Graduate Software Engineer, Open Source and Linux, Canonical Ubuntu

About the role

Canonical is hiring 2025 and 2026 Graduate Software Engineers into engineering teams around the world. As a global platform company, we offer a wide range of software engineering challenges in both open source products and commercial business systems. We work in a variety of languages, typically Python, Golang, Rust, C/C++, JavaScript, and Bash, across the entire Linux stack—from BIOS and boot loaders to desktop applications and containers. Our work spans tiny devices like the Raspberry Pi and RISC-V boards to supercomputers, clouds, and Kubernetes clusters. We contribute to compilers, toolchains, security, cryptography, performance, and documentation. Some teams focus on packaging thousands of software pieces, while others make deep contributions to a single codebase.

We will work with you to identify teams and projects that align with your skills and motivations. Most engineering teams work remotely, aligned within a single time zone (EMEA, APAC, or AMER), ensuring you have colleagues for coaching, mentoring, and pair programming. Larger projects may span multiple teams globally. This is a full-time role, five days a week, with a focus on solving hard problems and taking significant responsibility. We bring teams together in person twice a year for sprints to foster collaboration and career development.

Responsibilities

• Shape the roadmap for your product at global sprints every six months
• Focus on design and user experience, even for developer tooling and command-line apps
• Write high-quality, resilient, and performant code, potentially serving millions of daily users
• Work toward mastery of key programming languages and Linux system knowledge
• Engage with users and the open-source community through code reviews and issue trackers
• Respond to customer issues as a priority and develop an understanding of enterprise requirements
• Develop skills and awareness of security in software design and implementation
• Travel internationally twice a year for company events, up to two weeks long

Requirements

• Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Business Informatics, Mathematics, or another STEM discipline with programming courses
• Confidence to get started and deliver high-quality code in one of Python, Rust, C/C++, Golang, JavaScript, or Java
• Experience with Ubuntu or another Linux distribution
• Track record of going above-and-beyond expectations to achieve outstanding results
• Result-oriented and organized, with the drive to meet commitments
• Personal projects in technology and software engineering beyond the curriculum
• Professional written and spoken English
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability
• Personal responsibility and accountability
• Thoughtfulness, self-awareness, and the ability to reflect and develop

Nice-to-have skills

• Upstream open-source contributions
• Packaging and Linux distribution contributions (Debian, Fedora, Arch, Nix, or another)
• Leadership and organization skills
• Presentation and writing skills
• Business and commercial interests

Benefits

• 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

Pay

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.

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company behind 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 globally and set a very high standard for people joining the company. Most colleagues have worked remotely since the company's inception in 2004. Working here challenges you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.