Ubuntu Engineering Lead

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very 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.

We are hiring engineering leaders to work across the breadth of our Ubuntu Engineering organisation – leaders who care deeply for quality, performance and resilience in software, and have a proven track record for building, nurturing and developing high performing engineering teams. Managers are expected to stay technical and close to the code, and our senior+ engineers lead and develop software projects, as well as the processes and people around them.

Our teams integrate the freshest open source software, provide robust upgrade paths and engineer the future of Ubuntu. The four key teams that ship Ubuntu are the

• Foundations
  : maintaining foundational software: architectures, package managers, compilers, tool chains, bootloaders, file systems and core utilities
• Server
  : leading the design, evolution and future of our Ubuntu Server distribution
• Desktop
  : driving Ubuntu Desktop, our future immutable desktop:
  Ubuntu Core Desktop, WSL, gaming technology, and a suite of modern applications for the desktop crafted with Flutter
• Debian developers
  : a new team responsible for the forward movement, maintenance and overall health of the Ubuntu archive: one of the most abundant repositories of open source software available today

Location
:
We have remote roles open in every time zone.

• Leading their teams in elevating the Linux developer and user experience
• Designing, building and shipping high quality, performant software in Rust, Go and Python
• Demonstrating sound engineering principles through architecture, development and code reviews
• Taking responsibility for planning, estimation and execution
• Working with product management to define the vision and strategy for Ubuntu
• Setting expectations with other engineering teams, senior management, and external stakeholders
• Offering coaching, mentoring, technical feedback and hands‑on career development
• Contributing to upstream and neighboring open source projects
• Optimizing the distribution for performance, reliability, and security
• Debugging complex system-level issues and delivering robust solutions
• Authoring and improving technical and community documentation

• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path
• Ability to drive and deliver technical work streams going above and beyond expectations
• Lead and coach others to deliver exceptional engineering work
• A demonstrated passion for open source software
• Significant experience with Rust, Go, Python, Flutter or C/C++
• Professional written and spoken English
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Result-oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments
• Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each

• Experience contributing to or leading open source projects
• Experience with Linux distributions/distribution engineering
• Experience with software packaging and distribution mechanisms
• Performance or Security Engineering experience

• 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
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long-haul company events

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of…