Ubuntu Engineering Lead

Overview

Join the Canonical team as the Ubuntu Engineering Lead. Canonical is a leading open‑source technology company that publishes Ubuntu, the world’s most widely used open‑source operating system.

As an Ubuntu Engineering Lead you will own a technical roadmap, grow high‑performing engineering teams, and drive innovation across the four key Ubuntu teams:
Foundations, Server, Desktop, and Debcrafters.

Remote – Canonical offers fully remote roles and is open to candidates in every time zone.

• Lead and mentor engineering teams, driving a culture of quality, performance, and resilience.
• 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 technical work streams and deliver robust solutions.
• Collaborate with product management to define the vision and strategy for Ubuntu.
• Set expectations with other engineering teams, senior management, and external stakeholders.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, technical feedback, and hands‑on career development.
• Contribute to upstream and neighboring open source projects.
• Optimize the Ubuntu distribution for performance, reliability, and security.
• Debug complex system‑level issues and author technical and community documentation.

• Exceptional academic track record from high school through university.
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling alternative path.
• Proven technical leadership experience and a background in software engineering.
• Lead and coach others to deliver exceptional engineering work.
• 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 year for company events up to two weeks.

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

• Fully remote work environment with optional in‑person gatherings.
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year.
• Annual compensation review and performance‑driven annual bonus.
• Recognition rewards and annual holiday leave.
• Maternity and paternity leave and Employee Assistance Programme.
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues and attend long‑haul company events.

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open‑source projects and the platform for AI, IoT, and the cloud. Canonical has been a remote‑first company since 2004 and recruits on a global basis.

Canonical is an equal‑opportunity employer. We are proud to 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.