Senior Linux Kernel Driver Engineer

The Role

This role sits at the boundary between host and silicon. The kernel driver is key to keeping pace with our ultra-fast devices on cutting-edge server platforms. It’s a high-leverage layer where each win shows up as real throughput and latency gains.

You’ll be there for the pre-silicon simulations, first bring-up, first end-to-end runs, and the moments where performance jumps because of something you shipped.

What you’ll do

• Design, develop, and maintain the Linux kernel driver for Fractile’s AI accelerator

• Build the performance-critical kernel-space paths that keep the host stack moving: PCIe device management, DMA, memory handling, interrupt handling, and robust recovery paths

• Define and evolve the userspace interface the runtime depends on, with a focus on stability, debuggability, and performance

• Work in a tight co-design loop with hardware, firmware, runtime and ML engineers: validate assumptions, iterate on behaviour, and close gaps early

• Improve tooling/workflows so we move fast without breaking things

What we’re looking for

• You’ve shipped and maintained Linux kernel device drivers in production. Experience with PCIe-attached devices and custom hardware interfaces is ideal.

• Strong systems and performance instincts. You can reason about computer architecture, concurrency, and where the time goes

• Excellent C and/or Rust, and a pragmatic approach to building high-quality, maintainable & secure kernel code

• You enjoy hard kernel and system-level problems, and you take them end-to-end until the measurements move

• Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, Maths, Physics, or related degree and 3+ years of industry experience

Nice to have

• GPUs / ML accelerators / high‑throughput I/O (NICs, RDMA, storage)

• Hardware bring‑up or pre‑silicon simulation experience

• Performance work: profiling, tracing, benchmarking, regression tracking

If you want to build the software where every driver win unlocks huge system performance, come build it together.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary: A competitive salary reflective of your experience and the specialist nature of the role.

• Equity & Ownership: meaningful equity so everyone shares in the value creation

• Benefits: Private Medical, Dental and Vision, Contributory Pension, 25 Days holiday plus bank holidays and Life/Critical Illness Insurance.

• Diverse & fun office: we believe the hardest problems get solved by the broadest range of minds. We are committed to Equal Employment Opportunity through attracting and retaining a diverse team and building an inclusive environment.

Fractile is seeking to increase the clock speed of global progress, one chip at a time. We’ve recently raised $220M from investors including Founders Fund and Accel and our most important work lies ahead. Join us!

Export controls

Our work involves technologies subject to UK, US and other international export control regulations. Certain roles may require additional eligibility checks to ensure compliance with applicable law. We'll be transparent about this throughout the hiring process.