Linux Embedded Engineer Role at Canonical | IoT Career in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
This is a rare opportunity to work on foundational open-source infrastructure used by millions of devices globally. Ubuntu Core and the snap ecosystem are strategically critical in the growing IoT, automotive, and embedded Linux markets — skills developed here are genuinely scarce and in high demand.
Skills you'll build:
- Low-level embedded Linux: bootloaders (U-Boot, GRUB-UEFI), device trees, initrd, systemd
- Hardware security: TPM, FDE, LUKS, HSM — increasingly required in regulated industries
- Multi-architecture development: ARM, RISC-V, X86 — future-proofing your expertise
- Golang and C in a production open-source codebase reviewed by top engineers globally
Compensation context: No salary range is published, which is a mild red flag for transparency. Canonical is known to offer competitive but not top-quartile compensation, adjusted geographically. The annual review cycle and performance bonus partially offset this. The $2,000 L&D budget is standard but not exceptional.
Culture signals — green flags: Founder-led, profitable (not VC-pressured), remote-first since 2004, strong async culture, and a genuine commitment to open source. These indicators suggest long-term stability and mission-driven work rather than growth-at-all-costs churn.
Watch for: Canonical's hiring process is known to be rigorous and lengthy. Career progression paths are less publicly defined than at larger tech firms. This role suits a self-directed engineer who thrives without heavy management structure.
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 Ubuntu Core Software Engineer to redefine the Linux experience in embedded environments with the smallest, most secure, and updatable operating system in the IoT market. This is an opportunity for a software engineer passionate about open source software, Linux, security, and the developer experience. This challenging role demands a high degree of technical skill with low-level operating systems, kernel, and device firmware.
Our mission is to allow everyone to build robust solutions in various fields including but not limited to IoT, automotive, and aviation using the next generation secure embedded Linux operating system. We define a reliable and secure set of device recovery mechanisms that enable device manufacturers to simplify and standardise field operations for fleets of heterogeneous appliances.
As an Ubuntu Core team member, you'll be designing and implementing software that runs on various CPU architectures, such as ARM, RISC-V, and X86. You will work on boot mechanisms, bootloaders, storage partition layout, device trees, kernel, and services.
Location: This role is based remotely in the EMEA region.
The Role Entails
- Write high quality code with unit tests to create new features
- Debug Linux system level issues and produce high quality code to fix them
- Collaborate proactively with a distributed team
- Review code produced by other engineers
- Discuss ideas and collaborate on finding good solutions
- Integrate diverse bootloaders and maintain gadget snaps
- Work from home with global travel 2 to 4 times a year for internal and external events
What We Are Looking For
- 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 a Bachelor's or equivalent in Computer Science, STEM, or a similar degree
- You have experience with C or Golang, and Shell
- You have a solid understanding of Linux and a modern GNU/Linux distribution (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
- You have personal or professional experience with Linux-capable devices such as Raspberry Pi
- You have interest in learning or experience in one or more low-level systems and security facilities such as:
- Bootloaders in ARM and X86, such as piboot, uboot, grub-uefi
- Systemd and units, udev, initrd, graphics
- OS level firmware daemons and CLI applications
- Linux security implementations — TPM, FDE, LUKS, HSM, etc.
- You may have experience or knowledge of Yocto
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 recognize 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
- 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.