Senior System Software Engineer | Researcher, Kernel and OS

Senior System Software Engineer | Researcher, Kernel and OS

Join to apply for the Senior System Software Engineer | Researcher, Kernel and OS role at NIO

This range is provided by NIO. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

NIO is a global smart electric vehicle company founded in November 2014. Dedicated to shaping a sustainable and brighter future together by providing high-performance smart electric vehicles and exceptional user experiences, NIO is the first car company listed on the NYSE, HKEX and SGX.

NIO currently has three major brands under its umbrella: NIO, ONVO and firefly.

Ten years into establishment, NIO is now one of the leading companies in the global premium smart electric vehicle market, committed to fostering its own research and development capabilities for core technologies. As of the end of June 2025, the company had filed for and obtained over 9,900 patents. Additionally, NIO has developed NIO Full Stack, a collection of 12 technology domains.

Currently, NIO has R&D centers and manufacturing facilities in over 10 locations, including Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, Nanjing, San Jose, Munich, Oxford, Budapest, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. Additionally, it has built a sales and service network across 10 countries and regions, including China, Europe, the Middle East and the Greater Caucasus, serving users in over 350 cities worldwide.

NIO Inc. currently offers nine premium smart electric vehicle models under the NIO brand, two smart electric vehicle under the ONVO brand and one small, smart, high-end electric vehicle under firefly brand.

We are seeking a Senior System Software Engineer | Researcher (Kernel and OS) to join our SkyOS team. The team is responsible for the design and development of NIO's full-domain vehicle operating systems. The position will explore new ideas and designs that can make systems software faster, more dependable, and intelligent, from proof of concept to final production quality. You will have the opportunity to work on almost every layer of systems software, including kernel, networking, file system, drivers, hypervisor, libc, build system, etc, to optimize the system from high-level architecture down to the choice of assembly instructions, to bring high-impact innovations onto production systems by collaborating with engineering teams.

If you enjoy building systems from scratch, writing high quality system code, optimisazing performance, turning your research ideas into awesome real world products, and shaping the future of systems software for intelligent EVs, the stage is ready for you.

• Conduct original research on systems software, including OS kernel, file systems, networking to improve system performance and dependability.
• Design and implement or rearchitect system components to fulfill the performance and safety goals.
• Define long-term systems software architecture and roadmap in the smart EV domain.
• Work with engineering teams to put research outcomes into real-world deployments.

• Master or Ph.D. in computer science/engineering or related fields.
• Research experiences in operating systems, virtualization, system security.
• In-depth knowledge of computer architecture. Expertise in at least one of the following architectures: x86, Arm, RISC-V.
• Proficiency in C, assembly, and Rust. Ability to understand, organize, and improve the code of complex system software.
• Ability to diagnose and solve complex system issues.
• Be able to conduct research independently and also be a good collaborator.
• Accurate and concise communication.

• Ph.D. In computer science / engineering, or related fields; or Ph.D. candidate expecting graduation within 6-12 months.
• Publications in top system conferences (SOSP, OSDI, Euro Sys, DSN, ASPLOS ...).
• Experiences of building system software (be it a kernel, OS, hypervisor, file system, or network stack) from scratch.
• Hands-on experience in microkernels and multiserver operating systems.
• Familiarity with formal verification methods.

Along with competitive pay, as a full-time NIO employee, you are eligible for…