Staff Kernel Driver Developer

San Francisco, CA, United States

We're Cruise, a self-driving service designed for the cities we love.

We’re building the world’s most advanced self-driving vehicles to safely connect people to the places, things, and experiences they care about. We believe self-driving vehicles will help save lives, reshape cities, give back time in transit, and restore freedom of movement for many.

In our cars, you’re free to be yourself. It’s the same here at Cruise. We’re creating a culture that values the experiences and contributions of all of the unique individuals who collectively make up Cruise, so that every employee can do their best work.

Cruise is committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment, both in our workplace and in our products. If you are looking to play a part in making a positive impact in the world by advancing the revolutionary work of self-driving cars, come join us. Even if you might not meet every requirement, we strongly encourage you to apply. You might just be the right candidate for us.

The Embedded Systems Team develops the first layers of software on the car, from interfacing with hardware, to moving large amounts of data up the software stack. We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer in the Platform Silicon Software team to own the Linux Kernel device driver development for pre-silicon and post-silicon validation, custom chip/HW bringup as well as building a high performance hardware acceleration stack across a wide variety of devices and systems.

What you'll be doing: Build Linux kernel device drivers to support pre-silicon and post-silicon validation, chip bringup and deploy across various products

Own Architecture, development and design of Linux kernel drivers, user space libraries and applications for custom AI chips, focusing on GPU and Neural Networks cores

Architect system partitioning for performance using various hardware accelerator cores such as GPU, AI cores, DSP and FPGA

Develop high-performance system for data movement, I/O interfacing, networking and embedded signal processing

Collaborate with colleagues across multiple teams and mentor developers

What you must have: 5+ years of experience in kernel device driver development

Solid understanding of Linux kernel internals (memory management, concurrency/synchronization, device driver framework), with a focus on GPU, DRM and display module kernel device drivers

Understanding of the Linux kernel open source development process and upstream contributions

Solid understanding of GPU and neural network accelerator hardware architecture

Familiarity with the ARM64 architecture

Experience with git and follow good software practices like code review, documentation

Effective interpersonal, leadership, and communication skills

Familiarity with system performance analysis, profiling, and tuning

Bonus points!

Experience in pre-silicon and post-silicon validation device driver development

Understanding of the Graphics APIs (ex: openCL, openGL) and their translation to HW Operations

Experience with PCIe drivers, DMA controllers

The salary range for this position is $161,500 - $237,500. Compensation will vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. You may also be offered a bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. These ranges are subject to change.

Why Cruise?

Our benefits are here to support the whole you:

Competitive salary and benefits

401(k) Cruise matching program

Medical / dental / vision, AD+D and Life

Subsidized mental health benefits

Flexible vacation and company paid holidays

Healthy meals and snacks available for non-remote employees

Paid parental, jury duty, bereavement, family care, and medical leave

Fertility Benefits

Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account

Flexible Spending Account

Pre-tax Commuter Benefit Plan for non-remote employees

CruiseFlex, a working policy for US-Based Cruisers, lets you and your manager find the working style that’s best for you, whether it’s primarily in-person, primarily at home, or a combination of home and in-office time. - learn more about CruiseFlex here

We’re Integrated

Through our partnerships with General Motors and Honda, we are the only self-driving company with fully integrated manufacturing at scale.

We’re Funded

GM, Honda, Microsoft, T. Rowe Price, and Walmart have invested billions in Cruise. Their backing for our technology demonstrates their confidence in our progress, team, and vision and makes us one of the leading autonomous vehicle organizations in the industry. Our deep resources greatly accelerate our operating speed.

We’re Independent

We have our own governance, board of directors, equity, and investors. Our independence allows us to not just work on the edge of technology, but also define it.

We’re Vested

You won’t just own your work here, you’ll have the potential to own equity in Cruise, too. We are competing in a market that is projected to grow exponentially, which gives our company valuation room to grow. We offer a new kind of equity program called Recurring Liquidity Opportunity (RLO), which combines IPO-like liquidity with the stability of remaining private - learn more about RLO here

We’re Safety Conscious

We integrate #staysafe, our top priority at Cruise, into our everyday work. Through our Safety Management System, every Cruiser is asked to do their part by reporting any potential issues or hazards they observe and making continuous improvements. You’ll be able to contribute to safety at Cruise, no matter your job function or title.

Cruise LLC is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a supportive and inclusive workplace where contributions are valued and celebrated, and our employees thrive by being themselves and are inspired to do the best work of their lives. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, caste, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, or disability. Applicants will not be discriminated against based on these or other protected categories or social identities. Cruise will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, in accordance with applicable laws.

Cruise is committed to the full inclusion of all applicants. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know or email [email protected] .

We proactively work to design hiring processes that promote equity and inclusion while mitigating bias. To help us track the effectiveness and inclusivity of our recruiting efforts, please consider answering the following demographic questions. Answering these questions is entirely voluntary. Your answers to these questions will not be shared with the hiring decision makers and will not impact the hiring decision in any way. Instead, Cruise will use this information not only to comply with any government reporting obligations but also to track our progress toward meeting our diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging objectives.

Candidates applying for roles that operate and remotely operate the AV:  Licensed to drive a motor vehicle in the U.S. for the three years immediately preceding your application, currently holding an active in-state regular driver’s license or equivalent, and no more than one point on driving record. A successful completion of a background check, drug screen and DMV Motor Vehicle Record check is also required.

Note to Recruitment Agencies: Cruise does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Furthermore, Cruise does not pay placement fees for candidates submitted by any agency other than its approved partners.