Graduate HR Generalist - Americas

Canonical; United States; Remote; USD 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Learning budget

Travel opportunities

Maternity leave

Paternity leave

Employee assistance program

Annual leave

Annual bonus (performance-driven)

Job summary

Canonical is seeking a Graduate HR Generalist to support the AMER region in a globally distributed team. This remote role offers exposure to onboarding, benefits, HRIS, payroll coordination, and privacy compliance across multiple countries.

You will collaborate with managers and executives, drive engagement and culture initiatives, and manage documentation and processes with a hands-on, autonomous approach. Fluency in Spanish/Portuguese is a plus.

Qualifications

• Track record of exceptional achievement from high school and graduation.
• HR/internship experience beneficial, preferably in tech.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Able to prioritize complex workloads and work under pressure.
• Discretion with confidential data.
• Willing to travel up to 4 times per year.
• Fluent in Spanish and/or Portuguese is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Provide HR support by answering team members’ questions about employment and contracts.
• Maintain HRIS and onboarding data accuracy.
• Own global projects such as engagement and culture initiatives.
• Partner with managers and employees to drive people strategy.
• Support onboarding and country-specific documentation.
• Assist with benefits enrollment and payroll data processing.
• Coordinate with payroll to ensure timely salary payments.
• Create purchase orders for internal departments.
• Audit employment files for GDPR compliance.
• Continuously improve HR processes.

Skills

Excellent communication

Time management

Flexible and adaptable

HR internship experience

High integrity

Attention to detail

Spanish/Portuguese language skills

Education

High school and graduate studies

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.

We require an HR function that thinks and acts globally. We're looking for a Graduate HR Generalist to offer their expertise to our AMER region. It's an exciting time to join with the opportunity to help shape and create an HR function for the future. You will demonstrate a high work ethic and the personal confidence to set and defend high expectations of colleagues, counterparts and processes. You must be able to work independently, take a hands‑on approach, and interface effectively with professionals at all levels. You'll need excellent communication, professional and interpersonal skills as well as the ability to function in a proactive, innovative environment. We look to HR both to support our colleagues in their personal needs and development, and also to maintain consistently high standards across multiple teams, managers and directors.

Location: This role will be based remotely in the AMER region

The role entails the individual to:

• Provide HR support by answering team members’ questions and responding to requests regarding their employment and contracts, escalating when necessary. Requests may include information about the new starter process and onboarding, questions regarding global benefits, employment verifications, and other general inquiries.
• Maintain our HRIS, ensuring a high degree of accuracy and timeliness in processing all team member changes and new joiners.
• Owning global projects (e.g. engagement, training or culture initiatives)
• Partnering with the managers and employees - supporting HR processes and driving the people strategy for your areas of responsibility
• Working as a truly global partner to colleagues, especially leads, managers and executives
• Process new hires, including country-specific on-boarding documentation, creation of files, systems set-up, and coordination of introductory reviews.
• Provide support to employees for the enrollment and processing of benefits and the payroll process, ensuring monthly data is provided on time and is accurate.
• Liaise with payroll to guarantee smooth salary payments.
• Create purchase orders for internal departments.
• Provide administrative support to employees for the enrollment and processing of benefits.
• Conduct regular audits of employment files and systems to ensure they are up-to-date, accurate, and GDPR compliant.
• Continually work to better our processes, spotting areas we can improve to drive our function forward.

What we are looking for in you

• Track record of exceptional achievement from high school and graduate studies.
• Internship experience working in an HR/People team is beneficial, preferably in the Technology industry.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Able to prioritize complex workloads, manage time effectively and work well under pressure.
• Self‑motivated and results‑orientated with a clear focus on accuracy.
• High level of honesty, integrity, and ability to handle confidential data.
• Flexible attitude and easily adaptable to change.
• Willing to take the initiative and provide suggestions and ideas to contribute to the success of the role/team.
• Ambitious to grow your career within HR.
• Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events
• Fluent in Spanish and/or Portuguese a 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. 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 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.