Software Engineering Manager - Sustaining Engineering

Canonical; London; Remote; GBP 200,000 +; Full time

Job summary

An international software company is hiring a Software Engineering Manager for Sustaining Engineering in London. You will lead a distributed team, ensuring growth and collaboration in line with values. Ideal candidates have strong software delivery experience and a passion for open source. The position allows for remote work with occasional travel.

Benefits

Personal learning and development budget

Annual compensation review

Recognition rewards

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Professional software delivery experience using relevant programming languages.
• Excellent communication skills in English, both verbal and written.
• Demonstrated strong commitment to maintainable code quality.

Responsibilities

• Manage and lead a distributed team of engineers.
• Hire, coach, mentor, and provide feedback to team members.
• Set and manage expectations with engineering teams and management.
• Support timely delivery of bug fixes and technical solutions.
• Grow a collaborative engineering culture in line with company values.

Skills

Software delivery experience using C, C++, Go, Python

Knowledgeable and passionate about software development

Leadership experience in problem resolution and bug fixes

Experience with version control systems such as git

Experience with debugging tools such as gdb

Commitment to testing methodologies and maintainable code quality

Excellent communication skills in English

Experience with Linux, preference for Ubuntu

Experience with Open Source and its Business Models

People management experience in a support organisation

Job description

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Software Engineering Manager - Sustaining Engineering, 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:

8d6755aa3777

Job Views:

11

Posted:

12.08.2025

Expiry Date:

26.09.2025

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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 + 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 Engineering Manager for Sustaining Engineering passionate about open source software, Linux and cloud computing. Come build a rewarding, meaningful career working with the best and brightest people in technology at Canonical, the growing international software company behind Ubuntu.

Sustaining Engineering is a business critical team that continuously improves various open source software by resolving software defects reported by customers. Software stack includes everything from the kernel all the way up to the user space applications and IaaS platforms. This position leads one of our regional teams and is one of several managers, who report directly to the global Director of Sustaining Engineering.

Our customers build large-scale mission critical infrastructure and application solutions on Ubuntu and open source from Canonical. While not actively developing products, Sustaining Engineering, as part of Support Engineering, solves problems for the customer and for the benefit of the wider Open Source community. This team is well staffed with experts in every time zone and, while the work can be challenging sometimes, the team is resourced to ensure a good work-life balance and ongoing development of each team member.

As an engineering manager in the Sustaining Engineering team, your primary responsibility is to the people you support: ensuring that they are growing as engineers, making valuable contributions, and generally having a great experience at Canonical. Technical leadership and a solid background in software development are a must, so that you are able to help your team members grow professionally. You will have the opportunity to influence the culture, facilitate technical delivery, and work with your team on strategy and execution.

Location: This is a globally remote role, unless specified otherwise.

The role entails

• Manage and lead a distributed team of engineers
• Hire, coach, mentor, provide feedback and career development guidance to your team
• Manage & measure key performance indicators (KPIs), and training
• Support timely delivery of bug fixes, patches, and other technical solutions to address business needs in a variety of technology fields, including but not limited to Ubuntu, OpenStack, Ceph, Kubernetes, Juju & MAAS
• Demonstrate the very best of Canonical in customer interactions
• Set and manage expectations with other engineering teams, senior management, and external stakeholders
• Advocate and advance modern software development practices
• Grow a healthy, collaborative engineering culture in line with the company value
• Collaborate with other teams in the organisation
• Work from home with global travel up to 10% for internal and external events

What we are looking for in you

• Professional software delivery experience using C, C++, Go, Python, or similar
• You are knowledgeable and passionate about software development
• Leadership experience displaying ability to organise and prioritise complex problem resolution and bug fixes
• Experience with version control systems such as git
• Experience with debugging tools such as gdb, crash or other
• Demonstrated strong commitment to testing methodologies and maintainable code quality
• Excellent communication skills in the English language, both verbal and written
• Experience with Linux, with a preference towards Ubuntu
• Experience with Open Source and Open Source Business Models
• People management experience in a support organisation is a strong plus

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 or commission. 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