We believe engineering managers should be outstanding engineers themselves. You should be comfortable reviewing patches, evaluating software design, debugging a distributed system, or discussing test architecture. You will contribute technically where appropriate to set a high standard, while recognizing that your greatest impact comes from shaping the direction, focus, effectiveness, and growth of the whole team.
You will work closely with senior engineers and engineering leaders across Canonical to define priorities, improve testing capabilities, and advance how we validate increasingly complex cloud-native and distributed systems.
Location: This is a globally remote role, typically leading a team concentrated within a major time zone such as EMEA or the Americas.
What you’ll do
Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of software and quality engineers, ranging from graduate to senior level
Set clear expectations, strengthen engineering practices, and ensure timely delivery against agreed goals
Partner with senior engineers to shape technical strategy, architecture, roadmap, and engineering standards
Guide the development of automated testing infrastructure for the reliability, interoperability, and resilience of distributed systems
Improve CI pipelines, testing tools, and reporting used to validate Canonical’s products and solutions across bare-metal, private and public cloud environments
Enable engineering teams across Canonical to adopt effective distributed-systems testing practices and tooling
Contribute technical leadership through design and code reviews, debugging, and hands-on engineering where appropriate
Represent the team with stakeholders and collaborate across Canonical on quality engineering, infrastructure, and developer experience
What we’re looking for in you
An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
Experience in leading, coaching, and mentoring software engineers
Professional software engineering experience with Python or Go
Expertise in distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, quality engineering, or a closely related domain
Strong knowledge of modern software testing processes, strategies, and automation
Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
Strong technical judgement and the ability to engage meaningfully in code reviews, architecture discussions, and software design
Experience working in an agile development environment with the ability to organize a team to deliver high-quality results
Professional written and spoken English with excellent communication and presentation skills
Great interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability, demonstrating passion, thoughtfulness, and self-motivation
Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each
Additional skills we value
Experience with any of the following
Cloud technologies such as Kubernetes, OpenStack, Juju, Terraform, AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure
Designing testing strategies for distributed or cloud-native systems
Building or operating large-scale CI/CD and test infrastructure
Applying AI or machine learning to test analysis, failure classification, or engineering workflows
Deploying, operating, or debugging distributed systems
Leading globally distributed teams
What we offer colleagues
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.
We provide all team members with additional benefits that reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programmes 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 and wellness support
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 a leading platform for AI, IoT, and the cloud, we are changing the world of software.
We recruit globally and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence; 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.
Requisition ID: 1361
