Ubuntu Engineering Lead

Overview 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. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office‑based roles. The company is founder‑led, profitable and growing. Location: Remote roles open in every time zone. Key Teams Foundations: maintaining foundational software: architectures, package managers, compilers, toolchains, bootloaders, filesystems 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 Debcrafters: 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 Responsibilities Accountable for your technical roadmap and responsible for your team: help engineers grow, deliver important and satisfying work, and have a great time while doing it. Lead, challenge and develop strong engineers, positively influence culture, facilitate technical delivery, and work with your team on strategy and execution. Lead teams in elevating the Linux developer and user experience. Design, build and ship high‑quality, performant software in Rust, Go and Python. Demonstrate sound engineering principles through architecture, development and code reviews. Take responsibility for planning, estimation and execution. 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. Based on the first‑round interviews, identify specific teams where you might be an excellent fit and conduct second‑round interviews with those teams. Qualifications Exceptional academic track record from high school and university. Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about an alternative path. Ability to drive and deliver technical work streams above and beyond expectations. 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 a year, for company events up to two weeks each. Nice‑to‑have skills 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. What we offer you Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly team sprints in person. Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year. Annual compensation review and performance‑driven annual bonus. 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. About Canonical Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open‑source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world on a daily basis. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence—because to succeed we need to be the best at what we do. Canonical has been a remote‑first company since its inception in 2004. 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. #J-18808-Ljbffr