Engineering Manager

Working Nomads; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech firm is seeking Engineering Managers to lead teams focused on developing open-source software. The role offers the chance to coach and mentor engineers while collaborating with teams in various time zones. Applicants should have a strong academic background in computer science or a related field, along with leadership experience in software development. This position promotes flexibility with remote work and includes additional benefits such as a personal learning budget and annual compensation reviews.

Benefits

Personal learning budget of USD 2,000 per year

Annual compensation review

Annual holiday leave

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Travel opportunities for team sprints

Qualifications

• Exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
• Experience leading, coaching, and mentoring software developers.
• Organized and able to ensure timely, high-quality deliverables.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of engineers, ranging from graduate to senior.
• Represent your team and product to stakeholders, partners, and customers.
• Plan and manage progress on agreed goals and projects.

Skills

Leadership

Coaching

Communication

Agile development

Technical expertise

Education

Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM

Job 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 a general track for first‑level engineering management positions at Canonical.

We believe that open source is just starting to transform the tech sector and enterprise compute. Our goal is to make open source easier, more reliable, and more secure for deployment and development. We strive to be the provider of ‘most software to most companies’. To deliver on that ambition, our engineers are carefully selected from the applicants across the globe. We select for brilliance and motivation to take open source to the next level. Our engineering managers help teams achieve more than they realised they could, and feel proud of the result.

We believe that Engineering Managers should be outstanding developers themselves. They should be completely at home reviewing a patch or a software design spec. They are trusted engineers who understand the importance of a whole‑team effort in creating great products and who enjoy seeing colleagues develop. They should contribute code themselves to set the standard for coding, but know that the code they write is far less significant than their ability to shape the whole team’s direction, focus, and delivery. We grow management skills and train engineers who are interested in soft skills to be managers.

A typical first‑level software engineering team is based in a single time zone, such as EMEA or Americas, or APAC, with an Engineering Manager and a Senior Engineer dedicated to a single product, who work as a team to shape the roadmap, technical strategy, code, documentation, and community engagement. They are both capable of coding, and are both leaders comfortable assigning work and maintaining expectations of delivery. They will both be expected to take management training at Canonical so they speak the same language when it comes to team behaviours, habits, routines, norms, and standards, but they focus on different sides of the problem.

An Engineering Manager is responsible for line management and career guidance. The ability to develop engineering talent, to represent your team and product from a technical perspective, and to drive collaboration with other teams and customers are all critical to success in this role.

We have open manager roles across a wide range of engineering domains, including:

• Python and Golang
• C / C++ / Rust
• Data infrastructure
• Flutter
• Distro packaging and systems
• SAAS and web microservices
• Kernel
• Servers
• Silicon enablement and embedded devices
• Product Security

If your domain of expertise isn’t listed above, yet you feel it’s relevant to Canonical, then feel free to apply anyway. We will route you to the most suitable team.

Location: we have engineering management positions open in every time zone

What you’ll do

Lead and develop a team of engineers, ranging from graduate to senior

Work remotely in a single major time zone, sometimes two

Coach, mentor, and offer career development feedback

Identify and measure team health indicators

Implement disciplined engineering processes

Represent your team and product to stakeholders, partners, and customers

Develop and evangelise great engineering and organisational practices

Plan and manage progress on agreed goals and projects

Be an active part of the leadership team, collaborating with other leaders

What we’re looking for in you

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

Drive and a track record of going above and beyond expectations

Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English

A love of developing and growing people and a track record of it

Experience in leading, coaching, and mentoring software developers

Organised and able to ensure your team delivers timely, high-quality results

Well‑organised, self‑starting, and able to deliver to schedule

Professional manner of interacting with colleagues, partners, and the community

You have advanced expertise in your domain

You are knowledgeable and passionate about software development

You have solid experience working in an agile development environment

You have a demonstrated drive for continual learning

Builds trust, relationships, and confidence

Result‑oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments

Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each

Additional skills we value

Experience in a developer advocacy or community role

Ops and system administration experience

Performance engineering and security experience

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 recognise 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 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.