Engineering Manager, Managed Services

Remote from
🌐 Anywhere
Annual salary
Undisclosed
Salary information is not provided for this position. Check our Salary Directory to estimate the average compensation for similar roles.
Employment type
Full Time,
Job posted
Apply before
21 Aug 2026
Experience level
Midweight
Views / Applies
61 / 2

About Canonical Ltd.

Trusted open source for enterprises

Actively Hiring
Verified job posting
This job post has been manually reviewed for authenticity and compliance.

AI Summary

Canonical is seeking an Engineering Manager for its BootStack team, which designs, builds, and operates managed services on private infrastructure using open source technologies like OpenStack and Kubernetes. This fully remote role involves managing a distributed engineering team to ensure high-quality service delivery and operational excellence. The ideal candidate has a strong technical background in Linux, cloud technologies, and software development, along with experience leading remote teams. Canonical offers a competitive global compensation package, including a learning budget and team sprints. This is a high-impact position for a technologist passionate about open source and distributed systems.

Role DNA

Job Complexity
Easy Hard
Pace & Pressure
Relaxed Fast-paced
Autonomy Level
Guided Full Ownership
Communication Load
Independent Highly Collaborative
AI Insight The role combines deep technical expertise in open source cloud infrastructure with managerial responsibilities for a distributed team, requiring both hands-on problem solving and strategic leadership, which makes it highly challenging.

Salary Analysis

Median Highly Competitive
$160,000
US Market
$120k – 200k
0 $220k
AI Insight The salary for this role is not explicitly stated, but based on US market data for Engineering Manager positions with cloud and open source focus, the typical range is $120,000 to $200,000 annually, with a median around $160,000. Canonical also offers performance bonuses, a $2,000 learning budget, and other benefits.

Dear Hiring Team,

I am excited to apply for the Engineering Manager, Managed Services role at Canonical. With a strong background in open source technologies and managing distributed engineering teams, I am confident in my ability to lead the BootStack team to deliver exceptional managed services. My experience includes overseeing cloud operations with OpenStack and Kubernetes, ensuring service level agreements, and driving continuous improvement.

In my previous role, I successfully managed a globally distributed team, focusing on operational excellence and engineering velocity. I have a proven track record of implementing agile processes and maintaining high code quality standards. I am particularly drawn to Canonical's mission of advancing open source and the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technology in a fully remote environment.

I look forward to discussing how my leadership and technical skills can contribute to the success of Canonical and its customers. Thank you for considering my application.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

Describe your experience managing a distributed engineering team across different time zones.
In my previous role, I led a team of 15 engineers spread across the US, Europe, and Asia. We used asynchronous communication tools like Slack and Jira, and held regular video stand-ups and retrospectives. I focused on clear documentation, overlapping work hours, and bi-annual in-person sprints to build cohesion and alignment.
How do you balance operational support requests with long-term engineering improvements in a managed services environment?
I implement a structured prioritization framework, such as tagging issues as 'operational' vs 'development' and allocating dedicated time for each. For example, 70% of the team's capacity is reserved for operations (incidents, requests) and 30% for improvements. I also use metrics like mean time to resolve and the number of recurring issues to guide investment in automation.
Explain a technical challenge you faced with OpenStack and how you resolved it.
We had a recurring issue with OpenStack compute nodes going offline due to network misconfiguration. I led a deep dive that identified a flaw in our network bonding setup. We implemented a fix using automated configuration management with Ansible, added monitoring, and documented the root cause to prevent recurrence.
How do you ensure code quality and testing practices in a fast-paced engineering team?
I enforce a culture of code reviews, mandatory unit and integration tests, and continuous integration pipelines. We also conduct regular code quality audits and pair programming sessions. For critical services, we require a minimum test coverage of 80% and perform chaos engineering tests to validate resilience.
How would you handle a situation where a customer's service level agreement is at risk due to an ongoing incident?
I would immediately activate the incident response plan, ensuring clear communication with the customer about the issue and expected resolution time. I would escalate internally, allocate additional resources if needed, and initiate a post-incident review to identify improvements. Transparency and proactive updates are key to maintaining trust.

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 1200+ 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 an Engineering Manager …

This role is an opportunity for a technologist with a passion for Linux and Cloud technologies to build a career with Canonical and drive the success with those leveraging Ubuntu and open source products. If you have an affinity for open source development and a passion for technology, then you will enjoy working with some of the best people in the industry at Canonical.

The BootStack team designs, builds, and operates modern distributed systems on private infrastructure for customers. From Kubernetes to OpenStack and everything in-between, you’ll be working with the latest technology in a fast-paced engineering environment. As a Cloud Engineering Manager for the BootStack team, you will be responsible for managing the engineers that oversee day-to-day Managed Service of customer environments, including customer service management, managed services operations and consistent product improvement engineering. Collaboration with customers, product engineering, and operations is critical to success.

Location: This is a globally remote role.

The role entails

  • Manage a growing engineering team to optimise the quality and velocity of both development and operations
  • Identify and measure team health indicators
  • Implement disciplined engineering and operations processes
  • Represent the BootStack team with respect to stakeholders, customers, and external teams
  • Ensure proper team focus on priorities, milestones, and deliverables
  • Work to meet service level agreements with customer deployments around the globe
  • Deliver quality managed services in a consistent, timely manner

What we are looking for in you

  • Bachelors (or equivalent) education in a technology field
  • Proven track record of professional experience of either software delivery using Python, Go, C, C++, Java, or similar and/or managing operations teams
  • Proven experience with OpenStack
  • Demonstrated strong commitment to testing methodologies and maintainable code quality
  • Experience with Linux system administration, Ubuntu/Debian a plus
  • Strong communication and cooperation skills
  • Experience with agile software development methodologies
  • Experience working in and managing distributed teams
  • Technical aptitude for understanding complex distributed systems
  • Experience with cloud topologies and technologies
  • Travel to team and company events and customer meetings, roughly 20% or less

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 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 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
  • 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 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 our 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.

#LI-remote

 

Apply now >

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