Engineering Manager, Linux Team

<div class="content-intro"><div><strong>About Us</strong></div> <div> <p>At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers millions of websites and other Internet properties for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We realize people do not fit into neat boxes. We are looking for curious and empathetic individuals who are committed to developing themselves and learning new skills, and we are ready to help you do that. We cannot complete our mission without building a diverse and inclusive team. We hire the best people based on an evaluation of their potential and support them throughout their time at Cloudflare. Come join us! </span></p> </div></div><p><strong>Available Locations: London, UK</strong></p> <p><strong>What You’ll Do</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Lead and Mentor:</strong> Manage a high-performing team of kernel and systems engineers, fostering a culture of "collaboration-first" and continuous knowledge sharing both internally and with the global open-source community.</li> <li><strong>Own the OS Lifecycle:</strong> Oversee the end-to-end delivery of the Linux Kernel and core OS components. Your goal is a fully automated continuous delivery pipeline that moves from merge to 100% production in less than 30 days.</li> <li><strong>Drive Technical Vision:</strong> Steer the Cloudflare kernel development roadmap. You will balance the need for cutting-edge features with the absolute requirements of production stability, security, and performance.</li> <li><strong>Upstream Advocacy:</strong> Promote a "minimal patch" philosophy by ensuring your team is a top contributor to the Linux Kernel. You will support engineers in becoming upstream maintainers for critical subsystems.</li> <li><strong>Cross-Functional Collaboration:</strong> Act as a consultant to hardware and service teams, helping them onboard new hardware and optimize workloads for our OS. You’ll lead a "virtual team" environment where any engineer at Cloudflare can contribute to the kernel.</li> <li><strong>Innovate Debugging:</strong> Tackle the "impossible" challenges of kernel-level debugging. You will lead the development of automated systems that collect critical telemetry when a system crashes, even when traditional debuggers cannot run.</li> <li><strong>Measure Success:</strong> Use DORA metrics and team-specific capabilities - such as the "time to fix a kernel issue" and upstream commit volume - to track and improve team impact.</li> </ul> <p><strong>What You’ll Bring</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Systems Leadership:</strong> 5+ years of experience managing engineering teams, ideally in low-level systems, kernel development, or large-scale infrastructure environments.</li> <li><strong>Low-Level Expertise:</strong> A deep understanding of Linux Kernel internals, x86/ARM architecture, and OS design fundamentals. You should be comfortable discussing memory management, schedulers, and network stacks.</li> <li><strong>Automation Mindset:</strong> Experience building or managing CI/CD pipelines for foundational software. You believe that "toil" is a bug and automation is the feature.</li> <li><strong>Open Source Pedigree:</strong> A proven track record of engaging with the open-source community. You understand the nuances of upstreaming and how to navigate community ... (truncated, view full listing at source)