Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. The platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT initiatives across many sectors. With 1000+ colleagues in 70+ countries, the company is remote‑first, meeting in person two to four times a year at inspiring locations worldwide.
This is a general selection process for software engineers focused on virtualisation and container technology—from kernel to userspace. Apply if you are an exceptional Go, Rust, or C/C++ software engineer who wants to work on next‑generation open source VMM or container technology, or related networking and storage.
Container, virtualisation and cloud infrastructure have become essential to modern software deployments. Canonical invests in application isolation, workload orchestration, system and OCI containers, micro‑service architecture, and cloud infrastructure.
Examples of projects under way include:
* RustVMM – building a new hypervisor for Linux with an emphasis on performance, security and operability.
* Rockcraft – designing an elevated Docker image experience for the open source community.
* LXD – a modern system container and virtual machine manager spanning kernel namespaces, confinement, security, filesystems, VMMs and networking to high‑level REST APIs.
* MicroK8s and Charmed Kubernetes – Kubernetes implementations and operations tooling.
* Charmed OpenStack, OVN/OVS and Ceph – cloud platform technologies for large‑scale computing environments.
These teams hire system‑level C/C++, Golang, Rust and Python developers to work on security‑critical, performance‑critical and mission‑critical code focused on software delivery, containers, security, sandboxing, application orchestration and management.
Location: Remote container and virtualisation engineering roles are available in every time zone.
Responsibilities
* Design and specify new features, building consensus on approach.
* Engage with upstream communities in your area of expertise.
* Conduct security analysis and reviews to ensure defence in depth.
* Create and monitor performance benchmarks to optimise the product.
* Collaborate proactively with a distributed team.
* Write high‑quality code to create new features.
* Debug issues and produce high‑quality code to fix them.
* Review code produced by other engineers.
* Discuss ideas and collaborate on finding good solutions.
Qualifications
* An exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
* Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling alternative path.
* Drive and a track record of going above‑and‑beyond expectations.
* Experience working on open source virtualisation or container technology.
* Experience working in the kernel or very low‑level systems.
* Professional written and spoken English.
* Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred).
* Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability.
* Passion, thoughtfulness, and self‑motivation.
* Excellent communication and presentation skills.
* Result‑oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments.
* Ability to travel twice a year for company events up to two weeks each.
Additional Skills We Value
* Performance engineering and security experience.
Benefits
* Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly in‑person team sprints.
* Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year.
* Annual compensation review.
* Recognition rewards.
* Annual holiday leave.
* Maternity and paternity leave.
* Employee Assistance Programme.
* Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues.
* Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long‑haul company events.
About Canonical
Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the publisher of Ubuntu—the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud—it is changing the world each day. Canonical recruits worldwide and sets a very high standard for its people. It has been remote‑first since 2004, offering a work environment that challenges you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Canonical is an equal opportunity employer and is proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background creates a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we give your application fair consideration.
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