Rama Kandhala

Director of Engineering

Hyderabad, Telangana, India28 yrs 10 mos experience

AI EnabledHighly Stable

Key Highlights

Nearly 30 years of global engineering leadership.
Trained over 1,000 employees on internal processes and ethics.
Proven expertise in delivering complex embedded software solutions.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Semiconductor and Embedded Systems expert with extensive leadership experience.

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Skills

Core Skills

Embedded SystemsSoftware Development

Other Skills

Python (Programming Language)Agile MethodologiesC (Programming Language)Emotional IntelligenceJama ConnectLinux KernelJiraLeadershipLinuxProject ManagementDevice DriversRTOSEmbedded LinuxARMAndroid

About

🔹 Nearly 30 years of global engineering leadership across startups and established semiconductor companies. 🔹 Proven expertise in embedded and system software with a track record of delivering complex solutions. 🔹 Skilled in building and leading diverse, international teams to solve high-impact technical challenges. 🔹 Versatile across the entire software lifecycle—from architecture and development to deployment. 🔹 Adaptable, visionary, and ethical leader committed to innovation, collaboration, and continuous growth. 🔹 Passionate about creating meaningful business impact through technology and people-first leadership. 🔹 Trained 1,000+ employees on internal processes, standards, ethics, and core values; organized department-specific sessions for hardware and software teams.

Experience

28 yrs 10 mos

Total Experience

4 yrs 9 mos

Average Tenure

Current Experience

Nvidia

2 roles

Director - System Software

Promoted

Oct 2014 – Mar 2025 · 10 yrs 5 mos

Define roadmap and strategy for Tegra Kernel and IO system software for Android and Linux environments. Driving 3-party Kernels to production.
Motivating and Driving Innovation across employees at the Hyderabad site as the PIC
Deliver Kernel IO Software for next-generation Tegra SoCs used in AI, telepresence, drones, gaming consoles, and automotive applications.
Develop Bootloader and Kernel device driver software for various IOs & peripherals by collaborating with hardware, software, and system engineering teams.
Manage software migration across various Linux kernels and Android OS versions, ensuring team alignment and contributing to upstreaming/downstreaming efforts.
Lead pre-silicon and production software development for Tegra SOCs, supporting the Linux/Embedded Community for the Jetson product line.
Provide technical direction and manage software engineering teams.
Offer software support for automotive customers (Tesla, Daimler, Toyota, Audi, Volkswagen, Bosch, Harman), embedded systems (Jetson TK1/TX1/TX2), telepresence (Cisco), and gaming systems (Nintendo Switch).
Identify training needs and coordinate technical sessions for employees at Nvidia’s Hyderabad site. Trained 1,000+ employees on internal processes, standards, ethics, and core values; organized department-specific sessions for hardware and software teams.
Ensure seamless integration of software with hardware and system engineering teams for optimal performance.
Drive software development for diverse platforms including AI, telepresence, drones, gaming consoles, and automotive.

Python (Programming Language)Agile MethodologiesC (Programming Language)Emotional IntelligenceJama ConnectLinux Kernel+6

Senior Engineering Manager-Mobile Software

Jan 2007 – Sep 2014 · 7 yrs 8 mos

Driving DDK driver model to support multiple OSes including WinCE/WinMobile for IOs NAND,
NAND FTL, NOR, USB, UART, I2C, SPI, I2S, GPIO, and Pinmux.
Transition from WinMobile to Linux for IO and peripheral drivers.
Delivering production software for Tablet/Phone reference platforms and customers (Motorola,
HTC, Asus, Acer, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Samsung, LG, Sony, Toshiba, Nexus7/9, ZTE, and NVIDIA Shield).
Hands on experience in BootROM, Bootloader and Kernel drivers.

C (Programming Language)Jama ConnectLinux KernelJiraLeadershipLinux+3

Portalplayer

Engineering Manager

Jun 2002 – Jan 2007 · 4 yrs 7 mos · Hyderabad Area, India

Building Platform team for Silicon Validation, bringup, and productization of PortalPlayer SOCs
Core software development and customer support for Nand, USB, HSMMC, I2C, SPI, UART, VFIR,
SIR, FIR, I2S, Hardware Codec, RTC, DMA interfaces.
Design and development of USB device/Host & Ethernet drivers. Develop USB2.0 Compliance
software.

C (Programming Language)LeadershipProject ManagementEmbedded SystemsSoftware Development

Cmc americas

Software Consultant

Dec 2000 – May 2002 · 1 yr 5 mos · United States

Development and testing of device library for UART and Timer under pSOS and VxWorks
Development of BSP for Motorola 68K board
Development of Layer2/Layer3 microcode for Network processor and DHCP/BGP protocol on
PowerPC architecture

C (Programming Language)

Wipro technologies

Senior Software Engineer

Jul 2000 – Dec 2000 · 5 mos · Hyderabad Area, India

Leading and development of SNMP agent software using OOAD and C++
Development of Quality documentation and review

C (Programming Language)

Cmc limited

Senior Engineer

Oct 1998 – Jul 2000 · 1 yr 9 mos · Hyderabad Area, India

Development of Board Support package and device drivers for RTUs under VxWorks
Development of pHILE system driver under pSOS
Development of BSP and Uart driver under Virtuoso for EZ-LAB
Be an internal Quality representative to make sure the software development is followed Quality
guidelines.

C (Programming Language)