Senior Software Engineer at Canonical - Remote EMEA

Canonical; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Learning budget USD 2,000/year

Twice-yearly in-person sprints

Priority Pass access

Job summary

Canonical is hiring a Senior Software Engineer for the Web Engineering team. The role is fully remote within the EMEA region, with async-first culture and flexible time zones.

You will own large projects, drive engineering processes, and mentor others while collaborating across globally distributed teams. You will engage in code Reviews, architectural discussions, and contribute to API design and performance improvements.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM or an equivalent narrative.
• Strong academic track record from school and university.
• Professional written and spoken English.
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred).
• Willingness to travel up to two weeks twice per year.

Responsibilities

• Own the development of large projects and drive engineering best practices.
• Lead code and architectural reviews across the team.
• Write specifications and assess risk to simplify complex systems.
• Mentor and develop peers within the team and with management.
• Contribute to technical documentation and documentation quality.
• Deploy and operate services developed by the team and improve operations.

Skills

Linux (Ubuntu)

Software architecture

Code reviews

Technical leadership

REST APIs

Container tech

English proficiency

Education

Bachelors in CS or STEM

Strong academic track record

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

LXD

Job description

Senior Software Engineer at Canonical - Remote EMEA — Remote

Remote-first by design: Canonical has operated as a fully distributed company since 2004, making this role genuinely location-independent within the EMEA region. There are no office requirements, and the async-first culture is well-established across 75+ countries.

Timezone flexibility: The EMEA constraint spans UTC-1 to UTC+4 roughly, meaning you can base yourself anywhere from Lisbon to Tbilisi. This is a significant range — digital nomads in popular hubs like Lisbon (UTC+0/+1), Tallinn (UTC+2), or Dubai (UTC+4) all fall comfortably within scope.

Visa considerations: Several EMEA countries offer digital nomad visas ideal for this role:

• Portugal: D8 Digital Nomad Visa — affordable cost of living in Lisbon (~$1,800–2,500/month), EU access
• Georgia: Remotely from Georgia program — very low cost of living (~$1,200–1,800/month), no income tax for remote workers on foreign income
• UAE: Remote Work Visa — tax-free income, though higher cost of living in Dubai

Travel perks are real: The $2,000 annual L&D budget, twice-yearly in-person sprints to interesting global locations, Priority Pass lounge access, and long-haul travel upgrades are genuine perks for a nomadic lifestyle. You must be able to travel up to two weeks twice per year for these events.

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 globally distributed collaboration, with 1100+ 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 Senior Software Engineer on the Web Engineering team to drive best practices across the team, for all disciplines, bringing great ideas to the table to lead technical conversations. They identify risks and communicate them to relevant stakeholders, asking the right questions to move a project forward. Within the team there are fantastic opportunities to gain deep technical knowledge of complex products in innovative and fast-growing areas of the tech world with space and support to hone your craft. We value transparency, intellectual honesty and teamwork.

As a Senior Software Engineer at Canonical, you will own the development of large projects, encourage rigorous and efficient engineering processes, write specifications and understand risks, and work to reduce complexity. You will be capable of taking on technical lead responsibilities to drive initiatives to completion, follow industry trends and new technologies, and represent your team as a subject matter expert with cross-team credibility. You will mentor and develop those around you in a structured and systematic manner, sharing this responsibility for your immediate team with your manager.

Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.

The Role Entails

• Identifying what matters for the team and driving initiatives to improve them
• Designing and implementing well-tested and documented software
• Debugging and fixing issues encountered by your users
• Leading in our engineering process through code and architectural reviews
• Contributing to technical documentation to make it the best of its kind
• Seeking improvements to engineering and operations practices
• Deploying and operating services developed by the team
• Contributing to the success of your product through technical advocacy

What We Are Looking For

• Ability to curate technical quality standards by designing architectural approaches to support business objectives
• Strong soft skills — passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self-motivated
• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path
• Drive and a track record of going above and beyond expectations
• Well-organised, self-starting, and able to deliver to schedule
• Competency in researching new technology or approaches, and ability to tastefully and sustainably integrate changes into technical projects
• Provides comprehensive and insightful code reviews on items of any size within the project
• An eye for accessibility and performance
• Professional written and spoken English
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred)
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Result-oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments
• Ability to travel twice a year for company events, for up to two weeks each

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience with container technologies such as LXD, Docker, and Kubernetes
• Experience fostering and maintaining a talented team by defining excellence
• REST API design, development, and governance
• Drive to deliver performance engineering and security experience

What We Offer

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 2,000 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

Is this role fully remote or is there an office requirement? This role is fully remote within the EMEA region. Canonical has operated as a distributed company since 2004 with very few office-based roles. You will need to travel up to two weeks twice a year for in-person team sprints. Which countries in EMEA are eligible for this position? The job posting does not specify a list of eligible countries beyond "EMEA region," which broadly covers Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Canonical employs staff in 75+ countries globally, so eligibility is wide within the region. What is the salary range for this Senior Software Engineer role? Canonical does not publish specific salary figures. Compensation is geo-adjusted based on location, experience, and performance, and is reviewed annually. A performance-driven bonus or commission is provided in addition to base pay. What technical skills are required for this position? Core requirements include strong software engineering fundamentals, experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred), and the ability to lead code/architectural reviews. Container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes, LXD) and REST API experience are nice-to-have. Does Canonical provide a learning and development budget? Yes, Canonical provides a personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year for all team members, in addition to Priority Pass access and travel upgrades for company events.

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