Full Job Description
System Software Engineer - Linux Kernel and Device Drivers
MatX is seeking System Software Engineer to join our team as we create best-in-class silicon for high-performance and sustainable GenAI. Successful candidates for these roles will be responsible for delivering performant and functionally accurate silicon for MatX products across compute, memory management. High-speed connectivity and other key technologies.
The MatX host system software team owns everything that makes our AI silicon and systems usable: from Linux kernel drivers up through node and cluster management. The team also co-owns the BMC/OpenBMC firmware stack, with dedicated firmware engineers, so host software and out-of-band management are designed together rather than bolted together. We're looking for self-driven engineers who can take a hardware spec and a register map and just start building - prototype drivers, low-level utilities that talk directly to the chip, daemons, and tooling - with minimal hand-holding. Each engineer on this team has a primary focus area, but ownership of overlapping components is shared, and you should expect (and want) to venture across the stack.
What You'll Do Here
• Architect, design, and implement the Linux kernel driver stack for MatX's AI accelerators (PCIe endpoint devices), including memory management, DMA, interrupt handling, and command submission paths
• Build the low-level userspace libraries that sit directly on top of the driver - ioctl/sysfs interfaces, memory mapping, direct chip access utilities
• Test and validate early chip features on pre-silicon platforms: software simulation, emulation, and FPGA environments - often as the first software to ever touch a new hardware feature
• Write quick prototype code, debug utilities, and bring-up tooling to exercise the chip directly, well before polished production software exists
• Drive first-silicon bring-up side by side with hardware, BMC firmware, and platform engineers, debugging issues that span RTL, firmware, kernel, and userspace
• Profile and optimize the host I/O path: PCIe throughput, DMA efficiency, interrupt latency, and OS overheads
• Deliver unit and regression tests for kernel and library components
• Expose driver-level device state and error information in ways the platform telemetry and management layers (and, where relevant, the BMC) can consume
• Influence next-generation chip architecture by feeding software requirements back into silicon design
• Share ownership of adjacent components with teammates - e.g., contributing to the chip initialization and telemetry daemons that build on your driver interfaces
Who You Are
• BS or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience, with 8+ years in low-level systems software
• Strong hands-on Linux kernel development experience - you've written and shipped device drivers, ideally for PCIe devices
• Strong C programming skills; comfortable in userspace and kernel space
• Able to read hardware datasheets and register definitions and program a device from them, without waiting for someone to explain the hardware
• Deep understanding of computer architecture and OS internals: MMIO, DMA, interrupts, IOMMU, memory hierarchy, processes/threads, virtual memory
• Experienced debugging complex hardware/software interaction issues with limited visibility
• Self-driven and comfortable with ambiguity - able to own a component from blank page through bring-up and validation on a small, fast-moving team
Bonus Points If You Have
• Experience with pre-silicon validation environments (simulation, emulation, FPGA prototyping)
• First-silicon or new-platform bring-up experience for accelerators, NICs, or SoCs
• Familiarity with SR-IOV, dma-buf, peer-to-peer PCIe, or VFIO
• Kernel performance tuning and profiling experience (perf, ftrace, eBPF)
• Exposure to BMC/host interaction paths (e.g., in-band vs. out-of-band device access, sideband interfaces such as I2C/SMBus)
• Rust for systems programming
Compensation
The US base salary for this full-time position is determined based on a variety of factors including role, experience, location, job related skills, and relevant education and training. Career length is only a guideline for compensation.
• Early Career - $120,000 - $250,000 + equity
• Mid Career - $175,000 - $362,500 + equity
• Senior Career - $250,000 - $475,000 + equity
What We Offer
• A Stake in our success A flexible cash equity compensation mix that fits your needs
• Heath & Wellness Company subsidized Health, Dental, Vision, and Life insurance; Pre-tax Health Savings Accounts with generous company contribution (even if you don't)
• Time To Recharge 4 weeks paid time off (accrued), 12 company holidays, and 3 weeks remote/flexible work per year
• Support to Parents Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave, regardless of your path to parenthood
• Learning & Development $1,500 yearly towards your professional development e.g. conferences, courses, and other learning opportunities
• Team Connection Team Lunches, quarterly off-sites, and regular town halls
• Financial Wellbeing 401K and/or Roth IRA, with 5% company contribution, even if you don't!
• Flexible Spending Accounts Pre-tax spend accounts for medical, dental/vision, dependent care, parking, and transit expenses
• Commute On Us For those commuting up to 1 hour, put your rideshare cost on our company card and reclaim the drive-time to get work done!
• MatX E[x]tras $50 per month to use on the perks you care about most
• Remote Perks We work remotely Monday & Friday, supported by home-tech setup, and remote wifi expense reimbursement
All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States and work from our offices in Mountain View Tuesdays-Thursdays.