Developer Relations Engineer

As the publisher of Ubuntu we serve millions of developers, building for the cloud, IoT and data science. We aim to make open source easier and more reliable for innovators and enterprises.

We have created a new Developer Relations team to engage directly with open source communities and developer-centric organisations. We hope both to communicate our vision and products for better open source development experiences, and also to have a better feedback loop from those audiences to shape our offerings and priorities.

A Developer Relations Engineer is a technical expert, strategist and communicator with deep empathy for developers. This discipline combines practical engineering skills with firm diplomacy across organisational boundaries, in both directions. Like our audience, a Developer Relations Engineer is never satisfied with the status quo, and is driven by an insatiable curiosity to find better ways to get things done. They are problem-solvers and inventors, who understand people's needs and love the way that tools can be adapted to meet them. They stay current with tech trends and provide insights and guidance while fostering innovation.

Location: we are building our initial DevRel team in Europe, Middle East, African and American time zones

What your day will look like

• Contribute to product management team meetings
• Maintain conversations with developer community members
• Engage on IRC, social media, product forums, meet-ups and more
• Collaborate across Canonical teams
• Solve specific technical problems that users or colleagues have identified
• Contribute to technical documentation
• Work on technical articles, presentations or workshops
• Identify new opportunities in developer experience
• Present at conferences, meetups or technical 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
• Developer with a demonstrable engagement in open-source software
• Well-organised, self-starting and able to deliver to schedule
• Professional manner interacting with colleagues, partners, and community
• Experience of Linux software packaging (deb, rpm or snap)
• Contributor to open-source communities, software and documentation
• An engaging, vivacious speaker and presenter
• Effective, tactful, empathetic and confident
• Builds trust, relationships and confidence
• Result-oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments
• Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each
• Ability to travel in addition to upstream and industry events

Additional skills that you might also bring

• Experience in a developer advocacy or community role
• Ops and system administration experience
• Performance engineering and security experience

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 recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus. 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
• Employee Assistance Programme
• 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 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. 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.