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Software Engineer – OpenStack

AI Summary
Canonical is seeking a Software Engineer to develop and maintain Charmed OpenStack and Ceph tooling for cloud infrastructure deployments. The role centers on Python development, infrastructure automation, debugging, code review, and collaboration in a globally distributed open-source engineering team. Candidates need hands-on experience with Python and OpenStack-related technologies, plus familiarity with Linux, distributed systems, and non-x86 architectures. The position is home-based across the Americas and EMEA, with international travel for internal and external events several times per year.
Remote from
USA, Canada, EMEA+1 more, LATAM
Salary
Undisclosed
Employment
Full Time
Experience
Open level
Published
Apply before
7 Dec 2026
Listing views
26
Application actions
1
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Opportunity details

About this role.

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 a Software Engineer for our OpenStack Engineering team. This is an exciting opportunity for a software engineer passionate about open source software, Linux, and OpenStack. Come build a rewarding, meaningful career working with the best and brightest people in technology at Canonical, a growing international software company.

As a software engineer on the OpenStack Engineering team, you’ll be building Charmed OpenStack and Ceph, a suite of open source Python based charms for deploying and managing OpenStack and Ceph. Your work will bring cloud platform technologies to a wide range of users and computing environments, from desktops to bare metal servers. This role requires a python software developer with a passion for automating infrastructure as code.

Applicants should be passionate about the future of the software defined datacenter, distributed systems, and open source. Canonical is a globally distributed team of engineers who share that passion, and you will need to work well in that context. Engineers who thrive at Canonical are mindful of the dynamics of the open source ecosystem, and equally aware of the needs of large, innovative organizations.

This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week at a time.

What you’ll do

  • Collaborate proactively with a distributed team
  • Write high quality code to create new features
  • Debug issues and produce high quality code to fix them
  • Review code produced by other engineers
  • Discuss ideas and collaborate on finding good solutions
  • Ensure the success of OpenStack and Ceph on multiple architectures
  • Work from home with global travel 2 to 4 weeks for internal and external events

Who you are

  • You love 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 a Bachelor’s or equivalent in Computer Science, STEM or similar degree
  • You have experience with Python
  • You have interest and experience with two or more of the following:Ubuntu Linux – kernel or userspace, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Ceph, AI/ML, QEMU/KVM, LXC/LXD, Python, Go, C, Postgresql, Mongo, Debian packaging, scalable web services
  • You have experience with non-x86 architectures, including s390, arm64, power and others
  • You have experience with OpenStack, OVN, Openvswitch and other related cloud technologies

What Canonical Offers

  • Learning and Development
  • Annual Compensation Review
  • Recognition Rewards
  • Annual Leave
  • Priority Pass for travel
  • Flexible working option

Canonical believes a diverse workforce enhances our ability to deliver world class software and services which meet the world’s computing needs. We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

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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This job listing has been manually reviewed by the Jobicy Trust & Safety Team for compliance with our posting guidelines, including verification of the company's legitimacy, accuracy of job details, clarity of remote work policy, and absence of misleading or fraudulent content.

Role DNA

A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.

Job Complexity

5/5
EasyHard

Pace & Pressure

4/5
RelaxedFast-paced

Autonomy Level

5/5
GuidedFull ownership

Communication Load

4/5
IndependentCollaborative
AI insightThis is a technically demanding infrastructure engineering role requiring expertise across Python, OpenStack, Ceph, Linux, distributed systems, and cloud networking. Engineers must independently solve complex production issues while collaborating effectively across a global asynchronous team.

Salary analysis

Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.

Estimated job median (per year)Market rate
$135,000
US market range (per year)$105k–$170k
AI insightThe yearly pay period is inferred from the job context; it was not explicitly stated by the employer. No employer salary was disclosed. The annual cadence and USD estimates are inferred for a full-time OpenStack infrastructure software engineering role; market figures are AI estimates for the US market and may vary substantially by eligible country, seniority, and local employment arrangement.

Core skills

Skills and capabilities most closely associated with this opportunity.

Sample interview questions
How would you investigate a failed OpenStack deployment managed through Juju charms?

I would first identify the failing unit and review Juju status, unit logs, and relation data. I would then validate service configuration, network connectivity, resource availability, and dependencies such as databases or messaging services. After isolating the cause, I would reproduce it where possible, implement a focused fix, and add automated coverage to prevent regression.

What considerations are important when writing a production-quality Python charm?

A production charm should be idempotent, handle hook retries safely, validate configuration, provide actionable status messages, and manage relations explicitly. I would separate business logic from hook handling, use structured logging, test failure paths, and maintain compatibility with supported platform versions.

Describe a challenge of operating distributed systems across different hardware architectures.

Architectures can differ in instruction sets, package availability, performance characteristics, and virtualization support. I would use architecture-aware CI, avoid assumptions about x86 behavior, validate dependencies on each supported platform, and investigate issues with reproducible tests and platform-specific telemetry.

How do you approach code reviews in an open-source engineering team?

I focus on correctness, clarity, maintainability, security, and operational impact rather than personal preference. I provide specific and respectful feedback, ask questions when context is missing, and suggest tests or documentation where they improve confidence. I also aim to keep reviews timely so they do not block contributors.

How would you collaborate effectively in a globally distributed team?

I would communicate decisions clearly in written channels, document context and next steps, and make work visible through issues and pull requests. I would plan around time-zone differences, use asynchronous updates effectively, and reserve synchronous meetings for decisions that benefit from real-time discussion.

This analysis is generated from the job description. Salary estimates, role characteristics and sample answers are guidance, not employer-provided facts.
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