Graduate Software Developer, Open Source & Linux at Canonical

About Canonical

Canonical is a leader in open source software and operating systems for global enterprises and technology markets. Our Ubuntu platform is widely adopted in public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. We serve top public cloud and silicon providers, along with industry leaders across various sectors. As a pioneer in global distributed collaboration, Canonical has over 1200 team members in more than 75 countries, with very few office based positions. Teams meet two to four times annually in person, in diverse global locations, for strategy and execution alignment. Canonical is a founder led, profitable, and growing company.

Graduate Software Engineer Opportunity

We are actively recruiting Graduate Software Engineers for 2025 and 2026 to join our engineering teams worldwide. As a global platform company, we offer a broad spectrum of software engineering challenges spanning open source products and commercial business systems. Our teams utilize a variety of programming languages, including Python, Golang, Rust, C/C++, JavaScript, and Bash. We work across the entire Linux system stack, from BIOS and boot loaders, firmware, kernel, and drivers, up to desktop applications and containers. Our projects range from small devices like Raspberry Pi and new RISC-V boards to supercomputers, clouds, and Kubernetes clusters. We contribute to compilers, toolchains, security, cryptography, performance optimization, and documentation. Some teams focus on packaging thousands of software components, while others specialize in deep contributions to single codebases.

If you are passionate about the potential of open source for humanity and enterprise, have an outstanding academic record, and are eager to contribute to the open source stack, applying to Canonical is your ideal path. We will collaborate with you to identify teams and projects that align with your skills and motivations. This is a highly competitive process requiring significant effort and excellence to succeed.

Most of our engineering teams operate remotely. We aim to align individual teams within specific time zones: EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean), and AMER (North, South and Central Americas). Even in a work from home setup, we ensure colleagues are available for coaching, mentorship, shared problem solving, and pair programming. Larger projects may involve multiple globally distributed teams. We actively engage with the open source community, specializing in building teams that thrive in the transparent environment of open source engineering.

This is a full time, five day a week role, often involving complex problems with significant responsibility. We generally maintain a Monday to Friday schedule, respecting weekends and holidays, while expecting productive and intense engagement during weekdays. All engineering teams gather in person twice a year for intensive sprints to foster discussion and support a wide range of career development opportunities. This role offers a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate and enhance your software skills, explore diverse technologies, make a meaningful impact on open source, and visit intriguing new cities. If you find the open source stack compelling and have consistently excelled academically, this will be a challenging and exciting start to your career.

The Role Entails:

• Shaping your product's roadmap during global sprints held every six months.
• Prioritizing design and user experience, even for developer tools and command line applications.
• Writing high quality, resilient, and performant code, potentially serving millions of demanding daily users.
• Working towards mastery of key programming languages and Linux system knowledge.
• Engaging with users and the open source community through code reviews and issue trackers.
• Responding to customer issues as a priority, developing an understanding of enterprise requirements.
• Developing skills and awareness of security in software design and implementation.

What We Are Looking For in You:

• Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university.
• An undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Business Informatics, Mathematics, or another STEM discipline with programming coursework.
• Confidence to initiate and deliver high quality code in one of Python, Rust, C/C++, Golang, JavaScript, or Java.
• Experience with Ubuntu or another Linux distribution.
• A proven track record of exceeding expectations to achieve outstanding results.
• Results oriented and organized, with a strong drive to meet commitments.
• Personal projects in technology and software engineering beyond academic curriculum.
• Professional written and spoken English proficiency.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability.
• Strong sense of personal responsibility and accountability.
• Thoughtfulness, self awareness, and the ability to reflect and develop.
• Ability to travel internationally twice a year for company events, up to two weeks long.

Nice to Have Skills:

• Upstream open source contributions.
• Packaging and Linux distribution contributions (e.g., Debian, Fedora, Arch, Nix, or others).
• Leadership and organization skills.
• Presentation and writing skills.
• Business and commercial interests.

What We Offer Colleagues:

We determine compensation globally considering geographical location, experience, and performance. Compensation is reviewed annually (and more frequently for graduates and associates) to recognize outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance driven annual bonus or commission. We provide all team members with additional benefits reflecting our values and ideals, balancing local needs and global fairness.

• Distributed work environment with twice yearly in person team sprints.
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year.
• Annual compensation review.
• Recognition rewards.
• Annual holiday leave.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Team Member Assistance Program & Wellness Platform.
• 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 movement to open source. As the publisher of Ubuntu, a critical open source project and the platform for AI, IoT, and the cloud, we are transforming the software world. We recruit globally and maintain very high standards for new team members, expecting excellence in all we do. Most Canonical colleagues have worked from home since the company's inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future, challenging you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and elevate your performance.

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.