About this role.
Canonical is hiring a C and Golang Software Engineer to work on dqlite, a distributed SQLite database leveraging a custom Raft library for consensus, used in projects like MicroK8s and LXD. The role involves designing and implementing features across libraft, dqlite, and go-dqlite, debugging complex issues, and improving automated testing, including Jepsen tests. This is a remote position based in EMEA, offering the opportunity to contribute to open source technologies within a globally distributed, remote-first company. The ideal candidate has strong C programming, distributed systems experience, and a passion for open source.
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Cover letter sample
Dear Hiring Team,
I am excited to apply for the C, Golang Software Engineer position focused on dqlite at Canonical. With a strong background in distributed systems, low-level C programming, and Go, I have long admired Canonical's leadership in open source and its impact on modern cloud infrastructure. My experience implementing and troubleshooting consensus protocols like Raft, combined with deep understanding of SQLite internals, aligns well with the requirements of this role.
In my previous work, I have designed and optimized replicated state machines, implemented safe concurrency patterns, and contributed to open source projects, which would allow me to hit the ground running with libraft and dqlite. I am particularly drawn to the opportunity to improve Jepsen testing and stress tests to ensure the highest level of database reliability.
I thrive in fast-paced, remote-first environments and value the collaborative culture Canonical champions. I would welcome the chance to bring my technical skills and passion for open source to your team and help shape the future of distributed SQLite.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Sample interview questions
Raft ensures consensus through leader election, log replication, and safety. The cluster elects a leader with a majority vote, the leader receives client requests, appends them to its log, and replicates to followers. Upon majority acknowledgment, the entry is committed. For leader election, each server uses randomized election timeouts, and candidates request votes from peers. I would implement this with terms, persistent state, and a replicated log, ensuring at most one leader per term.
I would start by using tools like ThreadSanitizer, Valgrind, or GDB with thread debugging. Reproducing the issue under stress testing helps. I would analyze shared state access, ensure proper synchronization with mutexes or atomic operations, and review lock ordering to avoid deadlocks. Also, enabling assertions and logging can pinpoint where the invariant fails.
I use context.Context to propagate cancellation signals. Each goroutine should listen for ctx.Done() and exit cleanly. For servers, I would call Shutdown() to stop accepting new connections, then wait with a WaitGroup for all ongoing requests to finish. Use sync.Once to close resources exactly once, and ensure channels are not left blocked.
Jepsen tests simulate network partitions, process crashes, and reordering to verify safety and liveness. Key considerations include defining a valid client, generating operations that exercise transactional invariants, and checking for linearizability or serializability. We must also ensure the test environment can inject faults precisely and verify the database recovers correctly without losing committed data.
Follower reads must ensure that a read sees all operations committed before a certain timestamp. One approach is to use read indexes from the leader: a follower asks the leader for the current commit index, verifies it catches up, and then serves the read from its local state. This balances read scaling with strong consistency. Alternatively, I would explore using Raft's ReadIndex or lease-based reads with careful tracking of leadership and commit index.
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 1000+ colleagues in 70+ 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 software developer to focus on dqlite, our distributed SQLite database which uses our own Raft library for establishing consensus and replication. Dqlite is available as a pure C library or through a Go package that we also maintain, and we intend to provide bindings for Python and other languages.
You will design and implement enhancements to the libraft, dqlite and go-dqlite components which we consume in MicroK8s, LXD and other projects. Work includes development in those pieces of software as well as responding to issues and user inquiries.
This is an excellent opportunity for someone who wants to have a meaningful impact on modern computing technologies. Canonical offers a fast-paced team environment and a career full of learning and development opportunities.
Location: This is a remote position available in EMEA
What you will focus on
- Design and implement features across dqlite
- Debug and fix issues encountered by your users
- Improve Jepsen tests, traditional HA database automated testing and stress tests
- Participate in our engineering process through code and architectural review
- Engage with the open source community and commercial partners
What we are looking for in you
- Experience with distributed systems (preferably with Raft)
- Good C programming experience
- Solid understanding of asynchronous programming and concurrency patterns a plus
- Capacity to learn quickly about new systems and techniques
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Bachelor’s or equivalent in Computer Science, STEM or similar degree
What we offer you
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. 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 on a daily basis. 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. Canonical has been a remote-first company 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.
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