SW ENGINEER LINUX, KERNEL & SMARTNIC

Build the software stack behind next-generation high-speed networks.

Location: Gurgaon & Hyderabad, India

Experience: 5-20 Years

Employment Type: Full-Time

Function: R&D; Embedded Systems & High-Performance Networking

About Qbit Labs

Qbit Labs is building the networking and compute fabric for intelligent machines.

We are an Embedded Systems and FPGA-Based Product Company developing mission-critical technologies for Defense, Aerospace, AI Infrastructure, High-Speed Networking, Secure Communications and Next-Generation Computing.

Our engineering spans the complete stack — from FPGA and hardware acceleration to Linux, kernel, networking and application software.

We are looking for a Software Engineer – Linux, Kernel & SmartNIC to join our growing R&D; team and work on next-generation SmartNIC, high-speed Ethernet, deterministic networking and low-latency computing platforms.

This is an opportunity to work on systems where every microsecond, every packet and every bit matters.

THE ROLE

You will design, develop and optimize Linux-based software and high-performance networking stacks for FPGA-accelerated and SmartNIC platforms.

You will work at the intersection of:

Linux + Kernel + Embedded Software + Ethernet + FPGA + SmartNIC + PCIe + Low-Latency Networking

You will collaborate closely with FPGA/RTL, hardware and system engineers to build complete hardware-software solutions.

WHAT YOU WILL BUILD

- Linux-based software for SmartNIC and FPGA-accelerated networking platforms
- High-performance Ethernet and packet-processing software
- Linux Kernel modules and device drivers
- PCIe and DMA-based host-to-FPGA communication
- Low-latency and deterministic networking solutions
- Software interfaces for FPGA-based networking and acceleration IP
- Data-plane acceleration and hardware-offload frameworks
- Embedded Linux software for mission-critical systems
- Networking and synchronization solutions for telecom and high-speed infrastructure

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Linux & Kernel

- Develop and optimize Linux Kernel modules, drivers and low-level system software.
- Work with Linux internals including memory management, scheduling, interrupts, synchronization and networking subsystems.
- Debug complex kernel and hardware/software integration issues.
- Develop BSP-level and embedded Linux software where required.

High-Performance Networking





- Develop software for high-speed Ethernet and packet-processing systems.
- Work with TCP/IP, UDP, VLAN, QoS, multicast and IPv4/IPv6.
- Develop and optimize low-latency networking data paths.
- Work with DPDK, XDP, eBPF and kernel-bypass technologies.
- Profile and optimize systems for latency, throughput, CPU utilization and memory bandwidth.

SmartNIC / FPGA Integration

- Develop software stacks for SmartNIC/DPU platforms.
- Integrate Linux software with FPGA-based acceleration engines.
- Work with PCIe, DMA, SR-IOV and hardware offload.
- Collaborate with RTL/FPGA engineers on HW/SW interfaces and system integration.

Deterministic Networking & Telecom

- Work on technologies including TSN, PTP/IEEE 1588 and deterministic Ethernet.
- Develop software for telecommunications and high-performance networking systems.
- Work on network timing, synchronization and packet-processing applications.

MUST-HAVE SKILLS

- Robust programming skills in C
- Good knowledge of C++
- Strong hands-on experience with Linux
- Understanding of Linux Kernel architecture and internals
- Experience with Kernel modules / device drivers
- Robust understanding of Ethernet and TCP/IP
- Experience with multithreading, concurrency and synchronization
- Strong debugging and problem-solving skills
- Good understanding of computer architecture and operating systems

HIGHLY DESIRABLE Experience with one or more of:

SmartNIC / DPU

DPDK

XDP / eBPF

PCIe / DMA

SR-IOV

RDMA

FPGA integration

High-Speed Ethernet – 25G/50G/100G/200G/400G

TSN / IEEE 802.1

PTP / IEEE 1588

Real-Time Linux

NUMA / CPU affinity / kernel bypass

Packet processing / data-plane acceleration

Telecom / networking systems

Knowledge of PCIe, Ethernet, CXL, IPsec, TLS, secure networking or post-quantum cryptography will be an added advantage.

PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING

We are particularly interested in engineers who enjoy solving problems involving:

- Ultra-low latency
- High packet-per-second processing




- Zero-copy data paths
- Lock-free programming
- CPU/cache optimization
- NUMA architectures
- Interrupt affinity
- Poll-mode processing
- Hardware offload
- Deterministic execution
- High-throughput data movement

If you enjoy asking “Where did those extra microseconds go?”, you will fit right in. EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Education:

B.E. / B.Tech / M.E. / M.Tech in:

- Computer Science
- Electronics & Communication
- Electronics / Electrical
- Embedded Systems
- Information Technology
- Related engineering disciplines

Experience: 5–20 years in relevant software/system development. Engineers with strong fundamentals and significant hands-on project experience may also be considered.

ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENT

You will work closely with teams building:

FPGA PCIe DMA Linux Kernel SmartNIC Ethernet Packet Processing Application

This is a cross-disciplinary engineering role where software engineers work directly with hardware and FPGA teams rather than operating in isolation.

WHY QBIT LABS?

Build Technology. Not Just Code.

At Qbit Labs, you will work on technologies designed for mission-critical applications where performance, determinism, reliability and security matter.

You will get exposure to:

- SmartNIC & DPU architectures
- High-speed Ethernet
- FPGA acceleration
- PCIe / DMA
- TSN & deterministic networking
- Secure communications
- AI infrastructure
- Defense & aerospace systems
- Next-generation compute platforms

You will have the opportunity to contribute across the product lifecycle — from architecture and engineering to integration, validation and productization. WHO SHOULD APPLY?

We are looking for engineers who:

- Love systems programming more than conventional application development.
- Enjoy understanding what happens below the abstraction layer.
- Are comfortable debugging across software, kernel and hardware boundaries.
- Have a strong curiosity about networking and computer architecture.
- Want to work on high-performance, mission-critical systems.
- Are excited by the combination of software + FPGA + networking.

TECHNOLOGY STACK C | C++ | Linux | Linux Kernel | Embedded Linux | Ethernet | TCP/IP | SmartNIC | DPU | DPDK | XDP | eBPF | PCIe | DMA | SR-IOV | FPGA | TSN | PTP | RDMA | High-Speed Networking | Low-Latency Systems | Telecom | Packet Processing

📌 Software Engineer (Gurugram)
🏢 Qbit Labs
📍 Gurugram