Senior Member of Technicall Staff - Linux Kernel

Senior Member of Technical Staff - Linux Kernel

ABOUT WIND RIVER  

Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for mission-critical intelligent systems. For more than four decades, the company has been an innovator and pioneer, powering billions of systems that require the highest levels of security, safety, and reliability.   

Wind River helps customers across automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, and telecommunications industries solve complex technology challenges on their journey toward the new intelligent machine economy. The company’s software powers generation after generation of the safest, most secure systems in the world.  Examples include playing a key role in NASA space missions such as Artemis I, the James Webb Space Telescope, and multiple Mars rovers. We’ve achieved recent 5G milestones including the world’s first successful 5G data session with Verizon and building one of the largest Open RAN networks in the world with Vodafone.  

The company has received industry recognition for its technology innovation and leadership, and for its workplace culture, including global Great Place to Work certification and being named a “Top Workplace” for ten consecutive years. If you want to be part of a unique culture where the lived experience is based on our cultural attributes of growth mindset, customer-focus, and diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging, come join us and help advance the future software defined world.  

  
YOUR ROLE 

The Senior Member of Technical Staff (SMTS) - Systems is a principal engineer role that provides the highest level of technical leadership and expertise. SMTS engineers are recognized technical experts who drive strategic technical initiatives, influence architecture decisions across the organization, and serve as technical mentors and advisors to the entire engineering organization.  

In your daily job you will:  

Strategic Technical Leadership 

• Drive technical vision and strategy for major systems initiatives 

• Define and influence system architecture and design decisions 

• Lead technical evaluation of new technologies and approaches 

• Provide technical guidance on complex, cross-cutting problems 

• Represent engineering in technical discussions with customers and partners 

Technical Excellence 

• Design and architect large-scale, complex systems 

• Solve the most challenging technical problems 

• Establish technical standards and best practices organization-wide 

• Review and approve critical architecture and design decisions 

• Ensure technical quality and excellence across all deliverables 

Mentorship & Development 

• Mentor senior engineers (MTS) and technical leads 

• Provide technical guidance to managers and leadership 

• Conduct technical training and knowledge sharing sessions 

• Develop technical career paths and growth opportunities 

• Build technical capability across the organization 

Innovation & Research 

• Lead research and development of new technologies 

• Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends 

• Drive proof-of-concept and prototype development 

• Contribute to open source projects and communities 

• Publish technical papers and present at conferences 

Cross-Functional Collaboration 

• Collaborate with product management on technical roadmap 

• Engage with customers on technical requirements and solutions 

• Work with sales and support on technical pre-sales and escalations 

• Interface with executive leadership on technical strategy 

• Partner with other engineering teams on cross-cutting initiatives 

Technical Areas of Focus 

System Architecture 

• Design overall system architecture and component interactions 

• Define APIs and interfaces between system components 

• Ensure scalability, performance, and maintainability 

• Address security, reliability, and safety requirements 

Platform Strategy 

• Define platform capabilities and technical direction 

• Evaluate and select technologies and frameworks 

• Drive standardization and reuse across products 

• Plan for long-term technical evolution 

Technical Problem Solving 

• Tackle the most complex and critical technical challenges 

• Debug and resolve system-level issues 

• Optimize performance and resource utilization 

• Ensure system reliability and fault tolerance 

HOW YOU WILL CONTRIBUTE  

Key skills and competencies for succeeding in this role are: 

Education & Experience 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field 

• 12+ years of software engineering experience 

• 8+ years of experience with embedded Linux or systems programming 

• 5+ years in a senior technical leadership role 

• Proven track record of technical leadership and innovation 

Technical Skills 

• Expert-level proficiency in C/C++ and systems programming 

• Deep, comprehensive understanding of Linux kernel architecture 

• Extensive experience with embedded systems and real-time systems 

• Strong knowledge of system design, architecture, and patterns 

• Experience with multiple build systems and toolchains 

• Expertise in debugging complex system-level issues 

• Understanding of security, performance, and reliability principles 

Domain Expertise 

• Linux kernel development and architecture 

• Embedded systems design and development 

• System software architecture and design 

• Compiler toolchains and build systems 

• Device drivers and hardware abstraction layers 

• Security, safety, and reliability engineering 

Leadership & Communication 

• Exceptional technical communication skills 

• Ability to influence and drive technical decisions 

• Strong mentoring and coaching capabilities 

• Experience presenting to technical and non-technical audiences 

• Ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions 

Innovation & Impact 

• Track record of technical innovation and impact 

• Contributions to open source projects (preferred) 

• Technical publications or conference presentations (preferred) 

• Patents or technical achievements (preferred) 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Extensive Yocto Project experience and contributions 

• Significant open source contributions (Linux kernel, etc.) 

• Experience in safety-critical industries (aerospace, automotive, medical) 

• Knowledge of functional safety standards (ISO 26262, DO-178C, etc.) 

• Experience with formal methods and verification 

• Industry recognition (awards, speaking engagements, etc.) 

Key Performance Indicators 

• Technical strategy and architecture impact 

• Innovation and new technology adoption 

• Mentoring and technical development of others 

• Technical problem resolution and system improvements 

• Customer and partner technical engagement 

• Open source contributions and industry recognition 

SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS    

Successful candidates must engage in a security clearance process in regard to their citizenship in order to perform fundamental job duties, as per applicable law. In particular, candidates with certain citizenship may not be able to perform such fundamental job duties. Currently, this includes citizens of the following countries: Belarus; Burma; China; Cuba; Iran; North Korea; Syria; Venezuela; Afghanistan; Cambodia; Central African Republic; Cyprus; Democratic Republic of Congo; Ethiopia; Eritrea; Haiti; Iraq; Lebanon; Libya; Russia; Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; Zimbabwe. The security clearance process may take a significant amount of time to complete, and any offer of employment will be contingent on the candidate's legal ability to perform the fundamental job duties. Wind River is committed to meeting its obligations to candidates under applicable human rights law and privacy law in this regard.  

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