Manager, People Analytics

Canonical; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Twice-yearly in-person team sprints

Job summary

Canonical is seeking a senior leader for Workplace Engineering who will drive data science and product-oriented data initiatives. You will mentor a squad of People Data Scientists, Software Engineers, and UX Designers, translating business questions into research objectives and shaping an open-source AI/Data stack.

You will partner with global teams across sales, marketing, engineering, and HR to turn data into strategic products and real-time insights, while maintaining data governance and

Job description

The Workplace Engineering function sits at the intersection of traditional HR analytics and modern Product Engineering. We transform raw workforce data into a suite of "People Products" that drive high performance. We don’t just "report" on what happened; we engineer the tools and insights that determine what happens next.

This new role will report directly to the Global Head of Workplace Engineering, and sits within our Data discipline inside of our People department. Experienced data professionals at Canonical live at the intersection of software, data, and the business. They don't just help surface analytic artifacts; they help transform them into a strategic asset that elevates decision making and innovation across our global operations (e.g., sales, marketing, engineering, and human resources). They balance technical precision with business pragmatism, designing and iterating on experiments, automations, and products that transform insights into valued outcomes. They shape tomorrow's AI/Data stack in open source, ensuring that Canonical remains at the forefront of data-driven excellence. Their curiosity is contagious and has an amplifying effect on data literacy and stewardship across the business teams they support.

Location: This is a remote role based in the AMER or EMEA Region.

The role entails

• Multi-Disciplinary Leadership: Lead and mentor a specialized squad of People Data Scientists, Software Engineers, and UX Designers. You aren't just managing analysts; you are leading a product squad.
• Product Ownership on People Science: Bridge the gap between "HR-speak" and "Dev-speak", ensuring engineers understand the human behavioral intent behind the code.
• Strategic Insight & Business Outcomes: Move beyond descriptive metrics (e.g., turnover rate) to predictive and prescriptive insights (e.g., predicting attrition risk based on "Time-Product" engagement data).
• Data Stewardship & Product Storytelling: Act as the "Translator-in-Chief". Take complex data models and turn them into compelling narratives. Lead the development of AI Agents that can surface insights to managers in real-time. Ensure the "People Data Stack" is secure, GDPR/privacy-compliant, and acts as a "Single Source of Truth" across all People related offerings, products and services.
• “Effectiveness at Work” Strategy: Identify opportunities to leverage “High Tech” solutions in our People offerings, and free up more time for “High Touch”, human involvement, thereby maximizing human value.

What we are looking for in you

• Background in data science, mathematics, or engineering, skilled inadvanced statistics, data wrangling/science, databases (SQL, etc.) or software engineering.
• Strength in coding/scripting languages (Python, R, JavaScript, etc.), software engineering, visualization (e.g. Superset, Tableau), and automation.
• Ability to translate business questions to key research objectives.
• Ability to identify the best methodology to execute research, synthesize and analyze findings.
• Proven ability to lead and drive others to execute against well planned roadmaps, with a strong mentor/coaching mindset.
• Willingness to examine the status quo and be resilient in the face of challenges.
• Ambition to build tomorrow's AI/Data stack in open source.
• An exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
• Business level written and spoken English.
• Sincere personal motivation aligned with our mission.
• International travel 2-4 times a year for company events up to two weeks long.

In addition we expect that you will match our values, by being:

• Precise, taking care to deliver correctness and clarity.
• Reliable, delivering high quality work that builds trust and confidence.
• Accessible, collaborating to build products and systems that are usable.
• Adroit, blending enthusiasm, knowledge, adaptability, style and character.

Nice-to-have skills

• Experience with dbt (Data Build Tool), Airbyte, Ranger, Superset, Temporal, or Trino
• Basic understanding of containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes
• Agentic Engineering
• Product management
• User experience and design

What we offer colleagues

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We assess performance and revisit compensation twice annually to ensure we recognize outstanding colleagues. 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