Remote opportunity at
CanonicalSenior/Staff/Principal Engineer
Canonical, the publisher of the Ubuntu operating system, seeks experienced engineers for Senior, Staff, and Principal levels across its global teams. The company provides open-source software…
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About This Role
Canonical, the publisher of the Ubuntu operating system, seeks experienced engineers for Senior, Staff, and Principal levels across its global teams. The company provides open-source software utilized in artificial intelligence, public cloud environments, the internet of things, and enterprise technology. Operating as a globally distributed organization since its founding in 2004, the firm employs over twelve hundred people across more than seventy-five countries. In this role, professionals guide the architecture…
Job Description
Canonical, the publisher of the Ubuntu operating system, seeks experienced engineers for Senior, Staff, and Principal levels across its global teams. The company provides open-source software utilized in artificial intelligence, public cloud environments, the internet of things, and enterprise technology. Operating as a globally distributed organization since its founding in 2004, the firm employs over twelve hundred people across more than seventy-five countries.
In this role, professionals guide the architecture and design of impactful open-source projects while writing clean code and producing documentation. Engineers collaborate with leadership to take joint responsibility for team outcomes and mentor colleagues to support their career progression. Following an initial interview round, candidates are matched with specific teams that fit their background.
The position is open in any time zone and involves working from home with required global travel twice per year for company events. Successful applicants combine deep technical expertise with strong communication and interpersonal skills, a drive for excellence, and a passion for open-source software.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design and architecture of open-source projects
- Write code in Golang, Rust, Python, C, C++, TypeScript, or React
- Collaborate proactively with a globally distributed team
- Mentor, advise, and develop colleagues in their career progression
- Display technical leadership within the company and open-source communities
- Debug issues and produce high-quality code fixes
- Contribute to technical documentation
- Travel globally twice annually for company events
Requirements
- Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or a STEM field, or a compelling alternative path
- Track record of going above and beyond expectations
- Demonstrated technical leadership, team motivation, and direction
- Deep experience with at least one programming language among Go, Rust, Python, or C
- High attention to detail with a focus on performance
- Professional written and spoken English communication skills
- Flexibility, curiosity, accountability, and strong interpersonal skills
- Ability to travel twice a year for up to two weeks per event
Qualifications
- Experience with container technologies such as LXD, Docker, and Kubernetes
- Background in highly concurrent, distributed systems
- Performance engineering and optimization experience ranging from the kernel to web
- Software security experience including fuzzing, threat models, analysis, and audits
- Familiarity with build systems, toolchains, and cross-compilation
- Experience with public clouds or OpenStack
- Knowledge of Debian or Ubuntu packaging
- Systems programming or scalable web services background
- Quality and test engineering experience
- Web or Flutter front-end experience
- REST and gRPC API expertise
- SQL and NoSQL data store expertise
Core Skills
Benefits
- Distributed work environment featuring twice-yearly in-person team sprints
- Personal annual learning and development budget of 2,000 USD
- Annual compensation reviews
- Recognition rewards
- Annual holiday leave
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Team Member Assistance Program and wellness platform
- Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long-haul company events
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
Is this role remote?
Yes, Canonical is a remote-first company with opportunities for engineers in every time zone.
What travel is required for this position?
The role requires global travel twice a year for company events, with each event lasting up to two weeks.
What is the salary for this position?
The posting does not specify a salary range, noting only that compensation is shaped by geographical location, experience, and performance.
How are teams assigned for applicants?
After the first round of interviews, Canonical establishes which specific teams are an excellent fit and progresses your application with them.
Sample Interview Questions
AI-generated questions tailored to this specific role — a preview of the full practice set.