Senior Staff Principal Engineer

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.

This is a general track for Senior+ (Senior/Staff/Principal) Engineers in any team at Canonical. After the first round of interviews we will establish which teams might be an excellent fit, and progress your application with them.

At Canonical a Senior+ Engineer is not only an outstanding software architect and coder, they also demonstrate the leadership qualities needed to rally a team or department to ship outstanding products. A Senior+ Engineer partners with other Engineering leaders (Managers, Directors, VPs) to take joint responsibility for outcomes at team, department and company level. We hire based on academic results and proven execution, and we select those with a passion for open-source software, innovation, and cutting-edge technology. In this role, you will make a significant contribution in Canonical's portfolio through high-quality code, technical leadership, team motivation and direction, exceptional design, and crisp documentation.

As a Senior+ Engineer you'll drive the architecture, design and evolution of high-impact open source software. Our teams work at every level of the stack. From the kernel and system software at the core of Ubuntu through to major language runtimes and the bleeding-edge of cloud automation and distributed systems, you'll have the opportunity to work on complex but highly rewarding projects. Our teams also build the services which deliver Ubuntu to the world, on cloud, devices, servers and PCs.

Additionally, this role will give you the opportunity to engage with the broader open-source community. We're looking for individuals who can help build a thriving community, contribute to a broad range of technologies, and ensure seamless software operations at scale.

Location: we have remote opportunities for Senior Engineers in every time zone.

The role entails

• Leading design and architecture of an impactful open source project
• Coding in Golang, Rust, Python, C/C++ or Typescript / React
• Collaborating proactively with a globally distributed team
• Mentoring, developing and advising colleagues in their career progression
• Displaying technical leadership in Canonical and our communities
• Debugging issues and producing high-quality code to fix them
• Contributing to technical documentation with the aim to make it the best of its kind
• Working from home with global travel twice annually for company events
  
  

What we are looking for in you

• 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
• Technical leadership as well as team motivation, direction and pace
• Deep experience with at least one of Go, Rust, Python or C
• Conscientiousness and detail orientation, with a focus on performance
• Excellent communication skills including professional written and spoken English
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each
  
  

Nice-to-have skills

Depending on your eventual team, you might also bring experience with

• Container technologies such as LXD, Docker and Kubernetes
• Highly concurrent, distributed systems
• Performance engineering – from kernel to web – benchmarks, optimization
• Software security – fuzzing, tabletop threat models, analysis, audit
• Build systems and toolchains, including for cross-compilation
• Public clouds or OpenStack
• Debian/Ubuntu packaging
• Systems programming or scalable web services
• Deep quality and test engineering
• Web or Flutter front-end experience
• REST and gRPC API experience
• SQL and NoSQL data store expertise
  
  

What we offer you

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 on a daily basis. We recruit globally 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. Canonical has been a remote-first company 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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