Senior Software Maintenance Engineer – RHEL

Red Hat

Senior Software Maintenance Engineer managing RHEL kernel releases and collaborating globally. Leading maintenance engineering efforts and diagnosing critical Red Hat product issues.

Posted 7/1/2026full-timeBrno • CzechiaSeniorWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

JenkinsLinuxOpen SourcePython

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Contribute to the vision and innovation of new Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product maintenance offerings, aiming to make Red Hat a global leader in long-term product experience
Perform daily activities of product maintenance engineering teams, serving as a regional and global expert on pressing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product issues
Resolve and proactively address critical issues that have an impact on long-term regional or global business success of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Work within the complete Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) solutions portfolio and be responsible for the delivery of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) updates to the maintenance streams
Collaborate with development and QE counterparts, product and project manager(s), product security and release engineering teams across the globe to ensure the development and delivery of fixes meet the schedule requirements and high quality standards expected and required by Red Hat customers
Diagnose the root cause of failures
Backport complex CVEs and bug fixes to stable release streams
Develop, maintain, monitor and improve tests and onboard automated tests into a continuous integration workflow as much as possible
Mentor junior team members

Requirements

What you’ll need

5+ years of experience in software engineering and/or quality engineering with a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related engineering field
Advanced level C coding skills with experience with building code from source and debug compilation failures
Expert in version control (git), especially patch backporting workflows
Expert at kernel internals and experience with at userspace low-level internals and kernel interface
Expert with low-level debugging tools like GDB and strace
Experience with automated testing environments e.g. Jenkins, GitLab CI and/or GitHub Actions
Outstanding debugging, troubleshooting, and analytical skills
Good interpersonal, problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills
Experience with the following are considered a plus: Open Source contributions to upstream linux projects and interaction with the open source community
Experience with kernel subsystems such as networking, filesystem, memory management, device drivers, etc.
Experience with advanced debugging tools like perf, eBPF, system tap and ftrace
Experience with AI / ML tools and its use in solving real world problems
Experience with scripting languages like Python and/or Bash and containers.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Health insurance
401(k) matching
Flexible work hours
Paid time off
Remote work options

ATS Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

C CodingKernel InternalsDebugging Tools (GDB, strace)Automated TestingScripting Languages (Python, Bash)Version Control (Git)Backporting WorkflowsAI / ML ToolsComplex CVE BackportingKernel Subsystems (Networking, Filesystem)

Soft Skills

Problem SolvingAnalytical SkillsCommunication SkillsInterpersonal SkillsCritical Thinking