Kernel Resilience Engineer

Title: Kernel Resilience Engineer – Canonical Ubuntu

Location: Home based – Worldwide

Canonical is building a Kernel Resilience team to harden the Ubuntu kernel. This team will drive proactive efforts to exercise and stretch the stability, reliability, and security of the kernel. Kernel Resilience takes responsibility for the overall quality of the Linux kernel, through aggressive test frameworks and regimens, hardening the kernel against exploits and vulnerabilities, as well as building and maintaining a highly automated kernel build and test infrastructure. We have access to a very large array of hardware, and we would like to keep it busy!

This is not a role for button pushers to monitor results! We will select candidates who make it their mission to crash or penetrate the kernel, and then drive the eventual resolution of discovered issues. You will be expected to raise the bar on industry best practices, to push the limits of possibility on proactive, gloves-off stress testing.

The successful candidate will have experience covering some combination of Linux kernel development, quality assurance, security exploits, and back-end development. You may be a seasoned kernel developer looking for a new challenge in back-end automation. You may always have wanted to go deeper’ into the kernel? Curiosity and a desire to poke it and see what happens’ will be essential for this role.

What your day will look like

• Work with bleeding edge and early access systems and hardware
• Ensure an ongoing commitment to industry-leading quality, reliability and security standards
• Proactively identify security and stability issues by devising ingenious new ways to break the Linux kernel
• Contribute to the development of an advanced Linux kernel build service
• Engage with other teams at Canonical, the open source community and commercial partners
• Work from home with global travel up to 20% for internal and external events

What we are looking for in you

• Innovative out-of-the-box style thinker not afraid to break things
• Significant programming experience in Python, with strong C skills highly regarded
• Ability to communicate effectively in English, both written and oral
• Someone with high standards for overall quality, and not afraid to ensure they are met
• At ease working in several different technical domains concurrently
• Substantial experience in Linux system configuration, customization, and deployment
• Solid understanding Linux kernel internals and development principles
• Deep knowledge of security as it relates to the Linux kernel
• Productive in a globally distributed team through self-discipline and self-motivation, delivering on time
• Contributed to an open source project in the past
• Understanding of agile software development methodologies

What we offer you

Your base pay will depend on various factors including your geographical location, level of experience, knowledge and skills. In addition to the benefits above, certain roles are also eligible for additional benefits and rewards including annual bonuses and sales incentives based on revenue or utilisation. Our compensation philosophy is to ensure equity right across our global workforce.

In addition to a competitive base pay, we provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. Please note that additional benefits may apply depending on the work location and, for more information on these, you can ask in the later stages of the recruitment process.

• Fully remote working environment – we’ve been working remotely since 2004!
• Personal learning and development budget of 2,000USD per annum
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Parental Leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues at sprints’
• Priority Pass for travel and travel upgrades for long haul company events

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm that is at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world on a daily basis. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence – in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do.

Canonical has been a remote-first company since its inception in 2004. Work at Canonical is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game. Canonical provides a unique window into the world of 21st-century digital business.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer

We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.

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