Engineering Manager for IAM (Identity and Access Management)
Canonical
Hirezar Summary for South African Applicants
This remote ok full time position at Canonical is open across the EMEA region, which includes South Africa. As a remote position, you can work from anywhere in South Africa — whether you're based in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, or a smaller town.
Job Description
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<p>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.</p>
<p>The company is founder-led, profitable, and growing.</p>
<p>We are hiring an <strong>Engineering Manager for IAM (Identity and Access Management)</strong> to <span style="font-weight: 400;">build high-performing Go and Python services and secure identity and access management solutions that will be used across all company products. From</span><a href="https://login.ubuntu.com/"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ubuntu One SSO</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to</span><a href="https://juju.is/"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Juju</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span><a href="https://linuxcontainers.org/"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">LXD</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">and</span><a href="https://maas.io/"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">MAAS</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> your team will define the way Canonical users, clients and community members access their favorite open source applications.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is an opportunity for a software engineering manager with a passion for distributed systems operations to help us transform the future of identity management at Canonical. Experience in the identity and access management (IAM) field is desirable but not required. You will work with upstream open source projects, alongside internal teams to deliver high quality software that can be deployed on bare metal, public cloud and Kubernetes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the identity team engineering manager you will bring significant software development experience, Kubernetes knowledge and a keen eye for software design, performance and security. You will be responsible for working with product management to define the technical vision for the products, managing the team backlog, reviewing code and coaching younger team members.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You will also be involved in all the aspects of the software development process: you will design software, write high-quality code and tests, provide insightful code reviews, write documentation and help to troubleshoot issues.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In addition to the engineering behind the project itself, you'll have the chance to work with industry-leading teams inside Canonical, ensuring your work is backed by rock-solid data stores, and highly observable using our Kubernetes-based Observability stack. You'll work with broader open source communities, participating in "hackfest" events, webinars and conferences.</span></p>
<p><strong>Location: </strong><em>This role will be based remotely in the EMEA or AMER regions.</em></p>
<h3><strong>What we are looking for in you</strong></h3>
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<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Proven experience hiring and leading a high performance software engineering team</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Experience with Go and Python software development</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ability to design and implement complex, distributed system</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Experience working with container technology and Kubernetes</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Strong understanding of software/infrastructure security and performance</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Experience designing and/or operating large scale distributed systems </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Knowledge of identity and access management technologies and standards is desirable but not essential</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university</li>
<li>Undergraduate degree in a technical subject or a compelling narrative about your alternative chosen path</li>
<li>Professional written and spoken English with excellent presentation skills</li>
<li>Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity,
Tips for South African Applicants
Timezone Advantage
South Africa (SAST, UTC+2) overlaps well with European business hours and has a few hours of overlap with US East Coast. Mention your timezone flexibility in your application.
Salary in Context
Even without a listed salary, international remote roles typically pay 2-3x more than equivalent local positions in South Africa due to the exchange rate advantage.
Application Tips
Tailor your CV to international standards — use a clean format, highlight remote work experience, and include your English proficiency. Many SA applicants succeed by emphasising their strong work ethic and cultural adaptability.
Load Shedding Preparedness
If you're applying for a remote role, having a backup power solution (UPS, inverter, or generator) and mobile data as a backup internet connection shows employers you're prepared for South Africa's infrastructure challenges.
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About Canonical
Canonical is a company in the Operations industry that hires remote workers from South Africa. They currently have 230 open positions on Hirezar. View all Canonical jobs →