Graduate Software Engineer, Open Source and Linux, Canonical Ubuntu
Home based – Worldwide
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 more than 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.
If you are excited about the potential that open source has for humanity and the enterprise, have outstanding results in your academic career, and are eager to contribute to the open source stack, this is an excellent way to apply to Canonical. We will work with you to identify teams and projects that fit your skills and motivations. The process is highly competitive and will require effort and excellence to succeed.
Most of our engineering teams work from home. We try to align a single team in a single time zone – EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean), and AMER (North, South and Central Americas). Even though you work from home, we ensure you have colleagues to coach, mentor, and collaborate with. Larger projects span multiple teams and may involve global coordination. The role is full‑time, five days a week, with a focus on hard problems, significant responsibility, and a balanced work‑life approach.
We bring all our engineering teams together in person twice a year for a deep sprint with other teams to stimulate discussion and enable a wide range of career development paths. This provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate and develop your skills, learn about new technologies, and experience diverse cities.
Location: This is a Globally remote role.
The role entails
- Shaping the roadmap for your product at global sprints every six months
- Focusing on design and user experience, even for developer tooling and command line apps
- Writing high‑quality, resilient and performant code, potentially serving millions of demanding daily users
- Working towards mastery of key programming languages and Linux system knowledge
- Engaging with users and the open source community through code reviews and issue trackers
- Responding to customer issues as a priority, developing an understanding of enterprise requirements
- Developing skills and awareness of security in software design and implementation
What we are looking for in you
- Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
- Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Business Informatics, Mathematics or another STEM discipline with programming courses
- Experience with Ubuntu or another Linux distribution
- Track record of going above-and-beyond expectations to achieve outstanding results
- Result‑oriented and organized, with the drive to meet commitments
- Personal projects in technology and software engineering beyond the curriculum
- Professional written and spoken English
- Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
- Personal responsibility and accountability
- Thoughtfulness, self‑awareness and the ability to reflect and develop
- Ability to travel internationally twice a year for company events up to two weeks long
Nice‑to‑have skills
- Upstream open source contributions
- Packaging and Linux distribution contributions – Debian, Fedora, Arch, Nix or another
- Leadership and organization skills
- Presentation and writing skills
- Business and commercial interests
What we offer colleagues
We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We review compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to 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 that reflect our values and ideals, balancing 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 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
Canonical is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected status under any applicable law and we are committed to providing a fair and inclusive workplace.
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