Distributed Systems Engineer
Canonical · Home based - Worldwide · Engineering
Curated summary
A remote engineering opening from Canonical with official ATS source details and a direct employer apply link.
Full official source details
This section is loaded from the official Greenhouse source for this role.
Additional source fields
- Employment Length: Full-time
- Core skills: Analysers, Developer, Doer, Fixer, Problem Solver, Technologist
- External Departments (website): Engineering
- One line job description: Build the secure data services that power fleets of Ubuntu systems across cloud, edge, and on-prem infrastructure, designing high-performance data pipelines, identity-aware services, and governance systems that move data safely at global scale. You’ll build the secure control planes, streaming systems, and policy engines powering Canonical’s global data services.
- LinkedIn Posting Level: Mid-Senior
Official description
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.
The company is founder-led, profitable, and growing.
This is an exciting opportunity for a software engineer passionate about open source software, Linux, and web services at scale. Come build a rewarding, meaningful career working with the best and brightest people in technology at Canonical, a growing pre-IPO international software company.
Canonical’s engineering team is at the forefront of the IoT revolution and aims to strengthen this position by developing cutting-edge telemetry and connectivity solutions. By integrating reliable, secure, and robust data streaming capabilities into the Snappy ecosystem, we are setting new standards in the industry for ease of development, implementation, management and security.
We are seeking talented individuals to help us enhance our global SaaS services, providing customers with the essential data services needed to build the next generation of IoT devices effortlessly. Our commitment to data governance, ownership, and confidentiality is unparalleled, ensuring our customers can innovate with confidence on top of the globally trusted Ubuntu platform.
Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.
What your day will look like
- Work remotely with a globally distributed team, driving technical excellence and fostering innovation across diverse engineering environments.
- Design, architect, and build high-performance APIs to power streaming data services, ensuring seamless integration across teams and products using Python and Go.
- Develop robust governance, auditing, and management systems within our advanced telemetry platform, ensuring security, compliance, and operational integrity.
- Partner with our infrastructure team to build scalable cloud-based SaaS solutions while also delivering containerized on-prem deployments for enterprise customers.
- Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of new features, taking projects from specification to production, ensuring operational excellence at scale.
- Provide technical oversight, review code and designs, and set best practices to maintain engineering excellence.
- Engage in high-level technical discussions, collaborating on optimal solutions with engineers, product teams, and stakeholders.
- Work remotely with occasional global travel (2-4 weeks per year) for internal and external events, fostering deeper collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
What we are looking for in you
- You design and architect scalable backend services, messaging/data pipelines, and REST APIs using Go or Python, guiding best practices, technical direction, and system scalability.
- You possess deep expertise in cybersecurity principles and proactively address the complex challenges of IoT environments: secure connectivity, data streaming, governance, and compliance.
- You bring proven expertise in designing and optimizing systems using:
- IAM models, encryption, access control, and compliance frameworks (GDPR, HIPAA) to ensure secure and compliant data handling
- Ability to design decentralized data ownership models, ensuring interoperability and governance across domains
- Designing high-throughput, low-latency systems for IoT data processing
- Data streaming technologies (MQTT, Kafka, RabbitMQ)
- Observability tools (OpenTelemetry)
- Industrial/engineering data exchange protocols (OPC-UA, ModBus)
- You thrive in cross-functional environments, partnering with product teams, engineers, and stakeholders to drive high-impact technical solutions that align with business objectives.
- You mentor junior engineers, foster technical excellence, and contribute to a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing.
- You embrace challenges with an open mind, continuously seeking opportunities to learn, improve, and innovate in a rapidly evolving IoT landscape.
- You are familiar with Ubuntu as a development and deployment platform.
- You hold a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science, STEM, or a related field.
- You are willing to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events.
What we offer colleagues
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.
- Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
- Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
- Annual compensation review
- Recognition rewards
- Annual holiday leave
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Team Member Assistance Program & Wellness Platform
- 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 company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open-source projects and the platform for AI, IoT, and the cloud, we are changing the world of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence; in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since our inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.
Canonical is an equal opportunity employer
We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.
#LI-remote
Application questions shown by the source
- First Name (Required)
- Last Name (Required)
- Email (Required)
- Phone (Optional)
- Resume/CV (Required)
- During this application process I agree to use only my own words. I understand that plagiarism, the use of AI or other generated content will disqualify my application. (Required)
- When evaluating distributed system design, what is the one question you instinctively ask first? (Required)
- What do you see as the two most important criteria for choosing between centralizing and decentralizing data governance policies? (Required)
- What are the two most important things to get right in building platforms that scale? (Required)
- How did you perform in mathematics at high school? (Required)
- How did you perform in your native language at high school? (Required)
- Please share your rationale or evidence for the high school performance selections above. Make reference to provincial, state or nation-wide scoring systems, rankings, or recognition awards, or to competitive or selective college entrance results such as SAT or ACT scores, JAMB, matriculation results, IB results etc. We recognise every system is different but we will ask you to justify your selections above. (Required)
- What was your bachelor's university degree result, or expected result if you have not yet graduated? Please include the grading system to help us understand your result e.g. ‘85 out of 100’, ‘2:1 (Grading system: first class, 2:1, 2:2, third class)’ or ‘GPA score of 3.8/4.0 (predicted)’. We have hired outstanding individuals who did not attend or complete university. If this describes you, please continue with your application and enter ‘no degree’. (Required)
- We require all colleagues to meet in person 2-4 times a year, at internal company events lasting between 1-2 weeks. We try to pick new and interesting locations that will likely require international travel and entry requirement visas and vaccinations. Are you willing and able to commit to this? (Required)
- Website (Optional)
- LinkedIn Profile (Optional)
- Please confirm that you have read and agree to Canonical's Recruitment Privacy Notice and Privacy Policy. (Required)
- In which country do you currently work? (Required)
- In the past ten years, looking only at the time since you graduated your first undergraduate degree, how many companies have you worked for? (Required)
- Which gender do you identify as? (Required)
- Please indicate your nationality: (Required)
- Please indicate your race or ethnicity: (Required)
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