Product Manager

Canonical Group Ltd; South Africa; Remote; ZAR 1,063,264 - 1,772,107; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Personal learning and development budget

Annual compensation review

Recognition rewards

Annual holiday leave

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Program

Opportunity to travel to new locations

Priority Pass for travel upgrades

Job summary

An innovative tech firm is seeking a passionate product manager to lead the product development lifecycle. In this role, you will collaborate with diverse teams, conduct market research, and communicate your product vision effectively. This opportunity allows you to contribute to the open source movement while managing multiple projects and driving product strategy. With a strong emphasis on leadership and communication, you will play a key role in shaping the future of technology. Join a company that values continuous learning and offers a distributed work environment with exciting travel opportunities.

Qualifications

• Exceptional academic results at high school and university.
• Understanding of Linux and the open source community.

Responsibilities

• Lead the product development lifecycle and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Conduct market research and gather customer feedback to identify opportunities.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Problem Solving

Technical Vision

Curiosity

Continuous Learning

Education

High School Diploma

University Degree

Tools

Market Research Tools

Usability Testing Tools

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.

Canonical’s product management team are technologists who have a passion for delivering products and solutions that help shape market demands while elevating open source software everywhere. This is a general application track for the product management positions at Canonical. You will set a clear vision, prioritize work effectively, and ensure the team delivers high-quality products that meet business and user needs. Apply here if you excel at leadership, communication, and technical vision, and believe you can drive product strategy for the business needs of tomorrow.

Our product managers are technology professionals with a software engineering background who strive to become business executives and entrepreneurs. We discuss strategy, plan product development, drive engagement, and promote the open source way. We oversee the entire product lifecycle from conception to delivery, blending technical expertise, strategic thinking, analytics, project management skills and effective communication to ensure products meet both user needs and business objectives.

The role entails

• Lead the product development lifecycle, reviewing the priorities and goals for your product
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams such as engineering, design, marketing, and sales
• Address common challenges across projects, align on priorities, enable informed decisions, and keep business execution on track
• Conduct market research, analyse industry trends, and gather customer feedback to identify opportunities
• Communicate your product vision, status updates, and key decisions to ensure alignment and manage expectations
• Conduct usability testing, analyse user feedback, and iterate on the product to improve the user experience
• Collaborate with marketing, sales, and support teams to develop go-to-market strategies, create product documentation, and provide training
• Contribute to the success of our sales team in winning new opportunities, reviewing customer feedback and participating in customer meetings
• Oversee the work of a product line, ensuring consistency in strategy and execution across different teams
• Facilitate collaboration and resolve conflicts within different teams and across other departments

What we are looking for in you

• Exceptional academic results at high school and university
• Understanding of Linux and the wider open source software community
• Passion to write about technologies and the tech landscape
• A strong work ethic, and personal interests aligned with the open source movement
• Curiosity, and the habit of continuous learning
• A strong sense of ownership
• Problem solving and the ability to innovate
• Outstanding communications skills in English, both verbal and written
• For more senior positions, product management experience in the software industry
• Ability to manage multiple projects or product lines while maintaining focus on key priorities
• Demonstrated leadership in aligning diverse teams and driving consensus around product strategies
• Willingness to travel internationally up to 4 times a year for company events up to two weeks long

What we offer you

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually 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.

• 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 Program
• 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