Job Type: Contract
Contract Length: 1 Month
Pay Range: $80–$90/hour
Start Date: ASAP
Location: Onsite - San Jose, CA
About the Opportunity:
Our client, a leader in enterprise virtualization and cloud infrastructure, is looking for a skilled NIC Device Driver Test Engineer to join their team for a 1-month engagement. This project involves expanding their Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) to support a wider range of hardware and developing a modern, robust NIC device driver test suite. This is a high-impact, specialized role that requires a self-motivated professional with deep Linux kernel and networking expertise who can hit the ground running.
Key Responsibilities & Deliverables:
This role is focused on component-level driver testing to ensure stability, performance, and compatibility. Your responsibilities will include:
- Test Suite Development: Design, develop, and execute a modern, component-level NIC driver test suite independent of monolithic product testing.
- Kernel Compatibility Validation: Ensure NIC device drivers are compatible with various LTS Linux kernels, including upstream backports and modernized kernel structures.
- Networking Stack Validation: Validate drivers against Linux networking enhancements, including netdev subsystems, page_pool APIs, and interrupt balancing.
- Virtualization & Flow Integration: Test functionality and performance integration with standard Linux networking components (e.g., OVS, iptables/nftables, and Linux routing).
- Enterprise Stress Testing: Conduct rigorous load and stress testing to ensure high reliability and performance monitoring across different NIC hardware families.
We are looking for a subject matter expert with the following qualifications:
- Extensive experience testing and validating Linux NIC device drivers in enterprise or cloud environments.
- Deep understanding of the Linux networking stack and netdev subsystem (e.g., RSS configuration, Ethtool, and RX queue management).
- Strong knowledge of Linux kernel internals, including memory management (buffer ring allocations) and CPU affinity/pinning.
- Proficiency using open-source traffic generation and stress testing tools (e.g., iperf3, netperf) to validate line-rate throughput.
- Familiarity with hypervisors (AHV/KVM) and automated test framework development (Python/Bash) is highly preferred.
- W2 only (No C2C or 1099 contractors).
