System Software Engineer - GCC/LLVM compiler, tooling, and ecosystem
Canonical · Home Based - Americas · 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: Contributor, Developer, Doer, Fixer, Inventor, Problem Solver, Technologist
- External Departments (website): Engineering
- One line job description: Work on 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.
We are hiring a System Software Engineer for GCC/LLVM compiler, tooling, and ecosystem
We are building a team to focus on the modern C and C++ programming language and their ecosystem on Ubuntu. They will deliver the best possible GCC and LLVM runtimes, developer experience and supporting tooling in Ubuntu. They will ensure that the cutting edge of modern programming languages innovation is available to Ubuntu users, to lay the foundation for future inventions and open source communities.
This is an exciting opportunity for a software engineer with a strong passion for compilers, runtimes and tool chains. You will have excellent competencies in modern C/C++, Linux distributions, software architectures and open source software. Come build a rewarding, meaningful career working with the best and brightest people in open source technology at Canonical, a growing international software company and make Ubuntu the best operating system to develop and run C/C++ applications in the cloud, in datacenters, in containers, directly on the operating system, and anywhere Ubuntu can run.
The Ubuntu Foundations Team delivers the core Ubuntu system, the base for the entire Ubuntu family of products and services. Ubuntu strives to deliver the latest-best free software components, in an easy to use and highly reliable form. We build on the technical excellence of keystone open source software like GNU and Debian and bring additional focus and shape to the solutions we offer the industry.
Part of the Ubuntu Foundations team, you will work on one of the most critical toolchains involved in the making of Ubuntu and the pillars of the modern software ecosystem. You will leverage your competencies and experience in C, C++ to make Ubuntu the best platform to develop, distribute and consume software built with GCC and LLVM. You will be passionate about the future of C, C++, of Ubuntu, mindful of the dynamics of the open-source ecosystem, and equally aware of the needs of large but innovative organizations. You will drive the best in class integration in Ubuntu from desktop to cloud in a secure, reliable, performing, efficient and future-proof fashion.
You will be discussing design with other team members , mentor less senior engineers, and participate in code reviews and design reviews. You will also be working with other teams to ensure architecture decisions improve the overall performance and experience of Ubuntu. Your role as part of the Ubuntu Foundations team will have an impact on every aspect of Ubuntu from Desktop, Server, Ubuntu Core and also cloud images.
Location: This role will be based remotely in the AMERICAS region
The role entails
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:
- Collaborate proactively with a distributed team
- Select, integrate and package best-of-breed tooling with Ubuntu to improve developer and operator experience with GCC and LLVM
- 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
- Work from home with global travel 2 to 4 weeks a year for internal and external events
What we are looking for in you
- You have relevant GCC or LLVM experience, ideally in the world of cloud-native software and Linux
- You have experience in packaging software for Debian and Ubuntu
- You are a long-time Linux user
- Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
- Undergraduate degree in a technical subject or a compelling narrative about your alternative chosen path
- You love technology and working with brilliant people
- You are passionate, curious, flexible, articulate, and accountable
- You value soft skills and are passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self-motivated
- Ability to travel internationally twice a year for company events up to two weeks long
Nice-to-have skills
- Experience with Linux distributions and distribution engineering
- Experience with software packaging and distribution mechanisms
- Understanding of build systems and toolchains, including for cross-compilation
- Performance or Security Engineering experience
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
- 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 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)
- Please describe your experience working on the GCC or LLVM compilers and runtimes, and how much of this experience was on Linux (Required)
- Which kinds of projects are you most excited about working on? (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)
- 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)
- 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)
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