Hardware Platform Engineer (Mid-Senior)

Role Overview

You will own the hardware platform end-to-end, including evaluating and selecting computing and networking hardware, writing system-level tooling for performance monitoring and diagnostics, and ensuring our Linux environment is tuned for real-time, safety-critical workloads. You'll define what hardware Revel runs on and prove that it meets our reliability standards before it reaches the field.

Hardware Selection & Qualification

Evaluate x86 and ARM computing platforms, networking equipment, and individual components (CPUs, SSDs, RAM, NICs) for deployment across demanding environments including test cells, benchtop setups, and remote field installations. Establish hardware qualification criteria including thermal behavior, firmware stability, I/O throughput, vibration tolerance, ECC support, and component lifecycle. Build and maintain an approved hardware compatibility matrix and manage vendor and supplier relationships.

Platform Bring-up & OS Integration

• Bring up Linux on new hardware platforms, including kernel configuration, device tree setup, and driver validation.
• Tune the OS for real-time performance with CPU isolation, IRQ affinity, and latency profiling.
• Contribute to the OS image build and deployment pipeline.

Fleet Health & Diagnostics

Build tooling to monitor hardware health across a growing fleet of deployed systems - tracking disk wear, thermal behavior, memory errors, firmware versions, and component lifecycle status. Instrument these tools to feed into observability infrastructure (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana) for fleet-wide visibility. Develop diagnostic utilities for performance characterization and failure triage, both in-house and in the field.

Platform Security

Implement and maintain platform-level security including Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, disk encryption, and image signing. Design these controls for systems that operate in air-gapped environments with no connectivity to external services.

Hardware Validation Campaigns

Design and execute qualification campaigns for new hardware platforms. Define test plans, acceptance criteria, and pass/fail thresholds including thermal stress testing, burn-in cycles, latency profiling, I/O reliability testing, and long-duration stability runs. Document results and make go/no-go recommendations for production deployment. Re-validate when vendors ship component revisions or substitutions.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of professional experience working directly with hardware in Platform Engineering, Systems Programming, or Embedded Systems, with hands-on experience evaluating, qualifying, or bringing up computing hardware.
• Deep, first-principles understanding of computing hardware - you read datasheets, catch firmware quirks, flag EOL risk, and know why one SSD is reliable under sustained load and another isn't.
• Strong understanding of the Linux kernel, boot process, and system configuration, with experience tuning Linux for performance-sensitive or real-time workloads.
• Comfortable writing system-level tooling - hardware diagnostic utilities, performance benchmarks, and monitoring tools. Our stack is primarily in Rust; strong C/C++ experience with willingness to work in Rust is welcome.
• Experience bringing up Linux on new hardware platforms including BIOS/UEFI configuration, driver validation, and diagnosing boot and compatibility issues.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Nix / NixOS for reproducible, declarative system configurations.
• Familiarity with hardware monitoring via Grafana or Prometheus.
• Experience with GitLab CI for automating platform builds and validation.
• Background in high-reliability computing - aerospace, defense, critical infrastructure, networking hardware, or hyperscale compute.

Benefits

• Health insurance - We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage to support you and your family.
• 401(k) - Save for your future with our 401(k) plan.
• Equity - All full-time employees receive equity, ensuring that you share in Revel's success and growth.
• Life insurance - Company-paid life insurance gives you and your family peace of mind.
• Parental leave - We offer paid maternity and paternity leave to support new parents.
• Catered lunch - We provide catered lunch five days a week, so you can stay fueled and focused.
• Unlimited PTO - We trust you to take the time you need. Unlimited PTO for all full-time employees.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.