Ubuntu Engineering Lead

Ubuntu Engineering Lead - Canonical

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 public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. With 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office‑based roles, teams meet two to four times yearly in person worldwide to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder‑led, profitable and growing. We are hiring engineering leaders across the Ubuntu Engineering organisation.

• Accountable for the technical roadmap and responsible for your team.
• Lead, challenge, and develop strong engineers, positively influence culture, facilitate technical delivery, and work with your team on strategy and execution.
• Design, build and ship high‑quality, performant software in Rust, Go and Python.
• Demonstrate sound engineering principles through architecture, development and code reviews.
• Plan, estimate and execute delivery.
• Work with product management to define the vision and strategy for Ubuntu.
• Set expectations with other engineering teams, senior management, and external stakeholders.
• Offer coaching, mentoring, technical feedback and hands‑on career development.
• Contribute to upstream and neighboring open source projects.
• Optimize the distribution for performance, reliability and security.
• Debug complex system‑level issues and deliver robust solutions.
• Author and improve technical and community documentation.

• Exceptional academic track record from high school and university, or an alternative path with a compelling narrative.
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or equivalent experience.
• Ability to drive and deliver technical work streams above expectations.
• Lead and coach others to deliver exceptional engineering work.
• 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 the global move to open source. We publish Ubuntu, one of the most important open‑source projects and a platform for AI, IoT and the cloud. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence to succeed and are a remote‑first company since 2004.

Working here will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills and raise your game.

Canonical is an equal‑opportunity employer. We foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.

Seniority level: Mid‑Senior level

Employment type: Full‑time

Job function: Engineering and Information Technology

Industries: Software Development