> Markdown version of [/jobs/ext/4649109-performance-engineer-kernel-and-memory](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/4649109-performance-engineer-kernel-and-memory). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

---

# Performance Engineer, Kernel and Memory

- **Company:** CloudFlare
- **Location:** Washington, DC, United States
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Application Performance Management, Linux, Distributed Systems, Memory Management, Linux Kernel, System Programming, Virtual Memory, Cloudflare
- **Published:** November 9, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.juju.com/job/28_25303_22aef6459752a2ea41b6ca2f8ff15f8c

## About the Role

* Deep expertise in the Linux kernel memory-management subsystem: the page allocator, virtual memory and memory mapping, reclaim, and the locking and concurrency that hold it together.
 * A track record of upstream Linux contribution, ideally including maintainership or sustained work in MM or an adjacent subsystem.
 * Strong systems programming in C, with the judgement to make high-risk changes to shared infrastructure safely.
 * Ability to dive deep into a complex codebase while keeping the fleet-wide picture in mind, and to own a problem and its outcome rather than a single patch.
 * Clear communication with engineers across many teams, since the symptoms of an MM problem usually show up far from the MM code.

Bonuses

 * Strong understanding of Linux kernel internals pertaining to memory management
 * Experience troubleshooting and resolving performance issues in large-scale distributed systems.
 * Experience with large scale configuration/deployment management.

## Description

Delivering this platform with high performance and efficiency depends on advanced Linux kernel and hardware capabilities, and that is where this team works.

The Performance Team owns overall system and application performance across that fleet: resource optimization, instrumentation, and the tooling that lets us see what the hardware is actually doing. System memory sits alongside CPU cycles, network processing, and storage IOPS as a first-class resource, and how the kernel manages it is increasingly the thing that decides how hot we can safely run every machine we own.

We work upstream first. Several of us maintain or regularly contribute to the Linux kernel, and our default is to fix problems in mainline rather than carry private patches. This role is built on that principle., * Land your work upstream. We expect MM changes to go to mainline first and want you to keep doing the maintainership and review work that earns standing in the community.

 * Build and extend low-overhead kernel instrumentation (tracepoints, BPF, perf) so we keep measuring before we change, and prove the impact afterwards.
 * Partner with kernel, networking, storage, and product engineers across the company to turn observed system behavior into concrete MM improvements.
 * Set technical direction for how Cloudflare uses, tunes, and evolves kernel memory management as we push utilization higher.