoot complex low-level issues across the robot software stack, focusing on OS-level bugs and hardware-software integration challenges.

Team Collaboration:

• Cross-functional Support: Collaborate with manufacturing, test, and robot software engineers to implement the features and interfaces they need to succeed.
• Continuous Improvement: Contribute to the evolution of our developer tooling and internal best practices to improve team velocity and software quality.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience with OS image generation, Linux kernel development, and embedded Linux environments.
• Strong background in implementing complex features within large-scale software systems, preferably in robotics or autonomous systems.
• Proficiency in modern Python and systems programming on Linux.
• Experience with Linux kernel development, bootloaders, device drivers, and service orchestration using systemd and similar service management systems.
• Ability to take high-level project requirements and translate them into efficient, well-tested code.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills for working within a fast-paced agile team.

Bonus Qualifications

• Robotics industry experience
• Experience using Kubernetes
• Bazel and similar build systems
• Hardware-in-the-loop testing
• Nvidia driver and library management

Why This Role?

• Impactful Work: Everything you build will be used by engineers across the company every day.
• Physical Impact: Your software decisions directly affect real robots operating in dynamic environments.
• Collaboration: Work closely with robotics, cloud platform, and solutions engineers on mission-critical workflows.
• Engineering Culture: Remote-friendly with a strong emphasis on developer experience, mentorship, and technical excellence.

This a hybrid position based out of one of our Salem, Pittsburgh, or Fremont offices.

The final salary offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on several factors that may include but are not limited to: market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This range may change based on geographical location and may be modified in the future.