Graduate Software Engineer, Open Source and Linux, Canonical Ubuntu at Canonical

About Canonical and Ubuntu

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Its platform, Ubuntu, is widely adopted in breakthrough enterprise initiatives, including public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Canonical partners with the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, as well as industry leaders across many sectors. The company is a pioneer in global distributed collaboration, with over 1200 colleagues in 75+ countries and a minimal number of office based roles. Teams typically meet two to four times annually in person, in interesting locations worldwide, to align on strategy and execution. Canonical is founder led, profitable, and growing.

We are actively recruiting for 2025 and 2026 Graduate Software Engineers to join our engineering teams globally. As a global platform company, we offer a diverse range of software engineering challenges within both open source products and commercial business systems. Our teams work with various programming languages, predominantly Python, Golang, Rust, C/C++, JavaScript, and Bash. We engage with all levels of the Linux system, from BIOS, boot loaders, firmware, kernel, and drivers, up to desktop applications and containers. Our work spans tiny devices like the Raspberry Pi and new RISC-V boards, to supercomputers, clouds, and Kubernetes clusters. We also focus on compilers, toolchains, security, cryptography, performance, and documentation. Some teams specialize in packaging thousands of software components, while others contribute deeply to a single codebase.

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, this is an excellent opportunity to apply to Canonical. We will collaborate with you to identify teams and projects that align with your skills and motivations. This is a highly competitive process, requiring dedication and excellence to succeed.

Most of our engineering teams operate remotely from home. We aim to align single teams within specific time zones: EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean), and AMER (North, South, and Central Americas). This ensures you always have colleagues available for coaching, mentorship, shared problem solving, and pair programming. Larger projects may involve multiple teams spanning the globe. We actively engage with the open source community and specialize in building teams that thrive in the transparent environment of open source engineering.

This is a full time, five days a week role, often involving complex problem solving with significant responsibility. While we generally do not work weekends or nights and encourage good holidays, we expect productive and intense engagement Monday to Friday. All our engineering teams gather in person twice a year for an intensive 'sprint' with other teams, fostering discussion and enabling a wide range of career development paths. This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate and develop your software skills, learn about diverse technologies, make a meaningful impact on open source, and explore interesting new cities.

If you find the open source stack compelling and have consistently performed highly in your academic career, this will be a challenging and exciting start to your professional journey.

Location: This is a Globally remote role.

The Role Entails

• Shaping the roadmap for your product during global sprints held every six months.
• Focusing on design and user experience, even for developer tooling 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 courses.
• Confidence to get started and deliver high quality code in one of Python, Rust, C/C++, Golang, JavaScript, or Java.
• Experience with Ubuntu or another Linux distribution.
• A track record of exceeding expectations to achieve outstanding results.
• Result oriented and organized, with the drive to meet commitments.
• Personal projects in technology and software engineering beyond academic curriculum.
• Professional written and spoken English.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability.
• 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 (Debian, Fedora, Arch, Nix, or another).
• Leadership and organization skills.
• Presentation and writing skills.
• Business and commercial interests.

What We Offer Colleagues

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. Compensation is reviewed annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure outstanding performance is recognized. 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 programs to meet local needs and ensure global fairness.

• 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.
• 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 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 globally and maintain a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence; to succeed, we must 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, challenging you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

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.