Engineering Manager - Ubuntu Desktop Apps
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
- People management responsibilities?: 1
- Employment Length: Full-time
- Core skills: Developer, Leader, Manager, Mentor, Organiser, Planner, Problem Solver, Technologist
- External Departments (website): Engineering
- One line job description: Lead a wide-range of impactful software projects that comprise Ubuntu: the world's most deployed Linux operating system
- 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.
Our Ubuntu Desktop engineering teams build the modern Linux desktop experience used daily by millions of developers, enterprises, and open source communities worldwide.
Location: We have remote roles open in every time zone.
About the team
The Ubuntu Desktop Apps team, as part of the broader Ubuntu Desktop team, designs and builds the core user-facing applications that shape the Ubuntu desktop experience.
This includes key projects such as the Ubuntu Desktop Installer, the Ubuntu App Center, the Ubuntu Security Center, TPM-backed full disk encryption integration and Application Permission prompting.
Our applications are primarily built using Flutter and Dart, with system components and services implemented in Go and Rust.
The team works across the full engineering lifecycle, defining the roadmap, contributing to product design and system architecture, implementing features and conducting code reviews, maintaining CI/CD pipelines and automated testing, improving quality, reliability, and performance, and ensuring smooth release management and delivery to users.
The Role
We are looking for a Software Engineering Manager to lead the Ubuntu Desktop Apps team.
This is a technical leadership role combining people management with active engineering involvement. You will guide the team in delivering modern desktop applications that integrate seamlessly with the Ubuntu platform while ensuring high standards of quality, performance, and security.
You will report to the Ubuntu Desktop Engineering director and collaborate closely with design, product management, and other Ubuntu engineering teams to deliver a coherent and forward-looking desktop experience for millions of users.
What You’ll Do
Technical Leadership
- Guide architecture and technical direction for Ubuntu desktop applications
- Ensure strong integration with the Ubuntu platform, Snap ecosystem, and system services
- Participate in design reviews and key technical decisions
- Promote high standards for performance, reliability, and security
Team Leadership
- Lead and support a team of talented engineers
- Mentor and grow engineers across frontend and systems domains
- Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement
Delivery and Engineering Excellence
- Plan and deliver features across multiple release cycles
- Balance innovation with reliability and maintainability
- Improve CI/CD pipelines, test coverage, and release quality
Collaboration and Community
- Work with product and design teams to deliver intuitive user experiences
- Collaborate across Canonical engineering teams
- Engage with the Ubuntu open source community
What We Are Looking For
Required
- An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
- Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path
- Strong background in software engineering and system design
- Experience building and shipping graphical applications
- Experience leading engineering projects or teams
- Expertise in Flutter and Dart, with experience in Go or Rust as a plus
- Experience working with modern Linux desktop technologies such as Wayland, D-Bus, Systemd, or GNOME
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to work effectively in a globally distributed engineering team
- Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each
Nice to Have
- Experience contributing to or leading open source projects
- Experience with Linux distribution development
- Familiarity with software packaging and application sandboxing
- Performance or Security Engineering experience
We know that strong candidates may not meet every qualification. If you are excited by this role and our mission, we encourage you to apply.
What Success Looks Like
First 3 Months
- Build strong relationships with the team and stakeholders
- Gain a deep understanding of the Ubuntu desktop architecture and application stack
- Identify key improvement opportunities in engineering processes or product quality
First 6 - 12 Months
- Deliver meaningful improvements to the Ubuntu desktop application experience
- Strengthen development workflows, testing practices, and delivery reliability
- Help the team grow and maintain a high standard of engineering excellence
What we offer you
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. 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
- 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 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 on a daily basis. 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. Canonical has been a remote-first company since its 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.
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)
- Briefly outline the software projects you have led in the past. What were the primary languages or technologies used, how large was the user base and what was your role? (Required)
- Briefly describe your experience working with Linux systems, both on the desktop and server. For example, you might include details of package management, systems administration, desktop environments or different distributions. (Required)
- How did you perform in mathematics at high school? (Required)
- How did you perform in your native language at high school? (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)
- 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)
- 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)
- Website (Optional)
- LinkedIn Profile (Optional)
- In which country do you currently work? (Required)
- Please confirm that you have read and agree to Canonical's Recruitment Privacy Notice and Privacy Policy. (Required)
- Which gender do you identify as? (Required)
- Please indicate your nationality: (Required)
- Please indicate your race or ethnicity: (Required)
Before applying
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