Linux Kernel Security Engineer

About the Role

Responsibilities

System Security Research & Development

• Analyze historical and emerging Linux vulnerabilities (CVE research and impact assessment).
• Design and implement kernel-level monitoring and protection tools.
• Develop secure and efficient Linux Kernel Modules (LKMs) for detection and defense purposes.
• Research modern techniques for system integrity, syscall behavior analysis, and runtime protection.

Security Engineering & Tooling

• Build low-level system utilities using C/C++ for security visibility and resilience.
• Enhance Linux infrastructure with custom security modules, syscall instrumentation, and auditing tools.
• Collaborate with infrastructure and DevSecOps teams to ensure secure system-level deployments.

Risk Analysis & Hardening

• Evaluate system behavior under potential attack scenarios in a controlled and defensive context.
• Recommend mitigations for vulnerabilities in kernel space and userland boundaries.
• Support the implementation of hardening configurations and kernel security features such as SELinux, AppArmor, and seccomp.

Documentation & Reporting

• Document technical findings, tools, and system modifications clearly and professionally.
• Create detailed reports for internal teams and contribute to secure development guidelines.

Eligibility

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Security, or a related field.
• Postgraduate degree or relevant research experience is an added advantage.

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of Linux Kernel architecture, including:
  • System call interface
  • Process and memory management
  • Filesystems and device drivers
• Strong proficiency in C and C++ for both kernel-space and user-space development.
• Experience with:
  • Socket programming and Linux networking stack
  • Kernel debugging tools such as gdb, ftrace, kprobes, and perf
  • Building and maintaining Loadable Kernel Modules (LKMs)

Security Experience

• Familiarity with Linux vulnerability analysis, CVE assessment, and secure coding practices.
• Understanding of kernel hardening techniques, mitigations, and runtime protections.
• Knowledge of threat modeling and defensive strategies at the operating system level.

Desired Eligibility

Certifications (Preferred)

• OSCP, OSEP, or equivalent advanced security certifications.
• LFD420 (Linux Kernel Internals – Linux Foundation).
• Additional Linux or security-focused certifications are a plus.

Desirable Skills

• Experience with secure Linux deployment models.
• Knowledge of Mandatory Access Control (MAC) systems such as SELinux and AppArmor.
• Experience with container runtime security, including seccomp-bpf and namespaces.
• Contributions to open-source security tools or Linux kernel projects.
• Background in participating in security research communities or CTF platforms is preferred.

Travel

Communication