---
title: 'Staff Security Operations Engineer at Canonical'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-security-operations-engineer-canonical-worldwide-wm06pa7hqx8r'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Staff Security Operations Engineer at Canonical

- **Company:** Canonical
- **Location:** Worldwide
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2024-12-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/canonical/jobs/6485081

## Job description

We have opened several senior/staff Security Operations Engineer (SOC) positions, creating a new team reporting to the CISO. We are looking for a range of experience in these positions - at the high end we are looking for deep experience defending highly contested critical assets and high-value cyber targets against advanced persistent threats and state-level actors. We have more junior roles for exceptional individuals with a proven personal interest an engagement in cyber attack and defence, and outstanding academic and career performance even if experience is limited.

Our goal is to build an entirely new level of assurance and observable rigour into the open source supply chain. We have our own estate to monitor, but more broadly our goal is to raise the robustness of the entire global Ubuntu estate through the work of this team.

The Security Operations (SecOps) team is responsible for design, implementation and evolution of Canonical security practices, techniques, tools, systems and policies. The team is the primary owner of strategy and practices that determine how Canonical secures its data, internal infrastructure and build processes. They are responsible for assuring the security and integrity of our own infrastructure and product deployments. They design and implement technical security controls that ensure security threats are automatically identified, contained and remediated. The team will also contribute ideas and requirements for Canonical product security, improving the resilience and robustness of all Ubuntu customers and users subject to cyber attack.

The SecOps team's mission is not only to secure Canonical, but also to contribute to the security of the wider open source ecosystem. They might share knowledge through public presentations and industry events, and share threat intelligence with the wider community or represent Canonical in sector-specific governance bodies.

What you will do in this role:

- Implement and evolve Canonical's SecOps security standards and playbooks
- Analyse and improve Canonical's security architecture
- Evaluate, select and implement new security tools and practices
- Identify, contain and guide the remediation of security threats and cyber attacks
- Grow the presence and thought leadership of Canonical SecOps practice
- Contribute to open source threat intelligence initiatives
- Drive threat modelling, table top exercises and other SecOps practices across Engineering, IS and Canonical
- Develop Canonical SecOps learning and development materials
- Publish blog posts, whitepapers and conference presentations
- Identify, implement and track SecOps KPIs
- Plan and deliver SecOps work in the framework of Canonical's agile engineering practice
- Work with Security leadership to present information and influence change

## What we are looking for

- An exceptional academic track record
- Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path
- Drive and a track record of going above-and-beyond expectations
- Deep personal motivation to be at the forefront of technology security
- Expertise in threat modelling and risk management frameworks
- Knowledge of security architecture and market-leading security tools
- Experience contributing to, and consuming, threat intelligence feeds
- Experience in security risk management frameworks such as NIST CSF
- Experience with security standards such as ISO 27001

Optional things we value

- Experience in a security operations team or a security operations centre (SOC)
- Experience in offensive or defensive security teams with hands-on ability
- Experience with state-actor and other advanced persistent threats

## 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.](https://canonical.com/careers/diversity/identity)

#LI-remote

## 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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