Remote Linux Kernel Development Jobs in Santa Clara, CA

Parallelz is building a new technology platform that enables new ways of delivering, discovering, and extending mobile applications, ways that were never thought possible. We allow developers to, with no modifications to their code, transform existing mobile apps into web-native apps that can run anywhere, all without a walled garden app store.

You will be getting in at a pivotal stage, contributing to the technical strategic roadmap, helping build a world-class technical team, and working in a small, agile, flat organization to evolve our R&D initiatives into a live, scaled operational platform that will have an impact across the industry.

Parallelz is an AI-native organization. We expect every engineer to use AI tools and agentic systems as a core part of how they design, build, debug, and ship. Not as a side experiment, but as a multiplier on judgment, velocity, and quality.

Our founding team and advisors are serial entrepreneurs and technologists from Google, Mozilla, MIT Media Labs, and other top organizations. The company is joined by top-tier and global venture funds and angel investors.

We are seeking a passionate and resilient Principal Graphics Engineer to own a foundational piece of our infrastructure: the rendering and runtime layer that lets unmodified mobile apps execute and stream pixel-perfect, low-latency experiences to any browser.

You will spend your time deep in graphics pipelines, shaders, GPU compositing, frame timing, and the cross-stack interactions between Android/Linux graphics, browser engines, and WebGL/WebGPU. The role demands first-principles thinking, an instinct for getting to the root of difficult problems, and the maturity to ship performance-critical code that holds up at scale.

We are equally interested in candidates with a deep graphics engineering background (game engines, browser graphics, GPU systems, real-time rendering) and candidates from adjacent low-level systems backgrounds with demonstrated graphics depth.

• Own the design, implementation, and evolution of our graphics and rendering stack across native (Android/Linux) and web (WebGL, WebGPU) targets.
• Write efficient, maintainable, performance-critical C/C++ for system-level and rendering components, with hard requirements on frame budgets, memory, and latency.
• Profile and tune the full pipeline: CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency.
• Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues from the browser engine down through the runtime to the OS, kernel, and graphics driver.
• Drive upgrades to the underlying platforms (AOSP versions, browser engines, GLES/WebGPU evolution) while keeping the system stable and shippable.
• Partner with other teams to define and implement robust testing strategies for rendering correctness, performance regressions, and cross-device fidelity.
• Operate as a senior independent contributor: scope your own work, drive it to completion, and communicate clearly with a small, high-trust team.
• Work natively with AI coding agents and tooling (Claude Code, Cursor, agentic workflows, custom internal agents) to accelerate research, prototyping, code generation, debugging, and review, treating these tools as a junior pair you direct and verify, not a passenger.

Requirements

This is a technically demanding role that rewards resilience, creative problem-solving, and out-of-the-box thinking.

• Strong systems programming foundation: C/C++ proficiency on performance-critical, low-level codebases, with deep familiarity with Linux and OS-level internals.

• Deep experience with one or more real-time graphics stacks: OpenGL ES, WebGL, WebGPU, Vulkan, Metal, or DirectX, including shader programming, GPU memory and pipeline optimization, and frame/latency budgeting.
• Track record of owning complex, multi-component graphics or systems products end-to-end, from research prototype through production at scale.
• Daily fluency with AI coding agents and LLM tooling, with a clear bias toward verifying and pushing back on AI output rather than accepting it.
• A "dig until it bleeds" investigative instinct: the drive to understand every layer of the system.
• Strong written communication and a self-directed working style suited to a small, senior, high-trust team.

We'd love to see depth in two or more of the following:

• Browser engine internals (Chromium/Blink, Gecko, WebKit), particularly the graphics, compositor, or rendering subsystems.
• Game engine internals, real-time renderers, or GPU compute frameworks.
• Android internals and custom AOSP development (kernel, HAL, SurfaceFlinger, System Services, GMS, Android Build System).
• Android/Linux graphics stack (EGL, Gralloc, DRM/KMS, Mesa) and graphics driver work.
• Web platform technologies: WebAssembly, WebRTC, and the surrounding browser security/sandboxing model.
• Containers and virtualization (LXC, namespaces, cgroups) and their interaction with hardware-accelerated graphics.
• Real-time network and socket programming, including low-latency streaming protocols and frame pacing.
• Linux device driver programming.

• Experience building, fine-tuning, or evaluating internal AI/agent tooling that augments engineering work.
• A data-driven mindset, relying on qualitative and quantitative signal to make informed decisions.
• Mobile game development experience, including engines, SDKs, and the broader ecosystem.
• Background in advanced compression, video codecs, or color management.
• Graduate work or research background in computer graphics, systems, or a related area.

Benefits

• Group Retirement Savings Plan matching and participation
• Comprehensive benefits package (health, dental, vision), including Health and Wellness spending account
• Generous time off policies
• Access to leading AI tools and platforms