- You know Linux internals well enough to investigate below an API, and you enjoy learning the layers you have not worked in yet. You can explain memory use, concurrency, syscall costs, and failure behavior in code you have built.
- For control-plane work, show strong service implementation in Go, Rust, or a comparable systems language. For VMM work, we look for hands-on Rust and low-level systems experience. In either area, you can explain the choices you made around types, memory, ownership, concurrency, and useful abstractions.
- You have a record of learning, adapting, and shipping, with recent hands-on work you can explain. You notice useful work, act on it, seek feedback early, and improve the result. You can simplify a design, make a decision, and finish it.
- You are security-minded and precise about risk. You can point to an assumption others missed, show why it mattered, and distinguish a real vulnerability from a speculative concern.
- You communicate clearly and care about the reader. You can explain a difficult investigation, defend a design, engage with an objection, and help another engineer become effective. Technical writing, code reviews, design notes, and thoughtful project documentation are useful evidence.
- You use modern AI coding tools to amplify an already strong technical foundation and accelerate learning. You understand, test, and take responsibility for the resulting code. You stay open to better tools and change your approach when the evidence warrants it.
Additional depth we value
Depth in filesystems, storage engines, databases, or distributed systems can complement either focus. Formal specifications, model checking, or proofs are strong bonuses when you can explain what they established and how they changed the implementation. Interest in AI infrastructure and systems research is welcome. GPU infrastructure experience is an additional plus.
These are examples, not a checklist. We want exceptional depth in a relevant area, strong fundamentals, and the ability to learn the layers around it. Production, open-source, research, and independent work can all demonstrate that. A particular employer, degree, public following, or experience with every item above is not required.