Software Engineering Manager - Cross-platform C++ - Multipass

Canonical; Riyadh; Remote; SAR 562,000 - 712,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Personal development budget of USD 2,000

Annual compensation review

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Opportunity to travel globally

Job summary

A leading open-source technology firm is seeking a Software Engineering Manager to lead a remote team focused on developing Multipass, a local cloud experience. Ideal candidates will have a strong technical background in software engineering and a successful track record in coaching and growing teams. The role involves global travel, managing expectations with stakeholders, and advocating modern software development practices. Join a pioneer in open-source software and work from anywhere in EMEA or the Americas.

Qualifications

• Strong technical background and leadership experience required.
• Experience in developing and managing engineering teams.
• Familiarity with modern software development practices.
• Cross‑platform development experience on macOS and/or Windows.
• Knowledge of hypervisor technologies such as Hyper‑V, VirtualBox, and KVM.
• Open source experience and involvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of remote engineers.
• Develop talent through coaching and mentorship.
• Set expectations with other teams and stakeholders.
• Participate in code and architectural reviews.
• Facilitate technical delivery and team strategy.
• Engage with teams at Canonical, the open source community and partners.
• Work from home with global travel for 4 to 6 weeks per year for internal and external events.

Skills

Team leadership and development

Modern C++ expertise

Strong communication skills

Cross-platform development

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science or STEM

Tools

Hyper-V

VirtualBox

KVM

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 more than 80 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 Software Engineering Manager to lead Multipass, the workstation mini‑cloud at your fingertips. Multipass is published for macOS, Windows, and also Linux. At its simplest you can say multipass launch and you will get a new VM on your workstation. The goal is not to be a full cloud, of course. The goal is to give developers a local cloud experience on their workstation, which they can use to run builds in the background, or to try cloud appliances, or to test their own cloud deployments and cloud‑init scripts, free of charge. People sometimes use it as a build farm on a shared server, for example.

As an engineering manager at Canonical you must have a solid technical background, but your responsibility is to run an effective team and develop the colleagues you manage. You are expected to help them grow as engineers, do important work, do it outstandingly well, find professional and personal satisfaction, and work well with colleagues and the community. Technical leadership experience and a background in software engineering are necessary prerequisites for this role. You will be expected to lead, challenge, and develop engineers, positively influence the culture, facilitate technical delivery, and work with your team on strategy and execution.

The successful candidate will have experience leading successful, collaborative engineering teams, and demonstrate the ability to solve challenging problems.

Location

This is a remote position available in EMEA and the Americas.

Role entails

• Lead a team of remote engineers
• Develop talent through coaching, mentoring, feedback and hands‑on career development
• Set and manage expectations with other engineering teams, senior management, and external stakeholders
• Advocate and advance modern software development practices
• Participate in the engineering process through code and architectural review
• Engage with teams at Canonical, the open source community and partners
• Work from home with global travel for 4 to 6 weeks per year for internal and external events

What we are looking for in you

• You love developing and growing people and have a strong track record of doing it
• You are focused on success and the delivery of timely, high quality software
• You have a Bachelor's or equivalent in Computer Science, STEM or similar degree
• You have strong written and verbal technical communication skills
• Expertise in modern C++ development
• Cross‑platform development experience on macOS and/or Windows
• Knowledge of hypervisor technologies such as Hyper‑V, VirtualBox, and KVM
• Open source experience and involvement

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 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 its 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.