NIC Device Driver Test Engineer

Job Title: NIC Device Driver Test Engineer
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.

Required Skills & Experience:

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).

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