Principal Software Engineer

Skills this role screens for

About the role

RedHat is hiring for the role of Principal Software Engineer!

The work

Responsibilities of the Candidate

• Design, develop, and maintain high-performance Windows kernel-mode drivers (WDM/KMDF) specifically for virtualized environments.
• Optimize the Windows-on-KVM stack by implementing "enlightenments" and specialized drivers (e.g., VirtIO) to reduce hypervisor overhead.
• Debug complex, low-level interactions between the Windows kernel, the virtual hardware abstraction layer, and the KVM/QEMU host.
• Build and maintain internal diagnostic tools to monitor driver health and performance
• Work closely with Linux Kernel/KVM specialists to align host-side features with guest-side driver requirements.
• Identify and resolve race conditions, memory leaks, and BSODs (Blue Screens of Death) occurring in virtualized contexts.

Who they want

Requirements

• Expert C/C++ Programming: Mastery of systems-level programming where resource management and concurrency are critical.
• Windows Kernel Internals: Deep architectural knowledge of Windows memory management, I/O request packets (IRPs), interrupt handling, and the Windows Driver Model (WDM).
• Debugging: Expert-level proficiency with kernel debugging
• Virtualization Knowledge: Understanding of x86 virtualization extensions (Intel VT-x, AMD-V) and how guest OSs interact with a hypervisor.
• Problem Solving: Proven ability to troubleshoot "silent failures" and performance regressions at the boundary between software and virtual hardware.