Talana Labs builds products that people use every day to make the internet work the way it should. Behind our products sits a complex network infrastructure that has to withstand heavy loads, deliver stable connectivity, and stay resilient against network attacks.
We're looking for a Senior Network Engineer who deeply understands how the Linux network stack works at the kernel level, knows how to optimize network infrastructure performance, and can solve non-standard engineering problems under real load.
We don't need just a sysadmin who knows how to configure networks. We need an engineer who can figure out what's happening at the level of the kernel, drivers, and network hardware, find the root cause of a problem, and propose a technically sound solution.
What you'll be doing
Designing, configuring, and optimizing Linux-based network infrastructure with high loads and performance requirements in mind
Working with the Linux Network Stack at the kernel level: TCP/IP, congestion control, queue management, buffering, network interrupt handling
Selecting and tuning congestion control algorithms (BBR v1/v2/v3) and queue schedulers (fq, fq_codel, cake) for specific traffic scenarios
Optimizing server network performance: sysctl, socket buffers, CPU affinity, RPS/RFS, softirq, IRQ balancing
Working with custom Linux kernels (XanMod, Liquorix), analyzing their specifics, and choosing configurations for particular hardware and workloads
Running low-level diagnostics of network issues: analyzing retransmits, latency, packet loss, and the behavior of NICs, drivers, and the network stack
Protecting infrastructure from network attacks (SYN flood, UDP flood, amplification), and building and maintaining multi-layered traffic filtering mechanisms
Analyzing network incidents in real time, identifying sources of anomalous traffic, and minimizing the impact of attacks on legitimate users
Configuring network interaction with Nginx, including SSL termination and gRPC/WebSocket proxying
Working with hosting providers on network performance, attack protection, BGP Blackhole and RTBH, and handling abuse incidents
Tackling complex infrastructure problems: conntrack exhaustion, softirq overload, kernel synchronization issues, and other non-standard situations
What we expect from you
A deep understanding of the Linux Network Stack at the kernel level, not just experience tuning standard network parameters
Hands-on experience optimizing TCP/IP for high loads and a variety of network scenarios
Solid command of congestion control algorithms: BBR v1/v2/v3, and an understanding of how they behave under high RTT and packet loss
An understanding of how qdiscs (fq, fq_codel, cake) work and how they interact with congestion control algorithms
Hands-on experience tuning the Linux Kernel, sysctl, and network parameters for specific hardware and workload profiles
An understanding of memory and buffer management mechanisms: rmem/wmem, TCP window, BDP, and their effect on throughput and resource consumption
Experience optimizing network interrupt handling and load distribution across CPUs: softirq, IRQ affinity, RPS/RFS, RSS
Low-level diagnostics skills with tcpdump, ss, iperf3, netperf, ethtool, nstat, conntrack, perf, and other tools
An understanding of how network interfaces, NIC drivers, and packet processing mechanisms work at the hardware and kernel level
Hands-on experience defending against DDoS and network attacks, and configuring iptables, conntrack, ipset, syncookies, hashlimit, connlimit, and other filtering mechanisms
An understanding of routing and BGP Blackhole / RTBH mechanisms
The ability to diagnose complex problems on your own, handle non-standard situations, and make technical decisions based on measurements, not assumptions
Nice to have
Experience with infrastructure that handles hundreds of gigabits per second
Hands-on experience analyzing and optimizing Linux Kernel performance at the level of drivers, the scheduler, and the network stack
Experience with TLS fingerprinting, DPI, and the specifics of network communication under deep traffic filtering
Experience configuring Nginx for SSL termination, gRPC, and WebSocket
Experience with NetFlow and other network traffic analysis tools
An understanding of ASN, CIDR, GeoIP filtering, and automating network rule updates
Experience working with CERT and hosting providers and handling abuse incidents
What we offer
A market-rate salary, reviewed after each Performance review
Challenging engineering problems where deep technical knowledge and out-of-the-box thinking really matter
The chance to influence the architecture and performance of our network infrastructure
A team of strong engineers united by the goal of building digital products
Remote work, full-time with a flexible schedule
Learning and training compensation