Containerization & Virtualisation Engineer

Containerization & Virtualisation Engineer at Canonical

Canonical is a leading provider of open‑source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. We are a founder‑led, profitable and growing company with a remote‑first culture.

General selection process for software engineers focused on virtualisation and container technology from kernel through userspace. Ideal candidate is an exceptional Go, Rust, or C/C++ engineer who wants to work on next‑generation open‑source VMM or container technology, or related open‑source networking and storage.

Examples of projects underway:

• RustVMM: new hypervisor for Linux – emphasis on performance, security and operability.
• Rockcraft: elevated Docker image experience for the open‑source community.
• LXD: modern system container and virtual machine manager spanning kernel work, REST API and CLI.
• Micro
  
  K8s and Charmed Kubernetes: on‑rail K8s and operations tooling.
• Open Stack, OVN/OVS, Ceph: cloud platform technologies for large‑scale environments.

Remote roles in every time zone.

• Design and specify new features, building consensus on approach.
• Engage with upstream communities in your area of expertise.
• Conduct security analysis and reviews to ensure defence in depth.
• Create and monitor performance benchmarks to optimise product.
• Collaborate proactively with a distributed team.
• Write high quality code to create new features.
• Debug issues and produce high quality code to fix them.
• Review code produced by other engineers.
• Discuss ideas and collaborate on finding good solutions.

• Exceptional academic record from high school and university.
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling alternative path.
• Track record of exceeding expectations.
• Experience on open‑source virtualisation or container tech.
• Experience working in the kernel or very low‑level system.
• Professional written and spoken English.
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred).
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, accountability.
• Passion, thoughtfulness, self‑motivation.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Result‑oriented, drive to meet commitments.
• Ability to travel twice a year, up to two weeks for company events.

• Performance engineering and security experience.

• Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly in‑person team sprints.
• 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.

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 daily. We recruit globally and expect excellence.

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.

Entry level

Full‑time

Engineering and Information Technology

Software Development