Ubuntu Engineering Lead

Ubuntu Engineering Lead

Join to apply for the Ubuntu Engineering Lead role at 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 breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and Io
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We are hiring engineering leaders to work across the breadth of our Ubuntu Engineering organisation — leaders who care deeply for quality, performance and resilience in software, and have a proven track record for building, nurturing and developing high performing engineering teams. At Canonical, managers stay technical and close to the code, and Senior+ engineers lead and develop software projects and the processes and people around them.

Our four key teams that ship Ubuntu are Foundations, Server, Desktop and Debcafters.

Responsibilities

• Lead your team 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.

Qualifications

• Exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling alternative path.
• Ability to drive and deliver technical work streams 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++.
• 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.

Benefits and Compensation

• 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 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.