Linux Distribution Engineer - Embedded Software at Zipline
Zipline · South San Francisco, United States Of America · Onsite
- Professional
- Office in South San Francisco
Linux Distribution Engineer - Embedded Software
About Zipline
Do you want to change the world? Zipline is on a mission to transform the way goods move. Our aim is to solve the world’s most urgent and complex access challenges by building, manufacturing and operating the first instant delivery and logistics system that serves all humans equally, wherever they are. From powering Rwanda’s national blood delivery network and Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, to providing on-demand home delivery for Walmart, to enabling healthcare providers to bring care directly to U.S. homes, we are transforming the way things move for businesses, governments and consumers. The technology is complex but the idea is simple: a teleportation service that delivers what you need, when you need it. Through our technology that includes robotics and autonomy, we are decarbonizing delivery, decreasing road congestion, and reducing fossil fuel consumption and air pollution, while providing equitable access to billions of people and building a more resilient global supply chain.
Join Zipline and help us to make good on our promise to build an equitable and more resilient global supply chain for billions of people.
About You and The Role
As the Linux Distribution Engineer at Zipline, you will own the distribution of Linux across our fleet and ground systems. You’ll be responsible for building, maintaining, and scaling our Linux distribution using Yocto and Nvidia JetPack, ensuring reliable integration with hardware and long-term maintainability of the kernel. Instead of writing lightweight application software, your focus will be on kernel configuration, build tooling, drivers, and maintaining the foundation that all higher-level software depends on.
You’ll collaborate with hardware, embedded, and software teams to deliver a stable, secure, and performant Linux distribution tailored to Zipline’s mission-critical environment.
What You'll Do
- Own the design, customization, and maintenance of Zipline’s Linux distribution.
- Build and maintain Linux kernels, drivers, and system-level configurations for production hardware.
- Work with Yocto to maintain distribution and SDK.
- Integrate and manage Nvidia JetPack into our distribution, ensuring hardware acceleration and GPU-related features perform reliably.
- Use tools like bitbake and kas-container to automate and streamline distribution builds.
- Apply security patches, fix CVEs, hardening, and updates to maintain a secure production environment.
- Debug and resolve kernel-level and driver-related issues in collaboration with hardware and software teams.
- Establish processes for release management and long-term support of the distribution.
What You'll Bring
- 3+ years of experience building and maintaining Linux distributions.
- Deep experience with Yocto (required).
- Hands-on experience with Nvidia JetPack and related drivers (required).
- Strong background in Linux kernel configuration, patching, and maintenance.
- Proficiency with bitbake and build systems such as kas-container.
- Strong debugging skills at the OS, kernel, and hardware/software boundary.
Nice to Have
- Understanding of security fundamentals (key management, privileged user permissions)
- Understanding of Linux internals, including the /proc filesystem, cgroups, memory subsystem, networking and CPU scheduling.
- Experience with container runtimes and orchestration (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes).
- Familiarity with Bazel
