Software Maintenance Engineer

The Red Hat Sustaining Engineering (SE) team is looking for a Software Maintenance Engineer to help lead a new team aimed at delivering stable RHEL kernel releases in Pune, India. These kernels are a critical component for our enterprise class customers as well as all RHEL customers. You will work closely with RHEL kernel engineering to deliver extended product maintenance work, including handling defects, bugs, and CVEs in the extended life streams of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). You'll be actively leading all aspects of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) maintenance; development, quality engineering, documentation, engaging with stakeholders, etc.. You will co-lead our patch review process, the development and execution of backports and test plans, and the creation of automation tools to improve the efficiency, flexibility, and quality of Red Hat’s delivery to customers. To succeed in this role, you’ll need to have the ability to think creatively and adapt to rapid change, as well as an eagerness to learn new things, and to innovate for process and quality efficiency.

What will you do?

• Contribute to the vision and innovation of new Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product maintenance offerings, aiming to make Red Hat a global leader in long-term product experience
• Perform daily activities of product maintenance engineering teams, serving as a regional and global expert on pressing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product issues
• Resolve and proactively address critical issues that have an impact on long-term regional or global business success of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
• Work within the complete Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) solutions portfolio and be responsible for the delivery of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) updates to the maintenance streams
• Collaborate with development and QE counterparts, product and project manager, and release engineering teams across the globe to ensure the development and delivery of fixes meet the schedule requirements and high quality standards expected and required by Red Hat customers
• Diagnose the root cause of failures
• Backport CVE and bug fixes to stable release streams
• Develop, maintain, and monitor tests and onboard automated tests into a continuous integration workflow as much as possible
• Mentor junior team members

What will you bring?

• Outstanding debugging, troubleshooting, and analytical skills
• 2+ years of experience in software engineering and/or quality engineering
• Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related engineering field, or relevant professional experience
• Advanced level C coding skills
• Experience handling revisions and conflicts on Git. + Familiar with backporting patches, including straight merges and cherry picks, functionally equivalent backports, dependency resolution, etc. + Familiar with git concepts such as the merge request workflow, etc.
• Familiar with kernel internals, including but not limited to: + Maintainership workflow + Structure and its subsystems
• Familiar with userspace low-level internals, including but not limited to: + Processes + Kernel interface (syscalls, ioctl, etc.)
• Experience with building code from source and debug compilation failures, mainly with C language code
• Knowledgeable with low-level debugging tools like GDB and strace:
• Familiar with automated testing environments: + Jenkins jobs, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions.
• Good interpersonal, problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills

Experience With The Following Are Considered a Plus

• Open Source contributions to upstream linux projects or interaction with the open source community.
• Understanding of any kernel subsystems such as networking, device drivers, etc.
• Familiar with advanced debugging tools like perf, eBPF, system tap and ftrace.
• Experience with unit and integration testing on any language or framework.
• Experience debugging test failures and filing issues.
• Experience with scripting languages like Python and/or Bash.
• Knowledge on container-driven solutions.
• Experience of collaborative problem solving

About Red Hat Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver high-performing Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Spread across 40+ countries, our associates work flexibly across work environments, from in-office, to office-flex, to fully remote, depending on the requirements of their role. Red Hatters are encouraged to bring their best ideas, no matter their title or tenure. We're a leader in open source because of our open and inclusive environment. We hire creative, passionate people ready to contribute their ideas, help solve complex problems, and make an impact.

Inclusion at Red Hat Red Hat’s culture is built on the open source principles of transparency, collaboration, and inclusion, where the best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. When this is realized, it empowers people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences to come together to share ideas, challenge the status quo, and drive innovation. Our aspiration is that everyone experiences this culture with equal opportunity and access, and that all voices are not only heard but also celebrated. We hope you will join our celebration, and we welcome and encourage applicants from all the beautiful dimensions that compose our global village.

Equal Opportunity Policy (EEO) Red Hat is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We review applications for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, veteran status, genetic information, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Red Hat does not seek or accept unsolicited resumes or CVs from recruitment agencies. We are not responsible for, and will not pay, any fees, commissions, or any other payment related to unsolicited resumes or CVs except as required in a written contract between Red Hat and the recruitment agency or party requesting payment of a fee. Red Hat supports individuals with disabilities and provides reasonable accommodations to job applicants. If you need assistance completing our online job application, email application-assistance@redhat.com. General inquiries, such as those regarding the status of a job application, will not receive a reply.