Senior Software Engineer at Canonical - Open Source in Columbus

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 globally distributed collaboration, with 1100+ 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 a Senior Software Engineer on the Web Engineering team to drive best practices across the team, for all disciplines, bringing great ideas to the table to lead technical conversations. They identify risks and communicate them to relevant stakeholders, asking the right questions to move a project forward. Within the team there are fantastic opportunities to gain deep technical knowledge of complex products in innovative and fast-growing areas of the tech world with space and support to hone your craft. We value transparency, intellectual honesty and teamwork.

As a Senior Software Engineer at Canonical, you will own the development of large projects, encourage rigorous and efficient engineering processes, write specifications and understand risks, and work to reduce complexity. You will be capable of taking on technical lead responsibilities to drive initiatives to completion, follow industry trends and new technologies, and represent your team as a subject matter expert with cross-team credibility. You will mentor and develop those around you in a structured and systematic manner, sharing this responsibility for your immediate team with your manager.

Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.

The Role Entails

• Identifying what matters for the team and driving initiatives to improve them
• Designing and implementing well-tested and documented software
• Debugging and fixing issues encountered by your users
• Leading in our engineering process through code and architectural reviews
• Contributing to technical documentation to make it the best of its kind
• Seeking improvements to engineering and operations practices
• Deploying and operating services developed by the team
• Contributing to the success of your product through technical advocacy

What We Are Looking For

• Ability to curate technical quality standards by designing architectural approaches to support business objectives
• Strong soft skills — passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self-motivated
• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path
• Drive and a track record of going above and beyond expectations
• Well-organised, self-starting, and able to deliver to schedule
• Competency in researching new technology or approaches, and ability to tastefully and sustainably integrate changes into technical projects
• Provides comprehensive and insightful code reviews on items of any size within the project
• An eye for accessibility and performance
• Professional written and spoken English
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Result-oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments
• Ability to travel twice a year for company events, for up to two weeks each

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience with container technologies such as LXD, Docker, and Kubernetes
• Experience fostering and maintaining a talented team by defining excellence
• REST API design, development, and governance
• Drive to deliver performance engineering and security experience

What We Offer

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 recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus or commission. We provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

• 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

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 creates a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.