Sustaining Operations Engineer in Douglas

This is a fast‑paced engineering role in Linux‑based software‑defined infrastructure and applications, covering all layers of the stack, including bare metal, virtualization (KVM) and containerization (Docker and LXC/LXD), storage (Ceph and Linux filesystems), networking (OVS, OVN and core networking), up to OpenStack and Kubernetes, and the open source applications running on top of them. This role is an opportunity for a technologist with a passion for Linux and open source to build a career with Canonical and drive success for our customers, community and the company.

Location: This is a globally remote role. This role deals with critical issues in the open source stack that require deep debugging and troubleshooting skills. Engineers must be able to work productively at any level of the stack above the kernel, in a wide range of applications, to understand and address the software issues at hand. Our group is critical to the success of our enterprise customers, partners and Ubuntu itself.

You will be the final point of escalation for operational troubleshooting and driving issues to resolution with workarounds, guidance, and fixes to be released upstream and in Ubuntu.

What your day will look like:

• Resolve complex customer problems related to Ubuntu, OpenStack, Ceph and/or Kubernetes.
• Maintain a close working relationship with Canonical’s field, support and product engineering teams.
• Participate in upstream communities.
• Debug issues, propose workarounds and liaise with software engineers on producing a patch.
• Demonstrate good judgment in technical methods and techniques.
• Prioritize work and manage your time effectively against priorities.
• Participate in team activities to improve processes, tools, and documentation.
• Maintain clear, technical and concise communications.
• Provide subject‑matter expertise as the final point of escalation on operational issues.
• Work from home and travel internationally up to 10% of work time for team meetings, events and conferences.

What we are looking for in you:

• Professional experience troubleshooting advanced Linux issues.
• Background in Computer Science, STEM or similar.
• Exceptionally strong experience with either Linux, LXD, OpenStack, Ceph or Kubernetes.
• Strong debugging experience with Python, Go, C or C++ on Linux.
• Ability to troubleshoot with gdb, pdb, tcpdump or other tools.
• Familiarity with Git source code repositories and branches.
• Excellent academic record from high school and preferably university.
• Willingness to travel up to four times a year for internal events.

Additional skills that you might bring:

• Love technology and working with brilliant people.
• Curious, flexible, articulate, accountable, and passionate.
• Experience with Ubuntu Linux, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Ceph, QEMU/KVM, LXC/LXD, Python, Go, C, PostgreSQL, Mongo, Debian packaging, distributed systems.

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 and a range of benefits that 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 Programme.
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues.
• Priority Pass for travel 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 on a daily basis. We are a remote‑first company since 2004 and rely on high standards of excellence.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer. Canonical provides a legal, inclusive workplace and complies with all equal‑employment‑opportunity laws and regulations.