Observability Engineering Manager

Canonical; London; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading software company is seeking an Observability Engineering Manager to lead a team focused on logging, monitoring, and alerting solutions. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in Python and observability practices, coupled with exceptional leadership and communication skills. This role allows for flexible work arrangements and offers a supportive work environment aimed at professional growth.

Benefits

Personal learning and development budget

Annual compensation review

Recognition rewards

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Opportunities to travel

Qualifications

• Experience designing and implementing observability solutions.
• Proven track record in software delivery.
• Professional written and spoken English.

Responsibilities

• Manage a distributed team of engineers and their observability portfolio.
• Conduct one-on-one meetings and share technical insights.
• Review code produced by team members.

Skills

Python

Leadership

Observability

Communication

Problem Solving

Education

Exceptional academic track record from high school and university

Tools

Linux

Go

Job description

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Observability Engineering Manager, London

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Client:

Canonical

Location:

London, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

c1303c85beb3

Job Views:

57

Posted:

22.06.2025

Expiry Date:

06.08.2025

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Job Description:

Engineering managers at Canonical are always coders who are able to review and lead both architecture and code. They should also of course be astute judges of character, and comfortable setting expectations and holding colleagues accountable to them.

We are investing in the Grafana logging, monitoring and observability stack, to make it easier to deploy and operate on Kubernetes. This is part of a broader initiative to deliver the world's best suite of open source tools, where we provide deep integration and automation for best-of-breed open source offerings that cover metrics, logging, telemetry, alerting, tracing and profiling. Our goal is to make it very simple for distributed systems engineers and devops to build, debug and run complex distributed systems with very high levels of confidence and the ability to inspect, correlate and understand the internal dynamics of these solutions.

Our implementation of Kubernetes operators for the Grafana LMA stack is opinionated, resilient, and scalable, providing deep insights out of the box. The user experience is polished and seamless for the end-users, and its administrators will enjoy smooth, lightweight Day 1 and Day 2 operations. We are excited to be improving the state of the art for open source LMA and also to be expanding the integrations which make it very easy to use with a wide range of open source solutions.

The team has grown and we are now looking for a dedicated technical engineering manager. As part of the observability group, you will lead the development of the Logging, Monitoring and Alerting elements.

This is an exciting opportunity for a software engineer passionate about open source software, Linux, Kubernetes, and Observability. Build a rewarding, meaningful career working with the best and brightest people in technology at Canonical, the growing international software company behind Ubuntu.

As an Engineering Manager at Canonical, you must be technically strong, but your main responsibility is to run an effective team and develop the colleagues you manage. You will develop and review code as a leader, but know that the best way to improve the product is to ensure that the whole team is focused, productive and unblocked. You are expected to help them grow as engineers, do meaningful work, do it outstandingly well, find professional and personal satisfaction, and work well with colleagues and the community. You will also be expected to be a positive influence on culture, facilitate technical delivery, and regularly reflect with your team on strategy and execution. You will collaborate closely with other Engineering Managers, product managers, and architects, producing an engineering roadmap with ambitious and achievable goals.

We expect Engineering Managers to be fluent in the programming language, architecture, and components that their team uses. Code reviews and architectural leadership are part of the job. The commitment to healthy engineering practices, documentation, quality and performance optimisation is as important, as is the requirement for fair and clear management, and the obligation to ensure a high-performing team.

Location: This role can be home based in the EMEA or Americas regions.

What your day will look like

• Manage a distributed team of engineers and its observability portfolio
• Organize and lead the team’s processes in order to help it achieve its objectives
• Conduct one-on-one meetings with team members
• Identify and measure team health indicators
• Interact with a vibrant community
• Review code produced by other engineers
• Attend conferences to represent Canonical and its Observability Stack

What we are looking for in you

• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• Drive and a track record of going above-and-beyond expectations
• A proven track record of professional experience of software delivery
• Professional python development experience, preferably with a track record in open source
• A proven understanding of the importance of observability and monitoring for keeping software running smoothly
• Experience designing and implementing observability solutions
• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and preferably university
• Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events
• Professional written and spoken English
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Passion, thoughtfulness, and self-motivation
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Result-oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments

Additional skills that you might also bring

• A working knowledge of Go
• Interest and experience with with container technologies

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 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, 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