Associate Linux Support Engineer

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 1100+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office based roles.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing.

We are hiring an Associate Support Engineer to build a career with Canonical and support the technical needs of customers leveraging Ubuntu and open source products. This role is an opportunity for a hands‑on engineer with eagerness to learn, a passion for Linux and open source technologies to work with some of the best people in the industry at Canonical.

We regularly solve interesting, technical problems. From triaging complex cloud environments, desktop and server issues, Linux kernel crashes we\’ve never seen before to OS configuration issues and root cause analysis, we provide an expert level of support and satisfaction to our peer groups and customers. You will be accountable for delivering an outstanding technical support experience on the full technical stack at Canonical, across cloud, desktop and IoT. From problem qualification to full resolution, you will own and manage your cases. When needed, you will transfer your cases to your colleagues or involve senior engineers. This is a globally remote role.

Location

This is a globally remote role.

The role entails

• Working from your remote home office to provide technical support for employees.
• Being available to take ownership of new cases via telephone, email and web.
• Acting as an internal customer advocate keeping them updated in a timely manner.
• Ensuring that each support case owned by you is handled according to our Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the highest possible customer satisfaction by setting the right expectations and fulfilling your commitments.
• Contributing new knowledge base articles and maintaining existing articles, ensuring shared knowledge and lessons learned are available to customers.
• Drafting and distributing technical notices for internal and external communication.
• Prioritising your work in order to accomplish the most important and urgent tasks first.
• Keeping on learning as our products and services grow and evolve.
• Understanding Ubuntu development process to be able to set customer expectations correctly on timeline for a fix.
• Maintaining regular communication and information exchange with the rest of the team, locally and remotely.
• Identifying and suggesting any opportunities to provide a better service.
• Participating in a regular weekend working rotation.

What we are looking for in you

• Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university.
• Undergraduate degree in a technical subject or a compelling narrative about your alternative chosen path. Preferable majors: Computer Science, MIS, Electrical Engineering, etc.
• Confidence to respectfully speak up, exchange feedback, and share ideas without hesitation.
• Track record of going above-and-beyond expectations to achieve outstanding results.
• Experience with Linux troubleshooting (collecting logs and stack traces, fine-tuning by editing configuration files).
• Knowledge or basic hands‑on experience on 2 or more of:
  • Linux server administration
  • Programming fundamentals in any language (bash, Perl, Ruby, Javascript, C or C++, Go)
  • Networking (bonding, firewalling, bridging, switching, network file system tuning, MTU issues, etc.)
  • Virtualization / Cloud computing concepts (provisioning, monitoring, orchestration, etc.)
• Ability to learn quickly, thrive on change and handle the pressure of a customer facing job.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills.
• Appreciative of diversity, polite and effective in a multi-cultural, multi-national organisation.
• Result-oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments.
• Ability to travel internationally twice a year, for company events up to two weeks long.

Noting that we require and will perform a background check for this role.

Nice‑to‑have skills

• Experience supporting virtualized environments (KVM, Virtual Box, VMware).
• Experience with other open-source desktop technologies.
• Active contribution to open-source projects/forum/code.

What we offer colleagues

• 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, 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

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.