Operating System Virtualization Engineer

Do you love operating systems implementation, digging into the gritty interface where software meets machine? We are seeking a software engineer to work on our Rust-based VMM, Propolis, and its containing illumos-based host operating system, Helios. These technologies sit at the center of the Oxide technology stack, interfacing directly with a wide range of hardware, embedded software, and third-party firmware to support the Oxide control plane and its virtual machine instances. The Rust-based VMM is a de novo implementation based on the bhyve hypervisor.

AS AN ENGINEER WORKING ON HOST SYSTEM SOFTWARE AND VIRTUALIZATION, YOU WILL:

* Work with a helpful and experienced team to design, build, and bring up host system software, in-kernel virtualization, and the user-space VMM on current and future Oxide computers

* Read and write code in Rust (Propolis), C (Helios), and/or microprocessor assembly. All the code you write will be open source.

* Grow and apply your understanding of microprocessors, through deep familiarity with available documentation, interacting directly with real hardware, and producing your own documents where the vendor’s fall short

* Contribute to the security and resiliency of the system by designing for failure from the ground up

* Participate in a rigorous code review process and help your colleagues maintain our software in a production-ready state at all times

* Apply a customer-centric view to the development of new end-to-end features and functions and help realize them across the stack

* Contribute to the design of new Oxide hardware and software components elsewhere in the stack

YOU WILL THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU:

* Are familiar with operating systems or virtualization concepts and comfortable in C, Rust, or other low-level systems languages

* Seek the versatility of working from core OS architecture to hardware interface to networking to virtual device development.

* Enjoy the freedom of blazing your own architectural trails and solving problems from first principles

* Have previously worked in the guts of virtualization technologies such as KVM, Hyper-V, bhyve, or related systems

* Are up to the challenge of interfacing with hardware that has missing or inaccurate documentation

* Appreciate the hard-won thrill of debugging a knotty problem to root cause

* Believe in fully documenting your ideas for both current colleagues and your own future self

* Enjoy reading excellent documentation produced by others

* Make the tools you wish you had

* Communicate effectively with engineers across a range of disciplines to exchange knowledge and expertise

BEFORE APPLYING FOR THIS ROLE, YOU SHOULD:

* Experiment with Propolis, using tools like DTrace to explore the system

* Browse our public Requests for Discussion to get a flavor for how we work

* Listen to Hiring Processes with Gergely Orosz to familiarize yourself with the Oxide hiring process.

* Prowl around the code in Propolis or Helios

* Listen to some of our episodes of Oxide and Friends. A few recommendations:

* Helios on the genesis of our illumos derivative as discussed in RFD 26

* Holistic Boot on our approach to BIOS-free booting

* Unshrouding Turin (or Benvenuto a Torino) on the work we’re doing for AMD’s Turin microprocessor

* Holistic Engineering on our integrated hardware/software approach

* Virtualizing Time on the thorniness of getting time to work in a hypervisor

Remote positions are open to candidates worldwide. We do ask that your workday overlaps with Pacific Time for at least four hours.