Senior Network Systems Engineer

Location: San Francisco, CA (HQ)
Team: Engineering • Full‑time • Pre‑seed

About Hoplynk

Hoplynk is building the communications and networking layer for the intelligent edge, ensuring resilient connectivity for autonomous systems and mission-critical operations in any environment. We’re a pre-seed startup spun out of Stanford University and based in San Francisco developing an embedded software/firmware stack that delivers multipath, failure-aware networking across heterogeneous links so critical systems stay online when networks don’t.

The Role

You’ll be our senior networking lead and a founding engineer. Your mission: set the architecture and deliver a production-grade multipath networking stack on Linux. You’ll drive the technical roadmap from kernel and policy to observability and release engineering; mentor the team; and turn field feedback into weekly measurable improvements.

What You’ll Do and Own

• Define and evolve the end-to-end edge data-plane architecture (routing/transport, subflow management, failover, and policy engines

• Establish SLOs (latency, loss, failover time, goodput) and the measurement plans, dashboards, and alerts that enforce them

• Lead design reviews, RFCs, and implementation plans across kernel/user space (iproute2, netlink, tc, eBPF/XDP, mptcpd

• Build first-class telemetry: per-subflow RTT/RTTVAR, cwnd, loss/reordering, packet sampling, device health; keep schemas stable and versioned

• Design and run experiments with QEMU and hardware-in-the-loop; model flaky radios and congested backhauls; validate with repeatable testbeds

• Partner with embedded/firmware on BSP, drivers, OTA/rollback, secure boot, and device observability

• Support deployments: capture traces, triage issues across layers, tune policies, and harden the release process as we scale customers

• Mentor engineers, raise standards for documentation and reliability, and help hire the early networking team.

What You’ll Bring

• Routing & Fast-Path: FRR, Babel, OLSR, batman-adv; DPDK; Segment Routing (SR-MPLS/SRv6); shaping and queue management (fq_codel/CAKE).

• Transport & Multipath: TCP, QUIC/MP-QUIC, MPTCP; congestion control, subflow management, and failover policy design.

• Telemetry & Observability: RTT, loss, cwnd, and reordering metrics; perf, ftrace, pcap, mptcpd, gNMI/streaming telemetry; stable schema design.

• Wireless & Edge Networking: CGNAT, captive portals, cellular/wireless links, and multipath over mixed networks.

• Hardware & Applied Domains: PHY bring-up, schematics interpretation; robotics/autonomy networks in challenging RF environments.

• Leadership & Collaboration: Mentorship, clear documentation, and cross-functional technical guidance from kernel to field deployment.

Nice to Have

• Routing & Fast-Path: FRR, Babel, OLSR, batman-adv; DPDK; Segment Routing (SR-MPLS/SRv6).

• Wireless & Cellular Networking: CGNAT, captive portals, multipath over flaky radios and mixed ISPs.

• Embedded & Security: OpenWrt, Yocto, Buildroot; OTA frameworks (RAUC/Mender), A/B partitioning, secure boot/firmware signing.

• Timing & Observability: NTP, PTP, perf, ftrace, pcap, mptcpd, gNMI/streaming telemetry, tracing/metrics correlation.

• Hardware & Applied Domains: Schematics interpretation, PHY bring-up, robotics/autonomy networks in harsh RF conditions.

Tools & Tech You’ll Touch

Linux 6.x · MPTCP/MPQUIC/TCP · tc (fq_codel/CAKE) · OpenWrt/Debian/Ubuntu · eBPF/XDP · iproute2/netlink · perf/ftrace · NTP/PTP · U-Boot/secure boot · RAUC/Mender · Python / Rust / TypeScript

How We Work - Hoplynk’s Values

We believe that shared values are the foundation for success. At Hoplynk, we value:

• Candor: Say the hard thing kindly, early, and with evidence. Speak up during decisions.

• Humility: Strong opinions, loosely held. Change your mind with facts. Teach and learn in the open; celebrate team wins over heroics.

• Initiative: Run toward the smoke. Own problems end-to-end. Ship in small, safe steps with clear, observable outcomes.