Ubuntu Software Engineer
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 engineers to work across the breadth of our Ubuntu Engineering organisation - engineers who care deeply for quality, performance and resilience in software, engineers who are just as comfortable with designing and engineering new software as they are with packaging, integrating, testing and shipping the incredible catalog of open source software provided by the Ubuntu repositories.</p>
<p>Our engineers integrate the freshest open source software, provide robust upgrade paths and engineer the future of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is not just the world’s most deployed open source operating system, it's a platform that enables innovation for millions of users across the globe. Our community represents the full breadth of the developer experience; from students, hobbyists and freelancers to high performance engineering and creative teams in corporate and academic environments.</p>
<p>The four key teams that ship Ubuntu are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Foundations</strong>: maintaining foundational software: architectures, package managers, compilers, toolchains, bootloaders, filesystems and core utilities</li>
<li><strong>Server:</strong> leading the design, evolution and future of our Ubuntu Server distribution</li>
<li><strong>Desktop:</strong> driving Ubuntu Desktop, our future immutable desktop: Ubuntu Core Desktop, WSL, gaming technology, and a suite of modern applications for the desktop crafted with Flutter</li>
<li><strong>Debcrafters: </strong>a new team responsible for the forward movement, maintenance and overall health of the Ubuntu archive: one of the most abundant repositories of open source software available today</li>
</ul>
<p>Bring your existing expertise and learn new skills by working on one of the most prolific pieces of open source software. As an engineer working on Ubuntu you could work on any or all of the following categories:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Development</strong>: design, build and ship new foundational systems software and applications in Rust, Go, Flutter, and Python</li>
<li><strong>Architecture</strong>: engineer the integration of open source from boot firmware to cloud applications deployment</li>
<li><strong>Packaging</strong>: a combination of Debian and Snap packaging to ship software in the distribution</li>
<li><strong>Automation</strong>: build and maintain the machinery responsible for building, testing and shipping Ubuntu</li>
<li><strong>Distro Engineering</strong>: the maintenance and evolution of a Linux distribution and its repositories</li>
</ul>
<p>This application track is suitable for those at the mid point in their career but perhaps not quite at the Manager/Lead level, with relevant skills to contribute to Ubuntu. </p>
<p>At Canonical, you will have the opportunity to engage with and contribute to the broader open source community. We're looking for individuals who can help build a thriving community and contribute with enthusiasm and precision to a broad range of technologies.</p>
<p><strong>Location</strong>: We have remote roles open in every time zone.</p>
<h3><strong>The role entails</strong></h3>
<p>Based on the first round of interviews, we identify specific teams where you might be an excellent fit and conduct second-round interviews with those teams. Our engineers are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Designing, building and shipping software in Rust, Go and Python</li>
<li>Packaging, integrating, testing and uploading open source software to the Ubuntu repositories</li>
<li>Debugging system-level issues and delivering robust solutions</li>
<li>Authoring and improving technical and community documentation</li>
<li>Contributing to upstream and neighboring open source projects</li>
<li>Collaborating as part of a globally distributed team</li>
<li>Mentoring their colleagues to build skills and understanding</li>
<li>Developing and improving processes to more efficiently fulfill our goals</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>What we are looking for in you</strong></h3>
<ul>
<li>An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university</li>
<li>Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path</li>
<li>At least 2 to 4 years of professional software engineering experience post University</li
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 →