Ubuntu Linux Kernel Test Engineer - Canonical

About the Role

Ubuntu is the most widely used Linux distribution in the world. The Canonical Kernel Team is looking for a Test Engineer to take ownership of our kernel testing strategy and infrastructure. You will design and maintain test plans covering functional correctness, stability, performance, and security, ensuring that every kernel we ship meets the highest standards of reliability.

What your day will look like

• Design, develop, and maintain comprehensive test plans for Ubuntu Linux kernels.
• Build and improve automated test infrastructure for continuous kernel quality validation across multiple versions and architectures.
• Maintain long-lived test suites that evolve alongside Ubuntu’s many concurrently supported kernel versions.
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines for continuous kernel quality validation.
• Conduct performance benchmarking and regression detection across kernel releases.
• Measure and improve kernel code coverage, identifying gaps and creating tests to address them.
• Execute and analyze stress tests covering CPU scheduling, memory management, I/O subsystems, networking, and filesystem workloads.
• Develop and maintain fuzzing harnesses (e.g., syxtaller, Trinity) to discover vulnerabilities.
• Collaborate with a globally distributed team and contribute to upstream test suites.

What we are looking for in you

• Significant programming experience in Python.
• Experience with test frameworks such as LTP, kselftest, xfstests, stress-ng, or fio.
• Experience designing and executing system-level tests (functional, stress, performance, or regression).
• Familiarity with CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitHub CI).
• Experience maintaining test suites over long periods.
• Strong knowledge of Linux kernel internals and subsystems.
• Solid background with git and Linux systems administration.
• Professional written and spoken English.
• Ability to travel twice a year for company events.

Additional Skills

• Familiarity with kernel fuzzing tools (syzkaller, Trinity, AFL).
• Experience with code coverage instrumentation (gcov, kcov, LLVM).
• Knowledge of kernel tracing/observability (ftrace, perf, bpftrace, eBPF).
• Familiarity with static analysis tools (sparse, smatch, Coccinelle).
• Experience with fault injection frameworks and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure, OpenStack).

What we offer

• Fully remote working environment (remote-first since 2004).
• Personal learning and development budget of 2,000 USD per annum.
• Annual compensation review and recognition rewards.
• Comprehensive benefits including parental leave and employee assistance programs.
• Opportunities to travel for international team sprints.