Senior Staff Engineer – Linux system performance engineer

Company: Qualcomm China Job Area: Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering General Summary: Responsible for Linux system performance analysis and optimization on upstream kernel based products on Qualcomm platforms. You will identify performance bottlenecks, drive root-cause analysis, develop fixes/improvements, and prevent regressions through benchmarking and automation. Focus areas include CPU scheduling, memory management, I/O subsystem, boot performance, and low-level HW performance characteristics (PMU, cache, DDR). 1. Analyze and optimize Linux upstream kernel performance across scheduler, memory, I/O, and boot-up sequence. 2. Identify system-level performance bottlenecks using profiling/tracing tools/bootchart; propose and implement improvements in kernel and/or userspace. 3. Conduct root-cause analysis for performance issues and regressions; provide clear analysis reports and corrective actions. 4. Build and maintain performance benchmarking methodology: KPI definition, test plans, automation, baseline tracking, and regression gating. 5. Optimize boot time: analyze boot critical path (kernel init, userspace init, systemd, services), reduce latency, and validate improvements. 6. Drive performance-related patch development and upstream-quality engineering (review, test, documentation). 7. Collaborate with cross-functional teams (platform, camera, graphics, multimedia, power, QA) to diagnose and resolve performance issues. Skills /Experience Required: 1. Strong experience in Linux system performance analysis and optimization (kernel and/or system level). 2. Solid understanding of Linux upstream kernel internals, especially: 3. Scheduler (CFS/RT, task wakeup, CPU affinity, load balancing, latency) 4. Memory management (page cache, reclaim, compaction, CMA/contiguous memory concepts, memory pressure) 5. I/O subsystem (block layer, filesystems basics, I/O scheduling, latency/throughput tradeoffs) 6. Boot performance fundamentals (init sequence, kernel/userspace interactions) 7. Good understanding of low-level performance topics: PMU/perf events, CPU cache behavior, memory bandwidth/DDR. 8. Proficient programming skills in C (kernel/userspace) and scripting in Python/Shell for automation. 9. Hands-on experience with performance tools such as perf, ftrace, trace-cmd, eBPF/bpftrace, flame graphs, and standard benchmarking tools. 10. Strong problem-solving skills, ability to communicate findings clearly, and ability to work effectively across teams. Skills /Experiences are plus: 1. Camera performance background: understanding of camera pipeline, buffering/latency, throughput tuning. 2. Familiar with CPU DCVS driver and power management 3. Graphics/display stack knowledge on Linux: Wayland/Weston render pipeline; GPU performance analysis and tuning. 4. Experience with multimedia frameworks and performance tuning (e.g., V4L2, GStreamer) is a plus. 5. Familiarity with ARM SoC architecture and performance tuning on embedded/mobile platforms. 6. Experience contributing patches to upstream Linux or maintaining kernel trees. Minimum Qualifications: • Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. OR Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 5+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. OR PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. • 3+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc. Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. 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