Project Manager - Ubuntu Embedded Systems
Canonical
Hirezar Summary for South African Applicants
This remote ok full time position at Canonical is open worldwide, so South Africans can apply. 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
<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 a <strong>Project Manager - Ubuntu Embedded Systems at Canonical</strong></p>
<p>As a Project Manager for Canonical’s Devices business, this role is responsible for the coordination and completion of large complex customer-facing projects, overseeing all aspects of project delivery and acting as the primary delivery liaison between Canonical's engineering teams and Canonical's customers.</p>
<p>You will be managing the projects that involve the delivery of Ubuntu images on a wide variety of devices ranging from robots, edge gateways, and IoT devices to PCs and automotive systems. This is a high-profile project management position where you are expected to build and maintain working relationships with team members, customers, other partners/vendors (Silicon vendors, OEMs, ODMs, IHVs), and other Canonical departments/teams. </p>
<p><strong>Location:</strong> This role will be based remotely in the AMERICAs and/or EMEA regions.</p>
<h2><strong>The role entails</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Managing projects through their complete life cycle and ensuring that the overall goals for both Canonical and the client are met</li>
<li>Successfully delivering engineering professional services for assigned projects</li>
<li>Working with engineering teams on custom board enablement and delivery of Ubuntu images to the customers</li>
<li>Assisting in the development of project statements of work</li>
<li>Drafting and maintaining project-specific schedules/project plans </li>
<li>Obtaining client agreement to the project schedule and agreed-upon work items</li>
<li>Ensuring projects are delivered within the time/resources/scope expectations</li>
<li>Managing project risk mitigation and plans</li>
<li>Driving technical issues to reach desired delivery outcomes</li>
<li>Maintain daily and weekly communication with the client and all internal stakeholders</li>
<li>Managing delivery schedule of critical third-party deliverables for the project</li>
<li>Keeping management informed of the status of assigned projects</li>
<li>Identifying custom engineering requests that are not part of an existing business contract</li>
<li>Advocating the appropriate technologies from Canonical's product portfolio to customers</li>
<li>Supporting different time zones and work non-traditional hours as required to support the assigned projects</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>What we are looking for in you</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Solid project management experience in delivering engineering services to customers managing software development teams and field engineers</li>
<li>Extensive experience successfully managing projects with cross-cultural and multi-continent internal and external project resources, preferably with resources in Asia, Europe, and the Americas</li>
<li>Educational degree preferably in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math</li>
<li>Good knowledge of Linux and the wider Open Source Software community, and understanding of computer architecture</li>
<li>Excellent communications skills, both verbal and written, in English</li>
<li>Strong leader and problem solver with extensive experience building successful internal and external partnerships and effective working relationships with demanding project sponsors in complex organizational environments</li>
<li>PMP/PMI or PRINCE2 Practitioner Certification preferred</li>
<li>Ability to work non-standard work hours in support of a worldwide sales and project team</li>
<li>Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>What we offer colleagues</strong></h2>
<p>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 or commission. 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.</p>
<ul>
<li>Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person</li>
<li>Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year</li>
<li>Annual compensation review</li>
<li>Recognit
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 →