Systems Engineer, Kernel

Core Weave is the AI Hyperscaler™, delivering a cloud platform of cutting edge services powering the next wave of AI. Our technology provides enterprises and leading AI labs with the most performant, efficient and resilient solutions for accelerated computing. Since 2017, Core Weave has operated a growing footprint of data centers covering every region of the US and across Europe. Core Weave was ranked as one of the TIME
100 most influential companies of 2024.

As the leader in the industry, we thrive in an environment where adaptability and resilience are key. Our culture offers career-defining opportunities for those who excel amid change and challenge. If you’re someone who thrives in a dynamic environment, enjoys solving complex problems, and is eager to make a significant impact, Core Weave is the place for you. Join us, and be part of a team solving some of the most exciting challenges in the industry.

Core Weave powers the creation and delivery of the intelligence that drives innovation.

Core Weave is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Systems Kernel Engineer to join our HAVOCK Team, reporting into the Manager of Systems Engineering. In this role, you will be a key contributor to the stability, performance, and evolution of Core Weave’s Linux based infrastructure. As a kernel generalist, you will be responsible for debugging kernel-level issues, analyzing and fixing crashes, panics, dumps, and up streaming fixes and features that improves the performance and reliability of our stack.

This position is ideal for someone who thrives in low-level systems engineering, and understands how modern workloads stress kernels, and is excited to work across a diverse hardware/software ecosystem including CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, networking, and storage.

Kernel Hardware
- Acceleration
- Virtualization
- Operating Systems
- Containerization
- Kubelet

Our Team’s Stack:

• Python, Go, bash/sh, C
• Prometheus, Victoria Metrics, Grafana
• Linux Kernel (custom build), Ubuntu
• Intel/AMD/ARM CPUs, Nvidia GPUs, DPUs, Infiniband and Ethernet NICs
• Docker, kubernetes (k8s), Kube Virt, containerd, kubelet

Focus Areas:

• Kernel Debugging – Analyze kernel crashes, oopses, panics, and dumps to identify root causes and propose fixes.
• Upstream Contributions – Develop patches for the Linux kernel and upstream them where applicable (networking, storage, virtualization, GPU/DPU enablement).
• Stack-Wide Support – Ensure kernel support and stability across:
  • Virtualization (Kube Virt, QEMU, vFIO)
  • Container runtimes (containerd, nydus, kubelet)
  • HPC/AI workloads (CUDA, GPUDirect, RoCE/Infini Band)
• Kernel-Hardware Enablement – Support new hardware bring-up across Intel, AMD, ARM CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, DPUs, and NICs.
• Performance & Stability – Tune kernel subsystems for latency, throughput, and scalability in distributed HPC/AI clusters.

• Triage and fix kernel crashes and performance regressions.
• Develop, test, and upstream kernel patches relevant to Core Weave’s hardware/software environment.
• Collaborate with hardware vendors and the Linux community on feature enablement.
• Implement diagnostics and tooling for kernel-level observability.
• Work closely with HPC and Fleet teams to ensure kernel readiness for production workloads.
• Provide kernel-level expertise during incident response and root‑cause investigations.

• 5+ years of professional experience in Linux kernel engineering or systems-level development.
• Deep understanding of kernel internals (memory management, scheduling, networking, storage, drivers).
• Experience debugging kernel crashes, dumps, and panics using tools like crash, gdb, kdump.
• Strong C programming skills with the ability to write maintainable and upstream-quality code.
• Experience working with kernel modules, drivers, and subsystems.
• Strong problem‑solving abilities with a “full-stack” systems perspective.

Preferred:

• Contributions to the Linux kernel or related open-source projects.
• Familiarity with virtualization (KVM, QEMU, VFIO) and container runtimes.
• Networking stack expertise (Infini Band, RoCE, TCP/IP performance tuning).
• GPU/DPU bring‑up and driver experience.
• Experience in HPC or large-scale distributed systems.
• Familiar it…