Overview

The ideal candidate will be instrumental in designing, maintaining, and evolving our custom Linux distribution and should be deeply familiar with Linux kernel internals, custom builds, device driver development, and system performance optimization. We are looking for someone who is hands-on, takes initiative, and thrives in solving complex technical challenges involving embedded systems, OS-level programming, and secure platforms. This is a hybrid role based in Cardiff, UK. Our current hybrid working model allows 2 remote days per week.

Responsibilities

• Designing and maintaining a custom Linux distribution tailored to embedded use cases.
• Contributing to and modifying the Linux kernel (mainline or forks).
• Writing and debugging device drivers for bespoke hardware.
• Creating and maintaining device tree source.
• Implementing robust bootloaders, kernel modules, and init systems.
• Managing distro build systems using tools like Yocto and Buildroot.
• Enforcing security e.g. secure boot, trusted execution environments and read-only rootfs.
• Debugging kernel panics.
• Reviewing kernel configurations with an eye to security (e.g. KASLR).
• Creating and managing SELinux/AppArmor profiles.
• Leading the design of scalable system update mechanisms and diagnostics tools.
• Performing code reviews and mentoring junior engineers.
• Interfacing with hardware, product, and application teams to ensure holistic system behaviour.
• Staying current with upstream changes, patches, and security advisories.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of Linux kernel development experience.
• Proven track record working on kernel-space and user-space integration.
• Deep experience with kernel debugging tools (ftrace, kprobes, perf, etc.).
• Expertise in C and shell scripting; familiarity with Python and Rust is a plus.
• Familiar with secure boot processes (e.g., U-Boot, GRUB with TPM, dm-verity).
• Familiarity with file system overlays, systemd and initramfs.
• Experience with deploying Linux on Arm.
• Knowledge of filesystems, memory management, and I/O subsystems.
• Exposure to real-time Linux (PREEMPT_RT or similar) is a strong advantage.
• Experience managing custom Linux distro lifecycle (build, release, patching).
• Comfortable working with Git version control, CI/CD systems, and collaborative tools.

Education & Eligibility

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electronics Engineering, or related field.
• Legally eligible to work in the UK or designated location.
• Experience working in cross-functional, geographically distributed teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.