---
title: 'Linux Enablement - Software Engineering Manager at Canonical'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/linux-enablement-software-engineering-manager-canonical-beijing-xmfkrxhymhmm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Linux Enablement - Software Engineering Manager at Canonical

- **Company:** Canonical
- **Location:** Beijing, China
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2024-05-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/canonical/jobs/5560182

## Job description

Canonical's Device Delivery Team works with tier-1 OEM and ODM customers to pre-load Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Core, bringing Ubuntu directly to millions of users.

As a ​Software Engineering Manager​ you will lead and manage the software engineering team to deliver OEM enablement projects. This fast-paced environment requires excellent time management, deep knowledge of the Linux system​, low-level debugging, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and management ability.

## Key responsibilities

- Recruit, motivate, mentor, and enable your team to succeed in delivering quality products
- Set goals with the team; prioritize tasks, identify and measure team health indicators
- Maximise the results of team members and support their career growth
- Coordinate with project managers, HWE, QA and certification management
- Monitor projects from kickoff to post-mortem and handle escalations
- Communicate, understand, and resolve the technical challenge with OEMs, ODMs, SiPs, IHVs
- Prioritize customer requests globally
- Collaborate with product engineering teams (including Desktop, Foundations, Kernel, and Security)
- Provide leadership for methodologies, strategies, standards, tools, and best practices
- Must be able to travel to the EU, USA, China, and Taiwan

Required skills and experience

- A Bachelor (or higher) degree in STEM, preferably computer science or software engineering
- Proven track record in technical roles with Linux, preferably Ubuntu or Debian
- Commitment to development and testing methodologies, and maintainable code quality
- Experience with management responsibilities
- Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment
- Ability to be productive in a globally distributed team through self-discipline and self-motivation
- Commitment and energy to deliver on schedule
- Strong English and Chinese language communication skills, both written and verbal

Desirable skills and experience

- Making technical decisions for a team as a tech lead
- Software architecture and design experience
- Software development or operations experience with: Ubuntu - kernel and userspace, deb/snap packaging, QEMU/KVM, LXC/LXD, Containers, Python, Go, C, bash, Postgresql, Mongo, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Ceph, AI/ML
- Participation in open-source development projects
- Experience with CI/CD

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer

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.

#LI-ET1 #stack

## About Canonical

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Canonical publishes Ubuntu and delivers trusted open source software, security, and support to enterprises worldwide.
- **Entity Type**: Private (founder-funded, bootstrapped)
- **Headquarters**: Not publicly available in provided sources (commonly reported as London, UK)
- **Founded**: 2004
- **Founders**: Mark Shuttleworth

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Enterprise open source software, cloud infrastructure, and security.
- Target customers: B2B – enterprises, cloud providers, developers, and government organizations.
- Mission statement: "We amplify the impact of open source" – helping people and organizations tap into the power of open source to develop new products with speed and confidence.

## Products & Services
- **Ubuntu**: The world’s most popular Linux distribution for desktops, servers, and IoT.
- **Ubuntu Pro**: A single subscription providing security maintenance, compliance features, and support for the entire open source portfolio.
- **OpenStack**: Canonical’s distribution of the open source cloud platform for private and hybrid clouds.
- **Kubernetes (MicroK8s, Charmed Kubernetes)**: Lightweight and production-grade Kubernetes solutions.
- **Landscape**: Systems management and compliance tool for Ubuntu deployments.
- **LXD**: System container manager for running full Linux systems in containers.
- **Netplan**: Network configuration utility for Linux.
- **Vanilla Framework**: Open source CSS framework developed by Canonical’s web and design teams.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding – not applicable (bootstrapped). Annual revenue – not publicly available.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Founder Mark Shuttleworth is the primary investor. Partners include major cloud providers and hardware vendors (not explicitly listed in provided sources).
- **Growth Signals**: Scaled engineering headcount from 600 to 950 engineers (per blog post). Remote-first since inception in 2004. Over 80 nationalities represented.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Ubuntu ecosystem**: De facto standard for cloud and developer environments.
- **Remote-first culture**: Fully distributed since 2004, attracting global talent.
- **Open source leadership**: Deep involvement in communities (OpenStack, Kubernetes, etc.) and strong brand trust.
- **End-to-end portfolio**: From OS to applications, with consistent security maintenance for up to 15 years.
- **Rigorous hiring**: Manual, human-reviewed process that prioritizes culture fit and potential.

## Strategic Focus
- Expand enterprise adoption of Ubuntu Pro and managed open source services.
- Maintain leadership in cloud, container, and edge computing.
- Strengthen security and compliance offerings for regulated industries.
- Continue investing in open source communities and upstream projects.

## Why Work Here
- **Remote-first**: Truly distributed company with no central office; team members work from anywhere.
- **Culture**: Values of reliability, accessibility, precision, and adroitness. Emphasis on collaboration and open source ethos.
- **Small teams, big impact**: Engineering organized into nimble squads (950 engineers across ~50 teams) prioritizing agility and deep expertise.
- **Diversity**: Team from over 80 nationalities; equal opportunity employer.
- **Career progression**: Focus on impact and potential over rigid experience thresholds; opportunities to shift roles if a better fit is found.
- **Perks**: Personal development budget, learning opportunities, and a global, inclusive environment.

## Sources
1. [canonical.com/careers](https://canonical.com/careers)
2. [canonical.com/company](https://canonical.com/company)
3. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/canonical](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/canonical)
4. [canonical.com/blog/hiring-the-canonical-way](https://canonical.com/blog/hiring-the-canonical-way)

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