Engineering Manager

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very 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 is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ 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 an Engineering Manager to lead one of our teams that works closely with Amazon, Microsoft, Google and other world‑class cloud partners to optimize Ubuntu for their infrastructure. Our team builds, tests, and publishes the base Ubuntu images used by millions to ensure optimal performance and security in their cloud estate. We aim to deliver the very best public cloud VM experience, as well as specialized images for specific purposes on each cloud. Our goal is to celebrate and enable their particular points of differentiation on their clouds, while also ensuring a common operating experience for their users.
As an engineering manager you need to bring both technical and management skills to the leadership of your team. You will also need to represent the team in direct partner engagement. You'll be responsible for the stability and functionality that our cloud users have come to expect. You will strive to automate the delivery of existing and new Ubuntu image products applied to all modern workloads from web servers to GPU‑aided AI for servers, VMs and containers.
As an engineering manager at Canonical your primary responsibility is to the people you support: ensuring that they are growing as engineers, doing valuable work, and generally having a great time at Canonical. As a lead for strong engineers, technical leadership and a solid background in software development is a must, so that you're able to challenge and grow your team members. You will have the opportunity to influence the culture, facilitate technical delivery, and work with your team on strategy and execution.
We work in Python and Golang, and expect engineering managers to be fluent in the language, architecture and components that their team is building with. Code reviews and architectural leadership are part of the job. As manager, the commitment to healthy engineering practices, documentation, quality and performance optimisation are equally important technical responsibilities, as is the requirement for fair and clear management, and the obligation to ensure a high‑performing team.
The role entails

Build and lead a team of engineers in your and similar timezones
Develop talent through coaching, mentoring, feedback and hands‑on career development
Demonstrate sound engineering principles and directly contribute toward your team's goals
Set and manage expectations with other engineering teams, management, and external stakeholders
Lead modern, agile software development practices
Ensure a healthy, collaborative engineering culture in line with the company values
Be an active part of the leadership team and collaborate with other leaders in the organisation
Build automated, highly reliable image delivery, testing and publication pipelines
Engage with many other teams at Canonical, as well as the open source community and commercial partners
Work from home with global travel up to 15% for internal and external events

What we are looking for in you

You love to mentor, develop and grow people, and have a track record of doing it
You are knowledgeable and passionate about software development
You are focused on success and the delivery of timely, high quality software
You have experience and commitment to agile development methodologies
You have a Bachelor's or equivalent in Computer Science, STEM or similar degree
Software development experience in Python or Golang
Effective written and verbal communication skills
Practical experience with at least one of Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, or AWS

What we offer colleagues

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
Team Member Assistance Program & Wellness Platform
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 of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence; in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since our inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.
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.
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