Remote opportunity at
CloudflarePerformance Engineer, Kernel and Memory
Cloudflare seeks a Performance Engineer, Kernel and Memory to join its infrastructure organization on a remote basis. Cloudflare operates a massive global network that accelerates and…
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About This Role
Cloudflare seeks a Performance Engineer, Kernel and Memory to join its infrastructure organization on a remote basis. Cloudflare operates a massive global network that accelerates and protects millions of internet properties, serving dozens of millions of HTTP requests every second while positioning itself close to a vast majority of the connected population. In this position, the engineer will focus on the Linux kernel memory-management subsystem, addressing scalability bottlenecks, driving improvements…
Job Description
Cloudflare seeks a Performance Engineer, Kernel and Memory to join its infrastructure organization on a remote basis. Cloudflare operates a massive global network that accelerates and protects millions of internet properties, serving dozens of millions of HTTP requests every second while positioning itself close to a vast majority of the connected population. In this position, the engineer will focus on the Linux kernel memory-management subsystem, addressing scalability bottlenecks, driving improvements upstream into the mainline kernel, and optimizing system efficiency across the entire hardware fleet.
This role suits systems professionals who possess deep expertise in kernel internals and want to tackle high-leverage efficiency challenges at massive scale. The successful candidate will work closely with upstream communities and collaborate with internal networking, storage, and product engineering teams. Cloudflare values curiosity, technical ownership, and upstream contribution, preferring to fix issues directly in mainline software rather than relying on private patches.
Applicants should note that this position may involve access to information restricted under United States export control laws, and any eventual job offer might depend on the candidate's authorization to handle regulated technology.
Responsibilities
- Identify and resolve performance and scalability obstacles within the Linux kernel memory-management subsystem using production telemetry
- Contribute work upstream to the mainline Linux kernel and participate in ongoing community maintainership and review tasks
- Develop and expand low-overhead kernel measurement tools including tracepoints, BPF, and perf
- Collaborate with networking, storage, product, and kernel engineering teams to translate observed system behaviors into memory-management enhancements
- Establish technical guidelines for how the company utilizes, tunes, and advances kernel memory management to support higher utilization
Requirements
- Deep expertise in the Linux kernel memory-management subsystem, encompassing the page allocator, virtual memory, memory mapping, reclaim, concurrency, and locking mechanisms
- Demonstrated track record of upstream Linux contributions, ideally featuring sustainment or maintainership work in memory management or related subsystems
- Proficiency in systems programming using the C language
- Ability to analyze a complex codebase with consideration for fleet-wide performance and take full ownership of problems and outcomes
- Clear communication skills to coordinate effectively across multiple technical teams
Qualifications
- Strong understanding of Linux kernel internals related to memory management
- Prior experience troubleshooting and fixing performance problems in large-scale distributed systems
- Experience handling large-scale deployment and configuration management
Core Skills
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
Is this position remote?
Yes, this role is listed with a remote status.
What is the employment type?
The posting indicates that this is a full-time position.
What salary does this job offer?
The job posting does not specify a salary.
Are there any specific technical requirements for the role?
Candidates must have deep expertise in the Linux kernel memory-management subsystem, a track record of upstream Linux contributions, strong C systems programming skills, and the ability to own complex code issues fleet-wide.
Sample Interview Questions
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