Staff Engineer, Development Lifecycle

About the Position

Lead our effort to get Ubuntu fit for applications in automotive, aerospace, industrial robotics, and other highly regulated environments.

Ubuntu is already the world’s most widely used Linux in general; we want to make it the world’s best choice for mission-critical systems in these sectors too.

To achieve this, we are investing in processes and engineering, tools and analysis, practices and people. Success in this effort will secure open-source software’s place at the highest tables in industry, where the complex demands of regulation, compliance, and certification are demonstrably met.

We’re seeking someone to lead this effort. In this role you will transform those complex demands into concrete outcomes, and in turn into engineering excellence values and practices that will bring those outcomes about.

This is not a paper exercise; it means leading and challenging engineering culture, working with teams across the organisation. Your work will make those practices come alive, at every level of engineering. You will bring a passion for engineering excellence and open-source software, and the ability to unify agile approaches across multiple projects and teams. Under your leadership, teams will adopt and internalise these values as their own.

Through your work, you will help define Canonical’s ways of working, collaborating with engineering leadership to describe and implement continuous improvement processes, and establish qualification requirements in support of engineering quality standards. You will define methods and approaches for measuring quality, and use them to shape and sharpen engineering culture.

Beyond Canonical, you will establish strategic relations with external working groups, committees, and partners.

You will join the industrial standards team at Canonical and work closely with company-wide engineering leadership to define and deliver this vision.

Location: This role may be held anywhere in European, Middle Eastern, African, or Americas regions or time zones.

Responsibilities

• Lead the effort to make Ubuntu the best choice for mission-critical systems in highly regulated environments.
• Transform complex demands into concrete outcomes and engineering excellence practices.
• Lead and challenge engineering culture across the organization.
• Collaborate with engineering leadership to implement continuous improvement processes.
• Establish qualification requirements and methods for measuring quality.
• Define and deliver Canonical’s ways of working.
• Establish strategic relations with external working groups, committees, and partners.

Requirements

• Strong experience in engineering and process management in an agile environment.
• Knowledge or certification of standards addressing quality of software artifacts such as ISO/IEC 25010 or ASPICE.
• Passion for engineering excellence and open-source software.
• Proven track record in developing and growing people and teams.
• Experience with leading successful compliance and certification efforts.
• Experience with Linux.

Nice to Have

• Background as a software developer.
• Experience in establishing product engineering development metrics and KPIs.
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

We Offer

• Competitive base pay depending on geographical location, level of experience, knowledge, and skills.
• Fully remote working environment.
• Personal learning and development budget of 2,000 USD per annum.
• Annual compensation review.
• Recognition rewards.
• Annual holiday leave.
• Parental Leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues at ‘sprints’.
• Priority Pass for travel and travel upgrades for long haul company events.

About the Company

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm that is 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. Work at Canonical is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game. Canonical provides a unique window into the world of 21st-century digital business.

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.