System Software Engineer

About HeadSpin

HeadSpin provides a global device infrastructure and performance intelligence platform used by engineering and QA teams to test, monitor, and optimize mobile and web applications at scale. Our platform gives teams real-device access and deep network and performance telemetry — and the engineers who build it work at the intersection of systems programming, mobile internals, and distributed infrastructure.

Role Overview

We're looking for a System Software Engineer with deep systems and networking expertise to work on the core infrastructure that connects HeadSpin's platform to physical iOS and Android devices. You'll own the protocols, daemons, and communication layers that make real-device automation, remote debugging, and telemetry collection possible at scale.

What You'll Do

• Design and maintain the device connectivity stack — including USB and network-based device sessions using usbmuxd, remoted, and Apple's CoreDevice/RemoteXPC framework
• Build and extend low-level communication layers that interface with iOS internals (lockdownd, DTServiceHub, XPC services)
• Develop system-level daemons and services on Linux and macOS that handle device multiplexing, session management, and protocol translation
• Work with transport protocols (TCP, QUIC, HTTP/2, WebSocket, RPC) and apply them in the context of high-reliability device tunneling
• Collaborate with platform and product teams to expose device capabilities — screenshots, logs, crash reports, network HAR capture — reliably and at low latency
• Keep pace with Apple's evolving device communication model (e.g., the iOS 17+ shift from usbmuxd/lockdownd to remoted/RemoteXPC) and adapt the platform accordingly

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of systems-level software engineering experience
• Deep knowledge of network protocols: TCP/UDP, QUIC, TLS 1.3, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, WebSocket
• Proficiency in Python and Go
• Experience with POSIX systems programming: sockets, process management, multithreading
• Experience debugging with lldb, dtrace, Wireshark, or similar low-level tools
• Understanding of network stack/OSI model and devices/protocols falling under each layer - MAC/ARP, IP, ssh/scp, DNS, SSL/TLS
• Experienced in developing REST API, websockets, RPC/gRPC protocols and WebRTC
• Solid understanding of Unix system, OS internals and networking

Nice to Have

• Experience with libimobiledevice or similar open-source device tooling
• Knowledge of Android's adb protocol and USB debugging stack
• Background in VPN/tunneling (WireGuard, IPSec)
• Prior work on test automation infrastructure or mobile DevOps platforms
• Hands-on experience with iOS device communication protocols: usbmuxd, lockdownd, RemoteXPC, CoreDevice