Principal Software Engineer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Cupertino, California, United States of America

Job description

• This role has been designed as ‘’Onsite’ with an expectation that you will primarily work from an HPE office.
• Principal Systems Software Engineer — Linux Systems
• We are seeking a Principal Systems Software Engineer to lead the development of Linux system-management and monitoring infrastructure for our Debian-based platforms. This role is suited to an experienced systems engineer who enjoys working across application architecture, operating-system interfaces, and production reliability.
• You will design and build Go-based tools that manage software lifecycles, monitor service health, collect operational data, and improve observability across our Linux fleet.
• You will develop foundational software that helps keep the operating system reliable, secure, and observable. Your architectural decisions will influence the tools and services used across the organization’s Linux fleet, giving you significant technical ownership and impact.

Responsibilities

• System Management Tooling: Design, build, and maintain Go applications for Linux user-space system management on Debian-based distributions.
• Package Management: Develop tooling to inspect installed packages, manage updates using APT and dpkg interfaces, and detect version or dependency inconsistencies.
• Service Observability: Build mechanisms to monitor service status, health metrics, and system events using technologies such as systemd and journald.
• Diagnostics and Logging: Implement automated log collection, retrieval, and parsing to support troubleshooting and incident response.
• Debian Packaging: Own the packaging of internal software into production-ready .deb packages, including dependency definitions, lifecycle scripts, and release processes.
• Architecture: Define and lead the transition toward modular, maintainable system-management services while preserving reliability, performance, and operational simplicity.
• Technical Leadership: Establish engineering standards, conduct design reviews, mentor engineers, and influence technical direction across relevant teams.

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional software development experience, including substantial systems-software experience.
• Strong professional experience developing production software in Go.
• Deep knowledge of Linux user space, including system calls, signals, processes, filesystems, and interprocess communication.
• Strong understanding of systemd, journald, Linux service management, and system diagnostics.
• Hands-on experience with Debian packaging, APT, dpkg, dependency management, and package lifecycle operations.
• Experience designing reliable, maintainable software used in production environments.
• Demonstrated ability to lead architecture decisions and influence technical direction.
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience designing distributed systems or service-oriented architectures.
• Python experience for automation, scripting, or maintaining existing system utilities.
• Familiarity with AppArmor, SELinux, secure boot, or related Linux security technologies.
• Experience profiling and optimizing Go applications using tools such as pprof.
• Experience optimizing resource usage on embedded, appliance, or server-grade Linux systems.
• Familiarity with automated testing, CI/CD, release engineering, and production monitoring.

Skills

Required

• Go
• Linux user space
• systemd
• journald
• Debian packaging
• APT
• dpkg
• dependency management
• package lifecycle operations
• system calls
• signals
• processes

Preferred

• distributed systems
• service-oriented architectures
• Python
• AppArmor
• SELinux
• secure boot
• pprof
• embedded systems

Benefits

• Health & Wellbeing
• We strive to provide our team members and their loved ones with a comprehensive suite of benefits that supports their physical, financial and emotional wellbeing.
• Personal & Professional Development
• We also invest in your career because the better you are, the better we all are. We have specific programs catered to helping you reach any career goals you have — whether you want to become a knowledge expert in your field or apply your skills to another division.
• Unconditional Inclusion
• We are unconditionally inclusive in the way we work and celebrate individual uniqueness. We know varied backgrounds are valued and succeed here. We have the flexibility to manage our work and personal needs. We make bold moves, together, and are a force for good.
• "The expected salary/wage range for this position is provided below. Actual offer may vary from this range based upon geographic location, work experience, education/training, and/or skill level.
• – United States of America: Annual Salary USD 172,000 - 349,000 in California.
• The listed salary range reflects base salary. Variable incentives may also be offered."
• Information about employee benefits offered in the US can be found at https://myhperewards.com/main/new-hire-enrollment.html