Rust Engineering Lead - Linux and Source

Rust Engineering Lead - Linux and Open Source

Join to apply for the Rust Engineering Lead - Linux and Open Source role at Canonical
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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 pioneers global distributed collaboration, with 1,200+ 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 Rust Engineering Leads of all levels of experience to drive the adoption of this exciting language across Canonical’s offerings, starting with Ubuntu and extending to our own projects and open source initiatives. We see Rust as an important new language for system‑level services and capabilities, and a natural evolution from C or C++. We believe there is an opportunity to rethink the foundations of future Linux systems with Rust at the core, spanning firmware, embedded software, bootloaders, kernel, input handling, and the desktop.

We also want to ensure that Ubuntu is the very best platform for Rust development, offering easy access to the widest range of tooling and capabilities that support cutting‑edge open‑source and enterprise development.

This posting serves as a general process for Rust engineers of all seniority levels across relevant Canonical teams. Apply if you are an exceptional software engineer who prefers to work in Rust. After the first round of interviews we’ll find the best product team match for you based on your interests.

Canonical has substantial projects in Python, Go, C, C++ and is investing in Rust. For front‑end development we prefer React and Flutter.

Join us in our mission to deliver innovative open‑source solutions worldwide. We expect the highest engineering standards and strong motivation to get things done well in a fully home‑based and distributed environment. These roles require extensive personal experience with Linux—the more versions you’ve worked with, the better!

Location
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We have open roles for Rust engineers in every time zone.

• Design and implement well‑tested and well‑documented software in Rust
• Advocate for Rust adoption in Canonical and upstream projects
• Identify projects and codebases that could be prioritised for Rust adoption
• Debug and fix issues encountered by your users
• Participate in our engineering process through code and architectural reviews
• Collaborate with community and colleagues on technical specifications
• Seek improvements to engineering and operations practices
• In some cases, deploy and operate services developed by the team
• Contribute to the success of your product through technical advocacy

• An exceptional academic track record from high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about an alternative path
• For more senior roles, experience building, deploying, and operating distributed systems and APIs
• Drive and a track record of going above‑and‑beyond expectations
• Well‑organised, self‑starting and able to deliver to schedule
• Appreciative of diversity, polite and effective in a multi‑cultural, multi‑national organisation
• Professional manner interacting with colleagues, partners, and community
• Experience designing and writing high‑quality Rust software on Linux
• Experience with and passion for Linux at the system level
• Professional written and spoken English
• The work ethic and confidence to shine alongside motivated colleagues
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Passion, thoughtfulness, and self‑motivation
• Result‑oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments
• Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each

• Experience…