Ubuntu Package Management - Engineering Manager

About the role

The Ubuntu Foundations Package Management team, as part of the broader Ubuntu Foundations organization, develops and maintains the software management infrastructure that underpins every Ubuntu system. The team owns technologies at the heart of Ubuntu's software, driver, firmware, and upgrade experience, including APT, dpkg, firmware management, and driver management. Its mission is to provide the technologies that enable Ubuntu systems to be installed, maintained, updated, upgraded, and managed throughout their lifecycle.

The team balances innovation with the stability and reliability expected from one of the world's most widely used Linux distributions. The team works across the full engineering lifecycle, from roadmap definition and architecture through implementation, testing, release engineering, and upstream collaboration, ensuring the continued evolution of the technologies that manage software, drivers, firmware, and upgrades across Ubuntu systems.

What You’ll Do

• Define the technical vision and roadmap for Ubuntu's package management and system lifecycle platform
• Participate in design reviews and key technical decisions affecting software management and system lifecycle technologies across the Ubuntu ecosystem
• Promote high standards for performance, reliability, security, and maintainability
• Lead and support a team of engineers responsible for key Ubuntu platform technologies
• Mentor and grow engineers, helping them expand their technical leadership, ownership, and organizational impact
• Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Plan and deliver improvements across multiple Ubuntu release cycles
• Balance innovation with stability, compatibility, and long-term maintainability
• Improve test automation, release quality, and operational reliability
• Build strong partnerships across Ubuntu Engineering, including Release Engineering, Launchpad, Desktop, Server, Security, OEM, and Product teams
• Collaborate with Debian, upstream projects, and the Ubuntu open source community

What We Are Looking For

• An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path
• Strong background in software engineering and system design
• Experience leading engineering teams, including people management, coaching, and performance development
• Experience developing or operating Linux distribution technologies, package management systems, or software distribution infrastructure
• A strong understanding of systems software and operating system architecture
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work effectively in a globally distributed engineering team
• Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with package repositories, archives, or release engineering processes
• Experience contributing to Debian, Ubuntu, or other open source infrastructure projects
• Performance, reliability, or security engineering experience