Primary Location: US-San Jose, California or Research Triangle Park, N. Carolina 

Open source is the single most disruptive factor in software engineering today.   Our team seeks a software engineer to take part in the fast-paced Commercial and Open Source Initiative (COSI). COSI is a cross-functional program that partners across our company and impacts every engineering business organization, as well as the IT and other Services to enable us to be innovative and collaborative and develope open source. Prime partners in the COSI program include our Legal, Engineering Operations, Research and Advanced Development, Supply Chain Operations and the Technology Development Group, in addition to several others. 

In this role you will provide technical guidance to the engineers and business decision makers on architectural and source selection decisions including buy vs. build vs.reuse based upon knowledge of software development practices as well as open source licensing.. 

Activities include the review, evaluation, and approval of SW engineering requests for use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), primarily evaluating inbound technology licenses for use in our products; provide approval decisions based on legal and technical criteria for use of FOSS in products, as well as outbound contributions and the audit of mandatory redistributions for adherence to open source license obligations. Familiarity with our IP Central is preferred as this role performs the IP Central approvals. 

Additional activities will include providing expertise during the Mergers and Acquisition process and helping to define functional requirements for third party software reuse. This position will also create opportunities for interaction with the open source communities external to our company. 

This role also participates on our Open Source Review Board, which provides governance concerning FOSS policy. Responsibilities will include researching requests for policy clarification, providing input on policy implications, and proposing responses to the Review Board. 

Skills Required: 

• Knowledge and understanding of common Open Source software licenses and software development practices, or an interest and ability to learn and apply on a daily basis. 
• Experience with LINUX operating systems (preferred).
• Knowledge and understanding of the following computer architecture concepts: User space, Kernel Loadable Modules (KLMs), static and dynamic linking (preferred). 
• Experience with C/C++ and Java programming languages, and a strong background in software design. 

The ideal candidate will possess excellent communication skills, have a firm knowledge of the principles for developing embedded and non-embedded systems and preferably possess a strong knowledge of open source licenses, or have experience developing with open source. This is an excellent opportunity for an employee to expand their knowledge of our products and engineering practices as well as non-engineering aspects of our business. 

Candidates must be able to interface cross-functionally at all levels with engineers, attorneys, commodity managers and business decision-makers and in some cases vendors and community representatives while exemplifying team interaction. 

Excellent communication skills as well as a confident demeanor, and focus on driving collaboration and problem resolution are vital to success in this role. Individual should be very organized and thorough and possess excellent decision-making skills with the ability to successfully parley those decisions to partners and our business unit clients. 

Additional credit for candidates with experience as open source contributor, maintainer a plus. 

Grade levels 8-11 will be considered for this position. 

Educational Background: 
Typically requires MSEE/CS combined with 3-4 years of related experience, or BSEE/CS combined with 4-7+ yrs related experience.