Software Engineering Director

Posted Oct 16

This is the general track for Engineering Director at Canonical, apply here if you are confident to run a project which spans teams and time zones, hiring and managing engineering managers and staff engineers.

Canonical’s largest software products are built by multiple teams working together under a single director of engineering. Once you have passed the first round of interviews we will discuss specific software products which would be a good fit for your interests.

We believe that open source is just starting to transform the tech sector and enterprise compute. Our goal is to make open source easier, more reliable and more secure for deployment and development. We strive to be the provider of ‘most software to most companies’. To deliver on that ambition, our engineers are carefully selected from the applicants across the globe. We select for brilliance and motivation to take open source to the next level. Our engineering directors set the pace and the direction to help teams achieve more than they realised they could, and feel proud of the result.

Even though this is a senior management position, managing managers, we expect Engineering Directors to be outstanding developers with the confidence to lead by example across the full range of activities in their teams. You need to understand what great code looks like in the language and genre of your product - whether that is a web service, or a system daemon, or a desktop application, or a distributed system. You’ll need to know how to drive testing and benchmarking to improve the clarity in your teams around quality and performance. You’ll also need to be confident to set and defend high expectations of work ethic, consistency, focus and learning.

We have director level roles across a wide range of engineering domains, including:

  • Python and Golang
  • C / C++ / Rust
  • Data infrastructure
  • HTML / CSS / JavaScript / Typescript / React
  • Flutter
  • Distro packaging and systems
  • SAAS and web microservices
  • Kernel
  • Servers
  • Graphics, Browser and Desktop  
  • Silicon enablement and embedded devices
  • Product Security

If your domain of expertise isn’t listed above, yet you feel it’s relevant to Canonical, then feel free to apply anyway. We will route you to the most suitable team.

Location: The role is remote, with positions available in all time zones. It includes a requirement for global travel for twice per year, for trips up to two weeks long.

What you’ll do

  • Lead multiple teams of engineers, ranging from graduate to senior
  • Develop your engineering managers and maintain Canonical culture
  • Hire staff level engineers for specific roles like performance and quality
  • Coach, mentor, and offer career development feedback
  • Identify and measure indicators of team health and productivity
  • Ensure rounded delivery including community participation and docs
  • Implement disciplined engineering processes and defend them
  • Set and measure progress against benchmark goals for speed and efficiency
  • Represent your product to stakeholders, partners, and customers
  • Develop and evangelise great engineering and organisational practices
  • Plan and manage progress on agreed goals and projects
  • Be an active part of the leadership team, collaborating with other leaders
  • Collaborate with leads for related or dependent products

What we’re 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
  • Extensive management experience and confidence to set high expectations
  • Outstanding Linux based software engineering track record
  • Drive and a track record of going above-and-beyond expectations
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
  • Public speaking and presentation skills
  • A love of developing and growing people and a track record of it
  • Experience in leading, coaching and mentoring software developers
  • Organised and able to ensure your team delivers timely, high quality results
  • Well-organised, self-starting and able to deliver to schedule
  • Professional manner interacting with colleagues, partners, and community
  • You have advanced expertise in your own domain 
  • You are knowledgeable and passionate about software development 
  • You have solid experience working in an agile development environment
  • You have a demonstrated drive for continual learning
  • 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

Additional skills we value

  • Experience in a developer advocacy or community role
  • Open source community engagement and leadership
  • 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.

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