Software Maintenance 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.

Role Overview

We are hiring a Software Maintenance Engineer to work in a dynamic and exciting engineering role in Linux‑based infrastructure and applications, covering all layers of the stack, including bare metal, virtualization (KVM), containerization (Docker/LXC/LXD), storage (Ceph and Linux filesystems), networking (OVS, OVN and Core networking), OpenStack, Kubernetes and the open source applications running on top of them. If you have an affinity for open source software, great communication skills, and a passion for troubleshooting and fixing issues in technology used by millions across the world, you will enjoy working with some of the best people in the industry at Canonical.

Responsibilities

• Resolve complex customer problems related to Ubuntu, Kernel, Ceph, OpenStack, or Kubernetes and other open source software
• Maintain a close working relationship with Canonical's Field, Support and product engineering teams
• Participate in upstream communities
• Develop bug fixes, backport patches, and work with upstream for inclusion
• Review code produced by other engineers
• Demonstrate good judgment in technical methods and techniques
• Prioritize work and manage your time effectively against those priorities
• Participate in team discussions to improve processes, tools, and documentation
• Maintain clear, technical and concise communications
• Work from home and travel internationally up to 10% of work time for team meetings, events and conferences

Qualifications

• An exceptional academic track record
• Background in Computer Science, STEM or similar
• Experience with Linux and open source software
• Experience with at least one of Python, Go, C or C++ on Linux
• A drive to learn unfamiliar technology and deep‑dive difficult issues
• Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events

Nice‑to‑have skills

• You love technology and working with brilliant people
• You are curious, flexible, articulate, and accountable
• You value soft skills and are passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self‑motivated
• You have interest in, or willingness to learn about any of the following: Ubuntu Linux – kernel or userspace, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Ceph, QEMU/KVM, LXC/LXD, Postgresql, Mongo, Debian packaging, distributed systems

Benefits

• 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 & Wellness Platform
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long‑haul company events

Location & Travel

This is a remote role. Work from home and travel internationally up to 10% of work time for team meetings, events and conferences.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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.

Seniority Level

Entry level

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Information Technology

Industries

Software Development