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.
Our Ubuntu Engineering teams build the operating system platform used by millions of developers, enterprises, device makers, cloud providers, and open source communities worldwide.
Location: We have remote roles open in every time zone.
The Ubuntu Foundations Package Management team, as part of the broader Ubuntu Foundations organisation, develops and maintains the software management infrastructure that underpins every Ubuntu system.
The team owns technologies at the heart of Ubuntu's software, driver, firmware, and upgrade experience, including APT, dpkg, firmware management, and driver management.
Its mission is to provide the technologies that enable Ubuntu systems to be installed, maintained, updated, upgraded, and managed throughout their lifecycle. The team balances innovation with the stability and reliability expected from one of the world's most widely used Linux distributions.
The team works across the full engineering lifecycle, from roadmap definition and architecture through implementation, testing, release engineering, and upstream collaboration, ensuring the continued evolution of the technologies that manage software, drivers, firmware, and upgrades across Ubuntu systems.
We are looking for a Software Engineering Manager to lead the Ubuntu Foundations Package Management team.
This is a technical leadership role combining people management with active engineering involvement. You will lead a team of experienced engineers responsible for the package management and system lifecycle technologies that underpin Ubuntu. Working closely with stakeholders across Ubuntu Engineering, you will define technical direction, grow engineering talent, build strong cross-team partnerships, and ensure the continued evolution of Ubuntu's software, driver, firmware, and upgrade experience.
You will report to the Ubuntu Foundations Engineering director and collaborate closely with other Ubuntu Engineering teams, including Desktop, Server, Security, Release Engineering, Launchpad, Debcrafters, OEM, and Product.
Technical Leadership
Team Leadership
Delivery and Engineering Excellence
Collaboration and Community
Required
Nice to Have
We know that strong candidates may not meet every qualification. If you are excited by this role and our mission, we encourage you to apply.
First 3 Months
First 6 to 12 Months
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, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.
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.
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.
