Engineering Manager, Managed Services

Canonical; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 300,000 - 400,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading open source technology company is seeking an Engineering Manager, Managed Services to oversee operations and manage a growing engineering team. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree and proven experience in software delivery and Linux system administration. This role offers global compensation, performance-based bonuses, and a distributed work environment with team sprints.

Benefits

Global compensation

Annual review and performance-based bonuses

Learning and development budget of USD 2,000/year

Wellness programs

Travel opportunities

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing operations teams.
• Strong commitment to testing and code quality.
• Willingness to travel up to 20%.

Responsibilities

• Manage a growing engineering team to optimize development and operations quality and velocity.
• Implement disciplined engineering and operations processes.
• Represent the BootStack team with stakeholders, customers, and external teams.
• Ensure focus on priorities, milestones, and deliverables.
• Meet service level agreements with global customer deployments.
• Deliver quality managed services consistently and timely.

Skills

Software delivery (Python, Go, C, C++, Java)

OpenStack experience

Linux system administration (Ubuntu/Debian)

Excellent communication skills

Agile methodologies

Distributed systems knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technology field

Job description

Canonical is seeking an Engineering Manager, Managed Services at our Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa location. This role is a fantastic opportunity for a technologist passionate about Linux and Cloud technologies to lead and build a career within Canonical, driving success with those leveraging Ubuntu and open source products.

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.

With a global team of over 75 countries and few office-based roles, we foster a pioneer spirit of distributed collaboration. Teams meet in person 2-4 times a year at interesting locations worldwide to align on strategy and execution. We are a founder-led, profitable, and growing company.

The BootStack team designs, builds, and operates modern distributed systems on private infrastructure for customers, working with technologies like Kubernetes and OpenStack in a fast-paced environment.

The Cloud Engineering Manager will oversee the day-to-day managed service operations of customer environments, including customer service management, operations, and product improvement engineering. Collaboration with customers, product engineering, and operations is essential.

Location

This is a globally remote role.

Responsibilities

• Manage a growing engineering team to optimize development and operations quality and velocity
• Implement disciplined engineering and operations processes
• Represent the BootStack team with stakeholders, customers, and external teams
• Ensure focus on priorities, milestones, and deliverables
• Meet service level agreements with global customer deployments
• Deliver quality managed services consistently and timely

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a technology field
• Proven experience in software delivery (Python, Go, C, C++, Java) and managing operations teams
• Experience with OpenStack and Linux system administration (Ubuntu/Debian preferred)
• Strong testing and code quality commitment
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills
• Experience with agile methodologies and distributed teams
• Technical understanding of distributed systems and cloud topologies
• Willingness to travel up to 20%

What We Offer

• Global compensation considering location, experience, and performance
• Annual review and performance-based bonuses
• Additional benefits aligned with our values
• Distributed work environment with biannual in-person team sprints
• Learning and development budget of USD 2,000/year
• Recognition rewards, holiday leave, parental leave, wellness programs, and travel opportunities

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm advancing open source, publishing Ubuntu—the platform for AI, IoT, and cloud. We recruit globally and uphold high standards for excellence. Most colleagues work remotely, and we foster an inclusive, discrimination-free workplace. Diversity and background enrich our environment and products.

We are an equal opportunity employer committed to fair application consideration regardless of identity.