Engineering Manager, MAAS

Canonical; Detroit (MI); Remote; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Canonical is seeking an Engineering Manager for the MAAS team to lead and develop engineers in a remote work environment. The role involves overseeing talent development, managing expectations, and engaging with the open source community while ensuring high-quality software delivery. Ideal candidates will have strong Linux knowledge and proven leadership skills, with a commitment to fostering a collaborative and inclusive team culture.

Benefits

Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000/year

Annual compensation reviews and performance bonuses

Recognition rewards, holiday leave, maternity/paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Opportunities for travel and meeting colleagues

Qualifications

• Exceptional academic records from high school and university.
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred).
• Programming experience in Python and Go.

Responsibilities

• Leading a distributed team of engineers in your time zone.
• Talent development through coaching, mentoring, and feedback.
• Participating in code and architecture reviews.

Skills

Leadership

Linux

Communication

Mentorship

Team Development

Problem Solving

Education

Undergraduate degree in a technical field

Job description

Join to apply for the Engineering Manager, MAAS role at Canonical.

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include leading public cloud and silicon providers, as well as industry leaders across sectors. We are a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in over 80 countries and few office-based roles. Teams meet in person 2-4 times a year at interesting locations worldwide to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder-led, profitable, and growing.

We are hiring an Engineering Manager to expand the MAAS team. Our mission with MAAS ("Metal as a Service") is to provide the best solution for building and managing private bare-metal infrastructure, offering a cloud-style on-demand API for physical server provisioning, network configuration, and storage. We seek engineering managers with experience in high-quality software development and high-performance team leadership, along with deep familiarity with Linux on physical servers, Linux storage, and data center networking.

MAAS components span the entire software stack: from hardware detection and provisioning to the management web interface, API, and CLI. Effective engineers are fluent across these layers and can anticipate the impact of design and engineering decisions in a complex distributed system.

At Canonical, you must have a solid technical background, but your role is to run an effective team and develop your colleagues. You will help them grow as engineers, perform outstanding work, find professional and personal satisfaction, and collaborate well with colleagues and the community. Technical leadership and a software engineering background are prerequisites. You will lead, challenge, and develop engineers, influence culture positively, facilitate technical delivery, and work on strategy and execution. You will also collaborate across engineering teams, including those responsible for cloud-init, LXD, and public cloud offerings.

The ideal candidate will have leadership qualities, deep Linux knowledge, and the ability to solve challenging distributed systems problems.

Location: This is a work-from-anywhere position available in EMEA or the Americas.

The role entails:

1. Leading a distributed team of engineers in your time zone (teams are organized by region)
2. Talent development through coaching, mentoring, feedback, and career planning
3. Setting and managing expectations with other teams, management, and stakeholders
4. Advancing modern software development practices
5. Participating in code and architecture reviews
6. Engaging with broader teams, the open source community, and partners
7. Traveling for global events 4-6 weeks per year

We are looking for candidates with:

• Exceptional academic records from high school and university
• An undergraduate degree in a technical field
• Confidence in speaking up, exchanging feedback, and sharing ideas
• A track record of exceeding expectations
• Leadership and mentorship skills
• Passion for technology demonstrated through personal projects
• Strong work ethic and confidence to collaborate with motivated colleagues
• Excellent English communication and presentation skills
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
• Interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Appreciation for diversity and effectiveness in multicultural settings
• Self-motivation and thoughtfulness
• Result-oriented mindset with a drive to meet commitments
• Willingness to travel internationally twice a year for up to two weeks
• Understanding of modern Linux cloud technologies, including networking, storage, containers, and K8s
• Programming experience in Python and Go
• Experience in developing and growing people

Nice-to-have skills:

• Experience with Typescript and modern web frameworks like React, Angular, Svelte, or Vue

What we offer:

• A distributed work environment with biannual in-person team sprints
• A personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000/year
• Annual compensation reviews and performance bonuses
• Additional benefits reflecting our values
• Recognition rewards, holiday leave, maternity/paternity leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Opportunities for travel and meeting colleagues

About Canonical:

Canonical leads in open source innovation, publishing Ubuntu, a key platform for AI, IoT, and cloud. We recruit globally and expect excellence. Most colleagues work remotely, fostering a future-oriented work environment that challenges you to think differently and learn continuously.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity and inclusion, providing fair consideration regardless of background or identity.

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Engineering and Information Technology