Community 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. 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.

We are hiring a Community Engineer to support community initiatives. The Ubuntu Community team at Canonical enables community leaders and participants to get things done in the project, coordinating with Canonical teams and ensuring that community processes are efficient and well run. We don't do the work of the community, but we facilitate that work to ensure that energetic and ambitious community members with their own vision of open source can benefit from the work Canonical does and bring their own flavour of Ubuntu into being, to meet the needs and express the interests of their community.

In this role, you will utilize your technical skills and strong organizational skills, get into the trenches with developers to smooth processes and integrate community plans with Canonical plans for maximum impact, encourage and facilitate the creation of new technical projects that enhance the community contribution experience, and represent community interests to Canonical teams. You will support and engage with volunteer developers in the Ubuntu community, addressing their concerns and helping them to create successful tools. You will help to ensure their success and the overall autonomy and sustainability of the project.

You will provide the content and technical support to ensure the community stays engaged and informed. This will include regular blog and social media posts about community initiatives, events, accomplishments, and collaborative efforts between Canonical and the Ubuntu community. You will communicate effectively with developers and software engineers and represent not only the Ubuntu community but Canonical as a contributor to the wider Linux ecosystem. You will attend conferences and expos, and talk about technical community projects and their development processes.

This is an exciting opportunity for a technically proficient person who is passionate about open source software, Linux, and sustainable community building. This role is likely a good fit for someone with experience in DevOps, Software Development, Testing or QA, package management, container technology. You will definitely need to be technically skilled with Linux.

Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.

The role entails

• Collaborate proactively with a distributed team
• Write high quality content to promote and support community initiatives
• Discuss ideas and collaborate on finding good solutions to community problems
• Work from home with global travel 2 to 4 weeks for internal and external events
• Potential opportunity to travel more if you wish
• Nurture community contributions to Ubuntu
• Engage with the Ubuntu community through AskUbuntu, IRC, social media, conferences, etc
• Represent Ubuntu via speaking engagements at events and conferences.
  
  

What we are looking for in you

• Passion for technology and working with brilliant people
• You are curious, flexible, articulate, and accountable
• You value soft skills and are passionate, enterprising, thoughtful, and self-motivated
• You have experience with developer tools and open source projects
• You have a clear public record of accomplishments (talks, blog posts, GitHub, Twitter, etc)
• You have interest and experience with two or more of the following: Ubuntu Linux - kernel or userspace, DevOps, software development, testing and QA, package management, container technology
• You can work autonomously and assume full ownership of objectives as needed
• You can be flexible with your time and enjoy working with new technology in a fast-paced environment
• You are experienced working with open source communities and understand the workflow of volunteer contributors
  
  

Nice-to-have skills

• Experience with community management
• Experience with Developer advocacy
• Experience as a software developer
• Examples of contributions to the Ubuntu Community
• Experience with contributing to open source projects
  
  

What we offer colleagues

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) 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. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

• 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.