Software Engineer, Cloud - Sustaining Engineering

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems. 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.

We are hiring a Software Engineer, Sustaining Engineering for a fast‑paced engineering role in Linux‑based software‑defined infrastructure and applications, covering all layers of the stack, including bare metal, virtualization (KVM), containerization (Docker, LXC/LXD), storage (Ceph and Linux file systems), networking (OVS, OVN and Core networking), up to OpenStack and Kubernetes, and the open‑source applications running on top of them.

Location

This is a globally remote role.

Responsibilities

• Resolving complex customer problems related to Ubuntu, OpenStack, or Kubernetes and other open‑source software
• Maintaining a close working relationship with Canonical’s field, support and product engineering teams
• Participating in upstream communities
• Developing fixes, backporting patches, and working with upstream for inclusion
• Reviewing code produced by other engineers
• Demonstrating good judgment in technical methods and techniques
• Prioritizing work and managing your time effectively against those priorities
• Participating in team discussions to improve processes, tools, and documentation
• Maintaining clear, technical and concise communications
• Working from home and traveling internationally up to 10% of work time for team meetings, events and conferences

Qualifications

• Professional experience as a software engineer
• Background in Computer Science, STEM or similar
• Strong experience with Linux, OpenStack, Kubernetes or other cloud technologies
• Strong development‑level experience with Python, Go, C, C++ on Linux
• Ability to troubleshoot with gdb and other tools
• Familiarity with git source code repositories and branches
• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and preferably university
• Willingness to travel up to four times a year for internal events

Nice‑to‑have skills

• You love technology and working with brilliant people
• You are curious, flexible, articulate, and accountable
• You value soft skills and are passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self‑motivated
• You have interest in, and experience with most of the following: Ubuntu Linux – kernel or userspace, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Ceph, QEMU/KVM, LXC/LXD, Python, Go, C, Postgresql, Mongo, Debian packaging, distributed systems

Benefits

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognize outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance‑driven annual bonus.

• Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly team sprints in person – we have been working remotely since 2004!
• 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 from your team and others
• Priority Pass for travel 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 of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since our inception in 2004.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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.