About this role.
Canonical is seeking a Cloud Engineering Manager to lead a distributed team managing customer cloud environments built on OpenStack and Kubernetes. The role involves overseeing day-to-day managed services, ensuring service level agreements, and driving engineering improvements. Ideal candidates have a strong background in Linux, OpenStack, and software development, along with experience managing remote teams. This is a globally remote position with travel up to 20% to team events and customer meetings. Canonical offers a fast-paced, collaborative environment with a focus on open source innovation.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
4/5Pace & Pressure
4/5Autonomy Level
4/5Communication Load
5/5Salary analysis
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Core skills
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Cover letter sample
Dear Hiring Team,
I am excited to apply for the Cloud Engineering Manager position at Canonical. With over 8 years of experience in cloud infrastructure and a proven track record of leading distributed engineering teams, I am confident in my ability to drive the success of the BootStack team. My expertise in OpenStack, Kubernetes, and Linux aligns perfectly with the requirements of this role.
In my previous role, I managed a remote team of 12 engineers responsible for designing and operating private cloud environments for enterprise customers. I implemented agile processes and automated workflows that improved service delivery by 30% while maintaining 99.99% uptime. I am passionate about open source and have contributed to upstream projects like OpenStack and Ubuntu.
I thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments and am eager to bring my technical leadership and operational experience to Canonical. Thank you for considering my application.
Sincerely, [Your Name]
Sample interview questions
I use a combination of agile ceremonies, clear goal-setting, and regular 1:1s. I prioritize work based on customer impact and severity, and use tools like Jira to track progress. I also ensure the team has autonomy to self-organize while maintaining alignment with overall objectives.
I have deployed and operated multi-node OpenStack clusters for several years. Key challenges included network performance tuning and scaling issues. I overcame these by implementing SDN solutions and working with the community to upgrade components. I also automated failure recovery using Ansible and monitoring tools.
I would first have a private conversation to understand any underlying issues and provide clear feedback with specific examples. I would set up a performance improvement plan with measurable goals and regular check-ins. If there is no improvement, I would escalate with HR, but my focus is always on coaching and support.
I promote a DevOps culture by encouraging shared ownership of code and operations. I facilitate joint retrospectives and integrate ops feedback into development sprints. I also implement CI/CD pipelines that enable faster and more reliable deployments, reducing friction between teams.
I allocate time for learning through individual study budgets and team knowledge-sharing sessions. I encourage team members to attend conferences and contribute to open source projects. I also set aside time for proof-of-concept projects to explore new tools before integrating them into production.
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.
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