Software Maintenance Engineer

Software Maintenance Engineer
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Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include the world’s leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office‑based roles.

Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder‑led, profitable, and growing.

We are hiring a  Software Maintenance Engineer  to work in a dynamic engineering role in Linux‑based infrastructure and applications, covering all layers of the stack, including bare metal, virtualization (KVM), containerization (Docker/LXC/LXD), storage (Ceph and Linux file systems), networking (OVS, OVN and Core networking), Open Stack, Kubernetes and the open source applications running on top.

This role is an opportunity for a technologist with a passion for Linux and open source to build a career with Canonical and drive success for our customers, community and the company. If you have an affinity for open source software, great communication skills, and a passion for troubleshooting and fixing issues in technology used by millions across the world, you will enjoy working with some of the best people in the industry at Canonical.

This role deals with critical issues in the open source stack that require upstream bug fixes. Our engineers can work productively at any level of the stack, including the kernel and in a wide range of languages, to understand and address the software issues  group is critical to the success of our customers, partners and Ubuntu itself.

You will help with troubleshooting and driving issues to resolution with workarounds, guidance, and bug fixes to be released upstream and in Ubuntu.

Location:

This is a remote role. We have teams in all time zones.

Responsibilities

Resolve complex customer problems related to Ubuntu, Kernel, Ceph, Open Stack, or Kubernetes and other open source software

Maintain a close working relationship with Canonical's Field, Support and product engineering teams

Participate in upstream communities

Develop bug fixes, backport patches, and work with upstream for inclusion

Review code produced by other engineers

Demonstrate good judgment in technical methods and techniques

Prioritize work and manage your time effectively against those priorities

Participate in team discussions to improve processes, tools, and documentation

Maintain clear, technical and concise communications

Work from home and travel internationally up to 10% of work time for team meetings, events and conferences

Qualifications

An exceptional academic track record

Background in Computer Science, STEM or similar

Experience with Linux and open source software

Experience with at least one of Python, Go, C or C++ on Linux

A drive to learn unfamiliar technology and deep‑dive difficult issues

Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events

Nice‑to‑have skills

You love technology and working with brilliant people

You are curious, flexible, articulate, and accountable

You value soft skills and are passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self‑motivated

You have interest in, or willingness to learn about any of the following:
Ubuntu Linux – kernel or userspace, Kubernetes, Open Stack, Ceph, QEMU/KVM, LXC/LXD, Postgresql, Mongo, Debian packaging, distributed systems

Benefits

Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly team sprints in person

Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year

Annual compensation review

Recognition rewards

Annual holiday leave

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme & Wellness Platform

Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues

Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long‑haul company events

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech…