Software Architect for Canonical LXD and MicroCloud

About

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. We have 1200+ colleagues in more than 80 countries with very few office-based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder led, profitable, and growing.

We are hiring a software architect for Canonical LXD and MicroCloud. Our goal is to make clusters of compute, with system containers or virtual machines, "just work". It should be trivial to stand up a small cloud using one, two or twenty servers. This involves distributed systems, virtualization, container technology, networking, and storage.

LXD is a modern Golang system container and virtual machine orchestrator used on Ubuntu, ChromeOS, and other Linux platforms. LXD engineering spans the entire software stack from kernel work on namespaces, confinement, security, filesystems, VMMs, and networking, to the high level management REST API and CLI. As a software architect, you will drive the architecture, design, and evolution of LXD and Canonical MicroCloud, which combines LXD with Ceph and OVN to make a lean, easy to use, and resilient cluster-scale cloud infrastructure.

We seek an outstanding software architect and engineer with experience in Golang and C, with leadership qualities to rally a team to ship outstanding products. Knowledge of modern cloud infrastructure offerings, their APIs, and underlying technologies is a must.

This is an opportunity to have a meaningful impact on modern cloud computing technologies. Canonical offers a fun, fast-paced team environment and a career full of learning and development.

Location

This is a home-based position available in EMEA and the Americas.

Responsibilities

• Leadership of the LXD and MicroCloud architecture
• Mentor, develop and advise colleagues in their career progression
• Develop in Golang and C
• Review code produced by other engineers
• Ensure the product is secure and performant
• Display technical leadership in Canonical and our communities
• Work from home with global travel twice annually for company events

What we are looking for in you

• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM
• Drive, and a track record of going above-and-beyond expectations
• Technical leadership as well as team motivation, direction and pace
• Well-organized, self-starting and able to deliver to schedule
• Professional manner in interacting with colleagues, partners, and community
• Experience with Go and C
• Experience with storage, networking and virtualization
• Experience with container technologies
• Experience with concurrent, distributed systems
• Conscientiousness and detail orientation, with a focus on performance
• Professional written and spoken English
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability

What we offer colleagues

• 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 of software. We recruit globally and set a very high standard for people joining the company. Most colleagues have worked from home since our inception in 2004. Working here challenges you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer. We 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.