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Ubuntu Core Software Engineer

Canonical

Remote OK
Home based - EMEA
Worldwide
US hours

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>Ubuntu Core Software Engineer</strong> to redefine the Linux experience in the embedded environments with the smallest, most secure, and updatable operating system in the IoT market. This is an opportunity for a software engineer passionate about open source software, Linux, security, and the developer experience. This challenging role demands a high degree of technical skill with low-level operating systems, kernel, and device firmware.</p>
<p>Our mission is to allow everyone to build robust solutions in various fields including but not limited to IoT, automotive, and aviation using the next generation secure embedded Linux operating system in a simple solution. We define a reliable and secure set of device recovery mechanisms that enable device manufacturers to simplify and standardise the field operations for fleets of heterogeneous appliances.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As an Ubuntu Core team member, you’ll be designing and implementing software that runs on various CPU architectures, such as ARM, RISC-V, and X86.&nbsp; You will work on boot mechanisms, bootloaders, storage partition layout, device trees, kernel and services.</p>
<p>Build a rewarding, meaningful career working with the best and brightest people in technology at Canonical, a growing international software company.</p>
<p><strong>Location</strong>: <em>This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region</em></p>
<h2><strong>The role entails</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Write high quality code with unit tests to create new features</li>
<li>Debug Linux system level issues and produce high quality code to fix them</li>
<li>Collaborate proactively with a distributed team</li>
<li>Review code produced by other engineers</li>
<li>Discuss ideas and collaborate on finding good solutions</li>
<li>Integrate diverse bootloaders and maintain gadget snaps</li>
<li>Work from home with global travel 2 to 4 times a year for internal and external events</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>What we are looking for in you</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>You love technology and working with brilliant people</li>
<li>You are curious, flexible, articulate, and accountable</li>
<li>You value soft skills and are passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self-motivated</li>
<li>You have a Bachelor’s or equivalent in Computer Science, STEM or similar degree</li>
<li>You have experience with C or Golang, and Shell</li>
<li>You have a solid understanding of Linux and a modern GNU/Linux distribution, Debian or Ubuntu preferred</li>
<li>You have personal or professional experience with Linux-capable devices such as Raspberry Pi</li>
<li>You have interest in learning or experience in one or more low-level systems and security facilities such as:</li>
<ul>
<li>Bootloaders in ARM and X86, such as piboot, uboot, grub-uefi</li>
<li>Systemd and units, udev, initrd, graphics</li>
<li>OS level firmware daemons and CLI applications</li>
<li>Linux security implementations - TPM, FDE, LUKS, HSM, etc.</li>
</ul>
<li>You may have experience or knowledge of Yocto</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>Recognition rewards</li>
<li>Annual holiday leave</li>
<li>Maternity and paternity leave</li>
<li>Team Member Assistance Program &amp; Wellness Platform</li>
<li>Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues</li>
<li>Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long-haul company events</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>About Canonical</strong></h2>
<p>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-sourc

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.

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 →