R&D Engineer - AI Patch Backporting (worldwide remote, work anywhere)

CloudLinux is a global remote-first company. We are driven by our principles: do the right thing, employees first, we are remote first, and we deliver high volume, low-cost Linux infrastructure and security products that help companies to increase the efficiency of their operations. Every person on our team supports each other and does what we can to ensure we all are successful.

Check out our website for more information https://cloudlinux.com/

We're looking for a versatile R&D Engineer to join our Backporting Research Team in Endless Lifecycle Support, tackling the challenge of AI-powered patch backporting.

Endless Lifecycle Support (ELS) enables organizations to continue securely using Linux distributions and software languages that have reached the end of life or no longer receive standard security support – delivering vulnerability patches for unsupported versions of CentOS, CentOS Stream, Ubuntu, Debian, Oracle Linux, PHP, Python, and Spring software development framework.

For more information, visit our website: https://tuxcare.com/endless-lifecycle-support/

About the Role

This is a hybrid role combining creative problem-solving with strong software engineering skills. You'll explore uncharted territory, rapidly prototype ideas, and bring successful concepts into production-ready systems. Your work will directly influence the way we automate patch management and vulnerability mitigation across large-scale systems.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys experimenting, building, refining, and integrating research findings into real-world solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Research & Innovation
• Ideate and validate improvements to our AI-powered patch backporter.
• Propose and test enhancements to boost backporting success on existing benchmarks.
• Run lightweight experiments to assess feasibility and value of new approaches.
• Engineering & Integration
• Implement research findings and integrate them into the production system.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure smooth handover of solutions.
• Maintain and enhance existing codebases, tooling, and workflows.
• Enablement & Acceleration
• Improve research velocity through automation, tool development, and process optimization.
• Develop internal guidelines or best practices to streamline iteration.
• Collaboration & Communication
• Share research results and technical insights with internal stakeholders.
• Work cross-functionally with engineers, researchers, and DevOps.
• Document your work for future adoption and reuse.

You’ll be working at the intersection of cutting-edge AI and critical software infrastructure. We offer a highly collaborative environment where engineers are empowered to innovate, own their work, and make a tangible impact.

Must have:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

• 3+ years of experience as a developer or engineering lead.
• Strong proficiency in Python.
• Hands-on experience integrating LLMs (via APIs like OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.).
• Familiarity with RAG, CAG, and agent-based approaches.
• Basic infrastructure skills: CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker), testing automation.
• Proven ability to start projects from scratch (DevOps, setup, architecture).
• Experience collaborating across teams.

Nice to have:

• PhD in AI/ML or related discipline.
• Published research or experimentation experience.
• Data analysis skills and experience building metrics for evaluation.
• Basic knowledge of C language.
• Familiarity with AI engineering tools (e.g., Cursor, WindSurf, aider).

What's in it for you?

• A focus on professional development.
• Interesting and challenging projects.
• Fully remote work with flexible working hours, that allows you to schedule your day and work from any location worldwide.
• Paid 24 days of vacation per year, 10 days of national holidays, and unlimited sick leaves.
• Compensation for private medical insurance.
• Co-working and gym/sports reimbursement.
• Budget for education.
• The opportunity to receive a reward for the most innovative idea that the company can patent.

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