United States onlySenior Network Systems Engineer
Location: Washington, D.C. (HQ2)
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 · OpenWrt/Debian/Ubuntu · iproute2/netlink · mptcpd · perf/ftrace · Rust / C++ / Python (routing and full-stack development)
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.
