Information Systems - Open Source Technical Architect - remote job

Canonical is hiring a Information Systems - Open Source Technical Architect. The role sits in IT and programming and is fully remote. The company places no restriction on where the candidate lives, so you can apply from anywhere.

The employer did not publish a figure; that is settled at interview. The advert sets no condition on working hours.

This vacancy passed an automated check: the list excludes any advert requiring a foreign work permit, visa sponsorship, a particular citizenship, or residence in a specific country.

Canonical is a leading provider of open-source software and operating systems, serving the global enterprise and technology sectors. Our flagship platform, Ubuntu, is extensively utilized in cutting-edge enterprise initiatives like public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. We collaborate with the world's top public cloud and silicon providers, as well as industry leaders across various sectors. As a company, we champion global distributed collaboration, with a diverse team of over 1200 colleagues spread across more than 80 countries, with minimal office-based roles. Our teams gather in person two to four times a year for strategy and execution alignment, in exciting locations worldwide.

Canonical is independently founded, profitable, and growing. We are currently seeking an Information Systems Architect to lead the development of best practices in infrastructure as code on a global scale. Join us to advance the state of the art and shape the infrastructure supporting tens of millions of devices running Ubuntu.

The Information Systems (IS) team oversees all IT operations, including the infrastructure for building, packaging, and distributing Ubuntu worldwide. As the IS Architect, you will own the design and implementation of hardware and software, from PCI lanes to CDN and everything in between. Our goal is to establish a reference operation, leveraging the latest Ubuntu and open-source capabilities with modern operating principles. Your decisions will impact the Ubuntu user experience for millions of users and influence how Canonical's engineers interact with compute and network resources in a DevOps setting.

This is a remote position, with two annual in-person team events totaling about 4 weeks per year.

Role Location: Remote, EMEA region

Key Responsibilities:

- Develop, gain consensus, and implement a comprehensive vision for a world-class internal cloud - Establish, maintain, and update the technical design roadmap and guidelines for SREs within IS, with a focus on enhancing reliability, resilience, operational scalability, and technical scalability - Collaborate with cloud-ops software development teams to contribute to the roadmap, requirements, and prioritization for building a world-class, highly standardized, and automated operation - Provide input and advice to IS management regarding technology, reliability, resilience, and business cases - Lead technical choices to implement solutions as self-service products, ensuring scalable operations - Collaborate with product security and operations security to establish best practices and address new threats promptly - Automate operations for reuse across the world's largest companies, considering the complexities of distributed systems - Collaborate with development teams to design service architecture, documentation, playbooks, policies, and operational procedures - Analyze incidents and events, identify root causes, and implement structural improvements to minimize recurrence

Required Qualifications:

- Strong academic background, including a high school and university degree or a compelling narrative of an alternative path - Confidence to express ideas, share feedback, and contribute to discussions - Proven track record of achieving exceptional results - In-depth knowledge of cloud computing concepts, technologies, and operations - Practical experience with Linux networking, routing, and firewalls, internet transit, and large-scale networking - Experience managing significant production outages, incident response, and postmortems - Passion for open-source, especially Ubuntu or Debian - Effective communication skills in English, both written and verbal

Nice-to-Have Skills:

- Modern software engineering background (e.g., peer review, unit testing, SCM, CI/CD, Agile) - Hands-on experience with large-scale automatic administration of enterprise Linux servers

We Offer:

- Competitive compensation based on location, experience, and performance - Annual bonus or commission - A personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year - Regular performance reviews - Recognition programs - Generous annual leave - Maternity and paternity leave - Employee Assistance Program - Opportunities to travel to new locations to meet colleagues - Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long-haul company events

About Canonical:

Canonical is a forward-thinking technology company at the forefront of the global transition to open source. As the publisher of Ubuntu, one of the most critical open-source projects, we are transforming the software landscape. We recruit globally and maintain high standards for all candidates. To succeed, we must be the best at what we do. Since our founding in 2004, most of our colleagues have worked remotely. Joining us means stepping into the future, challenging yourself to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and perform at your best.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a workplace free from discrimination. We value diversity and are dedicated to creating a better work environment and better products through varied experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds.