Ubuntu Sales Engineer (Entry-Level)
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 1000+ colleagues in 70+ countries and very few roles based in offices. 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>Ubuntu Pro Sales Engineer</strong> to help global companies embrace the latest and greatest Linux and open source applications. Our team applies expert insights to real-world customer problems, enabling the enterprise adoption of Ubuntu Pro, OpenStack and Canonical Microcloud, Kubernetes and a wide range of associated technology. The people who love this role are software engineers who enjoy customer conversations and solving customer problems during the presales cycle. Ubuntu is used by pretty much every enterprise in the world, in every industry. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about the open source technology landscape and develop your business technology insights. You will see first hand in various industries how Linux - and Ubuntu in particular - is shaping innovation and changing the world for the better.</p>
<p>This role is particularly suited to candidates with a technical background who are business minded and driven by commercial success. This role is on our global Field Engineering team and will work closely with enterprise sales leads.</p>
<p><strong>Location: </strong>Most of our colleagues work from home. We are growing teams in EMEA, Americas and APAC time zones, so can accommodate candidates from almost any country.</p>
<h3>What your day will look like</h3>
<p>The Ubuntu Pro Sales Engineer is a key player in our efforts to facilitate and drive the adoption of Ubuntu Pro in the very large Ubuntu enterprise user base.</p>
<ul>
<li>Collect customer business requirements and advise them on Ubuntu and relevant open source applications</li>
<li>Identify customer challenges with open source and articulate how Ubuntu Pro could help solve them</li>
<li>Deliver presentations and demonstrations of Ubuntu Pro to prospective and current clients</li>
<li>Liaise with product teams to give them feedback on requirements to influence roadmap</li>
<li>Work collaboratively with your sales team to reach our common targets</li>
<li>Global travel up to 25% of time for internal and external events and 25% to customer meetings</li>
</ul>
<h3>What we are looking for in you</h3>
<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>Confidence to respectfully speak up, exchange feedback, and share ideas without hesitation</li>
<li>Track record of going above-and-beyond expectations to achieve outstanding results</li>
<li>Demonstrated personal interest in continuous learning and development</li>
<li>Practical knowledge of Linux, virtualisation, containers and networking</li>
<li>Business-minded technology thinker and problem solver</li>
<li>Knowledge of cloud computing concepts & leaders, such as Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP</li>
<li>Interest in large-scale enterprise open source - private clouds, machine learning and AI, data and analytics</li>
<li>Intermediate level Python programming skills</li>
<li>Passion for technology evidenced by personal projects and initiatives</li>
<li>The work ethic and confidence to shine alongside motivated colleagues</li>
<li>Professional written and spoken English with excellent presentation skills</li>
<li>Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred) </li>
<li>Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability</li>
<li>A dynamic person who loves to jump in new projects and interact with people</li>
<li>Appreciative of diversity, polite and effective in a multi-cultural, multi-national organisation</li>
<li>Thoughtfulness and self-motivation </li>
<li>Result-oriented, with a personal drive to follow up and meet commitments </li>
<li>Ability to travel internationally, for company events up to two weeks long, and customer or industry meetings</li>
</ul>
<h3>What we offer colleagues</h3>
<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 recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus or commission. We provide all team members with additional benefits, whi
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 →