Senior Kernel Software Engineer, Fuchsia

At Google, we have a vision of empowerment and equitable opportunity for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit to building reconciliation through Google’s technology, platforms and people and we welcome Indigenous applicants. Please see our Reconciliation Action Plan for more information.

Minimum qualifications:

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

5 years of experience working with embedded systems, and Linux kernel development.

Experience with Rust systems programming.

Preferred qualifications:

Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.

Experience implementing or maintaining core operating system Kernel components, such as virtual memory layouts, low-level context switching, thread scheduling, or primitive IPC mechanisms.

Demonstrated expertise in low-level debugging, diagnostics, and root cause analysis across execution phases like early boot, hardware interrupts, or power management routines.

Deep understanding of Rust programming; soundness, unsafe code encapsulation, multi-threaded mutability, and mitigating bare-metal runtime or stack constraints.

Strong technical documentation and collaboration practices, including authoring design documents, detailing invariants, and auditing code with security teams.

About the job

The Zircon Kernel team builds the foundational operating system core that drives Fuchsia, establishing essential security, performance, and reliability boundaries at the bare-metal layer. As the lowest layer of Fuchsia, Zircon handles core object architectures, physical and virtual memory management through page tables, and primitive inter-process communication mechanisms. The team is currently executing a major architectural migration to incrementally rewrite foundational subsystems from C++ to Rust, ensuring modern memory safety while supporting Google’s evolving ecosystem of consumer devices.

As a Software Engineer on the Zircon Kernel team, you will design, implement, and maintain core operating system components including low-level context switching, thread scheduling, virtual memory layouts, and system call interfaces. You will address complex bare-metal challenges such as managing hardware interrupts, avoiding system-wide kernel panics, and optimizing code generation for safe execution, working in close alignment with cross-functional compiler, tools, and security teams.

Additionally, you will play a central role in the Zircon in Rust migration initiative. This requires engineering robust, sound cross-language FFI boundaries with existing C++ frameworks, mapping intricate memory layouts, managing disparate exception-handling paradigms, and encapsulating unsafe low-level operations behind safe API boundaries to manage multi-threaded mutability without compromising platform stability.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and optimize core kernel infrastructure, including virtual memory page tables, thread schedulers, timers, and object architectures.

Develop and maintain sound multi-language FFI boundaries to safely bridge legacy C++ subsystems with modern Rust components while managing strict stack and memory constraints.

Implement advanced low-level diagnostic frameworks and execute comprehensive test categories - including early boot, core, and stress testing - to isolate non-deterministic system behaviors.

Collaborate across compiler, tools, and security infrastructure teams to audit code generation, refine code coverage, and systematically document memory invariants and lock hierarchies.