Engineering Manager, MAAS

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 more than 80 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 as we expand the MAAS team. Our mission with MAAS (“Metal as a Service”) is to provide the best solution for building and running private bare‑metal infrastructure, putting a cloud‑style on‑demand API in front of physical server provisioning, network configuration, and storage. We’re hiring engineering managers with experience in high-quality software development and high‑performance team leadership who also have deep familiarity with Linux on physical servers, Linux storage and data center networking capabilities.
The Canonical MAAS team is responsible for delivering our Metal As A Service (MAAS) hyperscale provisioning technology. Ubuntu strives to be the most scalable, cloud‑ready server distribution and MAAS is our platform to get Ubuntu on bare metal servers. MAAS is a rapidly evolving software stack written in Python and Go. Its components span the entire software stack: from low‑level hardware detection and provisioning, to the upper level management web interface, API, and CLI. Our most effective engineers are fluent in all these layers, and able to anticipate the consequences of design and engineering choices elsewhere in a complex distributed system.
Canonical is seeking passionate technical leaders who are eager to drive innovation in one of Canonical’s flagship data center products. You will play a key role in reshaping the future of data center technology through open source management platforms. MAAS aims to revolutionize data center management at scale starting from day zero deployment to long term data center expansion and maintenance.
Technical leadership experience and a background in software engineering are necessary prerequisites for this role. You will be expected to lead, challenge, and develop engineers, positively influence team and company culture, facilitate technical delivery, and guide strategy and execution. In addition to these responsibilities, you will be expected to collaborate across engineering. The MAAS team regularly interfaces with teams responsible for cloud‑init, LXD, and our public cloud offerings.
The successful candidate will have technical leadership attributes and can demonstrate the ability to solve challenging distributed systems problems.
Location
This is a work‑from‑anywhere position available in EMEA or the Americas.
The role entails

Leading a distributed team of engineers in your time zone (we organise engineering teams by Americas, EMEA etc)
Talent development through coaching, mentoring, feedback and career planning
Setting and managing expectations with other engineering teams, senior management, and external stakeholders
Being an advocate of, and advancing, modern software development practices
Participating in the engineering process through code and architectural review
Engaging with broader teams at Canonical, the open source community and partners
Travelling to internal and external global events for 4 to 6 weeks per year

What we are looking for in you

Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) and a background in Computer Science
Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
Proven experience delivering software using Python, Golang, or similar languages
Experience with Linux system administration (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
Familiarity with modern Linux cloud computing technologies, including networking, storage, containers and K8S
Technical aptitude for understanding complex distributed systems
Professional written and spoken English with excellent presentation skills
Experience with agile software development methodologies
Ability to mentor, develop, and support team members
Result‑oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments
Ability to travel internationally twice a year for company events up to two weeks long

Nice‑to‑have skills

Typescript using modern web frameworks such as React, Angular, Svelte or Vue
Data Centre infrastructure management and design

What we offer colleagues

Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly team sprints in person - we've 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
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 its 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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