eBay
Job Title
Staff Software Eng, Kernel Network
Company Overview At eBay, we are a global e‑commerce leader that transforms the way the world shops and sells. Our platform powers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world.
About The Team and the Role The Traffic team is responsible for the reliability, performance, and security of network traffic across our edge and core infrastructure. We design and operate high‑throughput, low‑latency data paths, evolve our kernel and userspace networking stack, and build observability that powers real‑time insight and rapid incident response.
What You Will Accomplish
Design, implement, and optimize kernel‑level networking components (TCP/UDP, QUIC, congestion control, sockets, netfilter, XDP/AF_XDP, eBPF) for high‑scale production environments
Build and evolve data planes for L4/L7 traffic management, including load balancers, proxies, NAT, firewalling, rate limiting, and traffic shaping
Develop robust observability for the networking stack: eBPF‑based telemetry, tracing, packet capture, flow logs, performance counters, and SLO/SLA instrumentation
Lead initiatives to reduce tail latency, improve throughput, and decrease resource utilization via kernel/userspace tuning, scheduling, NUMA/IRQ affinity, offloads, and memory management
Architect and deploy scalable traffic systems across multi‑region, multi‑tenant environments with zero‑downtime rollouts and rapid incident recovery
Partner with SRE, Security, and Platform teams on traffic policy, DDoS mitigation, TLS/PKI, and compliance requirements
Drive roadmap, technical strategy, and cross‑functional execution; provide technical leadership and mentorship to the team
Conduct rigorous benchmarking and capacity planning; define performance baselines and regression gates
Own production health: participate in on‑call rotations, root‑cause analysis, and corrective action plans
What You Will Bring
10+ years of software engineering, with significant experience in Linux kernel networking and high‑performance systems
Expert‑level knowledge of kernel networking subsystems: sockets, TCP/IP stack, routing, netfilter/iptables/nftables, XDP/AF_XDP, eBPF
Strong systems programming skills in C/C++ and familiarity with Rust or Go for userspace components
Proven experience building and operating large‑scale traffic systems (load balancers, proxies, packet processors) in production
Hands‑on expertise with observability: metrics, logs, tracing, eBPF probes, perf/tracepoints, tcpdump, pcaps, and performance analysis tools
Deep understanding of performance tuning: NIC offloads, DPDK or kernel‑bypass techniques, IRQ/queue management, NUMA, memory allocators, lock contention, and scheduler behavior
Solid knowledge of L4/L7 protocols (TCP, QUIC, TLS, HTTP/2/3), congestion control, and transport/security internals
Experience with cloud or bare‑metal environments, container orchestration (Kubernetes), service discovery, and service‑mesh patterns
Strong debugging skills across kernel/userspace boundaries; ability to analyze crashes, deadlocks, and performance pathologies
Preferred Qualifications
Contributions to Linux kernel, eBPF tools, or relevant open source projects (Cilium, Envoy, NGINX, HAProxy, Calico, DPDK)
Experience with programmable data planes, SRv6, BGP/ECMP, anycast, and multi‑cluster traffic routing
Background in security for networking stacks: firewalling, ACLs, mTLS, DDoS detection/mitigation, bot defense
Experience building self‑service traffic platforms and developer‑facing APIs/SDKs
Knowledge of hardware acceleration: SmartNICs, ASICs, FPGA‑based offload, and NIC telemetry
Experience with time synchronization and precision timing (PTP), clocking, and its impact on networking performance
Compensation Base pay range for this position is expected to be between
$190,400
and
$254,200 .
Base pay offered may vary depending on individual factors including location, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include a target bonus and restricted stock units, and a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits such as 401(k) eligibility and paid time off.
Equal Opportunity Employer eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please contact us at
talent@ebay.com . View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBay's commitment to digital accessibility for people with disabilities.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Company Overview At eBay, we are a global e‑commerce leader that transforms the way the world shops and sells. Our platform powers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world.
About The Team and the Role The Traffic team is responsible for the reliability, performance, and security of network traffic across our edge and core infrastructure. We design and operate high‑throughput, low‑latency data paths, evolve our kernel and userspace networking stack, and build observability that powers real‑time insight and rapid incident response.
What You Will Accomplish
Design, implement, and optimize kernel‑level networking components (TCP/UDP, QUIC, congestion control, sockets, netfilter, XDP/AF_XDP, eBPF) for high‑scale production environments
Build and evolve data planes for L4/L7 traffic management, including load balancers, proxies, NAT, firewalling, rate limiting, and traffic shaping
Develop robust observability for the networking stack: eBPF‑based telemetry, tracing, packet capture, flow logs, performance counters, and SLO/SLA instrumentation
Lead initiatives to reduce tail latency, improve throughput, and decrease resource utilization via kernel/userspace tuning, scheduling, NUMA/IRQ affinity, offloads, and memory management
Architect and deploy scalable traffic systems across multi‑region, multi‑tenant environments with zero‑downtime rollouts and rapid incident recovery
Partner with SRE, Security, and Platform teams on traffic policy, DDoS mitigation, TLS/PKI, and compliance requirements
Drive roadmap, technical strategy, and cross‑functional execution; provide technical leadership and mentorship to the team
Conduct rigorous benchmarking and capacity planning; define performance baselines and regression gates
Own production health: participate in on‑call rotations, root‑cause analysis, and corrective action plans
What You Will Bring
10+ years of software engineering, with significant experience in Linux kernel networking and high‑performance systems
Expert‑level knowledge of kernel networking subsystems: sockets, TCP/IP stack, routing, netfilter/iptables/nftables, XDP/AF_XDP, eBPF
Strong systems programming skills in C/C++ and familiarity with Rust or Go for userspace components
Proven experience building and operating large‑scale traffic systems (load balancers, proxies, packet processors) in production
Hands‑on expertise with observability: metrics, logs, tracing, eBPF probes, perf/tracepoints, tcpdump, pcaps, and performance analysis tools
Deep understanding of performance tuning: NIC offloads, DPDK or kernel‑bypass techniques, IRQ/queue management, NUMA, memory allocators, lock contention, and scheduler behavior
Solid knowledge of L4/L7 protocols (TCP, QUIC, TLS, HTTP/2/3), congestion control, and transport/security internals
Experience with cloud or bare‑metal environments, container orchestration (Kubernetes), service discovery, and service‑mesh patterns
Strong debugging skills across kernel/userspace boundaries; ability to analyze crashes, deadlocks, and performance pathologies
Preferred Qualifications
Contributions to Linux kernel, eBPF tools, or relevant open source projects (Cilium, Envoy, NGINX, HAProxy, Calico, DPDK)
Experience with programmable data planes, SRv6, BGP/ECMP, anycast, and multi‑cluster traffic routing
Background in security for networking stacks: firewalling, ACLs, mTLS, DDoS detection/mitigation, bot defense
Experience building self‑service traffic platforms and developer‑facing APIs/SDKs
Knowledge of hardware acceleration: SmartNICs, ASICs, FPGA‑based offload, and NIC telemetry
Experience with time synchronization and precision timing (PTP), clocking, and its impact on networking performance
Compensation Base pay range for this position is expected to be between
$190,400
and
$254,200 .
Base pay offered may vary depending on individual factors including location, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include a target bonus and restricted stock units, and a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits such as 401(k) eligibility and paid time off.
Equal Opportunity Employer eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please contact us at
talent@ebay.com . View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBay's commitment to digital accessibility for people with disabilities.
#J-18808-Ljbffr