Senior Principal Software Engineer - 5 (Linux Kernel Engineer) (Santa Clara)

The Oracle Cloud Linux team is seeking experienced Linux Kernel Developers to help advance the Linux operating system for large-scale cloud environments. This role involves contributing to Linux kernel and working on innovative projects across multiple kernel subsystems, including networking, storage, security, performance optimization, virtual memory management, architecture enablement, and live patching technologies.Only Oracle brings together the data, infrastructure, applications, and expertise to power everything from industry innovations to life-saving care. And with AI embedded across our products and services, we help customers turn that promise into a better future for all. Discover your potential at a company leading the way in AI and cloud solutions that impact billions of lives.True innovation starts when everyone is empowered to contribute. That’s why we’re committed to growing a workforce that promotes opportunities for all with competitive benefits that support our people with flexible medical, life insurance, and retirement options. We also encourage employees to give back to their communities through our volunteer programs.We’re committed to including people with disabilities at all stages of the employment process. If you require accessibility assistance or accommodation for a disability at any point, let us know by emailing View email address on apply.placed-app.com or by calling View phone number on apply.placed-app.com in the United States.Oracle is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Oracle will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.Disclaimer:Certain U.S. based or U.S. customer or client-facing roles may be required to comply with applicable requirements, such as immunization/occupational health mandates, and/or drug testing requirements.Range and benefit information provided in this posting are specific to the stated locations onlyUS: Hiring Range in USD from: $135,200 to $306,400 per annum. May be eligible for bonus, equity, and compensation deferral.Oracle maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions and locations, as well as reflect Oracle's differing products, industries and lines of business.Candidates are typically placed into the range based on the preceding factors as well as internal peer equity.Oracle US offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes the following:1. Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including expert medical opinion2. Short term disability and long term disability3. Life insurance and AD&D4. Supplemental life insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)5. Health care and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts6. Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits7. 401(k) Savings and Investment Plan with company match8. Paid time off: Flexible Vacation is provided to all eligible employees assigned to a salaried (non-overtime eligible) position. Accrued Vacation is provided to all other employees eligible for vacation benefits. For employees working at least 35 hours per week, the vacation accrual rate is 13 days annually for the first three years of employment and 18 days annually for subsequent years of employment. Vacation accrual is prorated for employees working between 20 and 34 hours per week. Employees working fewer than 20 hours per week are not eligible for vacation.9. 11 paid holidays10. Paid sick leave: 72 hours of paid sick leave upon date of hire. Refreshes each calendar year. Unused balance will carry over each year up to a maximum cap of 112 hours.11. Paid parental leave12. Adoption assistance13. Employee Stock Purchase Plan14. Financial planning and group legal15. Voluntary benefits including auto, homeowner and pet insuranceThe role will generally accept applications for at least three calendar days from the posting date or as long as the job remains posted.Career Level - IC5Key Responsibilities· Design, develop, and optimize kernel features across areas such as:o Networking (Ethernet, InfiniBand, OFED, RoCE, DPDK, and related technologies)o Storage and Filesystems (iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS, ZFS, Btrfs, block layer, and filesystem layer)o Virtual Memory Management and Performance Optimization, including large page management and container workload performanceo Security technologies such as encryption, TPM integration, signed kernels/modules, Secure Boot, and bootloader security· Contribute to the upstream Linux kernel and drive enhancements for cloud-scale deployments.· Collaborate closely with hardware design teams on processor bring-up and architecture enablement initiatives.Required Qualifications· Strong background in operating systems development.· Several years of hands-on Unix/Linux kernel development experience preferred.· Proficiency in C programming and kernel-level debugging.· Expertise in one or more Linux kernel subsystems, including networking, storage, memory management, security, or processor architecture.· Experience with open-source development practices and upstream kernel contributions is highly desirable.· Familiarity with Python and Bash scripting for development and automation tasks.Preferred Experience· High-performance networking technologies such as RoCE, advanced Ethernet networking.· Filesystem and storage technologies including XFS, ZFS, NFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and Linux block layer development.· Virtual memory management, performance tuning, and container optimization.· Security technologies including TPM, Secure Boot, kernel signing, and encryption frameworks.· Live patching technologies and kernel maintenance.Full timePosting Date: 2026-06-11