Graduate Software Engineer — Open Source and Linux at Canonical
Canonical Ltd · Worldwide · Remote
Job Description
Canonical is a global leader in open-source software and enterprise operating systems. The company behind Ubuntu powers some of the world’s most innovative technologies across cloud computing, artificial intelligence, engineering, data science, IoT, and Kubernetes infrastructure.
With more than 1,200 professionals across 75+ countries, Canonical has pioneered distributed collaboration and remote engineering long before it became mainstream. The company partners with leading cloud providers, silicon manufacturers, and global enterprises to build scalable open-source solutions shaping the future of technology.
Canonical is founder-led, profitable, and rapidly expanding its global engineering teams.
Graduate Software Engineer Program 2025–2026
Canonical is hiring Graduate Software Engineers globally for its 2025 and 2026 engineering cohorts. This opportunity is designed for high-performing graduates passionate about open-source development, Linux systems, and modern software engineering.
Successful candidates will contribute to projects ranging from low-level Linux infrastructure and firmware to cloud-native applications, developer tooling, security systems, distributed computing, and AI platforms.
Engineering teams work across technologies including:
- Python
- Golang
- Rust
- C/C++
- JavaScript
- Java
- Bash scripting
You may work on:
- Linux kernels and drivers
- Containers and Kubernetes
- Cloud infrastructure
- Security and cryptography
- Raspberry Pi and embedded systems
- RISC-V platforms
- Toolchains and compilers
- Packaging and Linux distributions
- Enterprise-scale open-source platforms
Canonical matches engineers with teams aligned to their skills, interests, and career goals.
Why Join Canonical?
This role offers the opportunity to:
- Contribute to globally recognized open-source technologies
- Collaborate with elite engineers worldwide
- Build software used by millions daily
- Work remotely with globally distributed teams
- Participate in international engineering sprints twice yearly
- Accelerate your Linux and systems programming expertise
- Develop deep expertise in cloud-native and infrastructure technologies
Canonical emphasizes mentorship, technical excellence, ownership, and continuous learning.
Key Responsibilities
As a Graduate Software Engineer, you will:
- Help shape product roadmaps during global engineering sprints
- Build high-performance, scalable, and resilient software
- Focus on exceptional user and developer experiences
- Develop advanced Linux systems knowledge
- Participate in code reviews and open-source collaboration
- Engage with enterprise users and customer requirements
- Improve software security, reliability, and performance
- Contribute to technical documentation and issue resolution
- Collaborate across globally distributed engineering teams
Required Qualifications
To succeed in this role, you should have:
- Exceptional academic performance in high school and university
- A degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Business Informatics, or another STEM discipline
- Strong programming skills in at least one of:
- Python
- Rust
- C/C++
- Golang
- JavaScript
- Java
- Experience using Ubuntu or another Linux distribution
- Strong problem-solving and organizational skills
- Excellent written and spoken English
- Curiosity, accountability, and adaptability
- A demonstrated passion for technology outside academic coursework
- Ability to travel internationally twice per year
Preferred Qualifications
The following experience is considered an advantage:
- Open-source contributions
- Linux distribution packaging experience
- Contributions to Debian, Fedora, Arch, Nix, or similar ecosystems
- Leadership experience
- Technical writing or presentation skills
- Commercial or business awareness
Work Environment
Canonical operates as a remote-first company. Teams are generally aligned by regional time zones:
- EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa)
- APAC (Asia Pacific)
- AMER (North & South America)
Despite working remotely, employees collaborate closely through pair programming, mentorship, shared problem-solving, and in-person global sprints.
The company promotes sustainable productivity, healthy work-life balance, and focused weekday collaboration.
Compensation and Benefits
Canonical offers globally competitive compensation packages based on:
- Geographic location
- Experience
- Performance
Benefits include:
- Annual performance bonuses
- Distributed remote work environment
- Twice-yearly international team sprints
- USD 2,000 annual learning and development budget
- Annual compensation reviews
- Recognition and reward programs
- Paid annual leave
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Wellness and employee assistance programs
- Travel upgrades for long-haul company events
- Priority Pass travel benefits
About Ubuntu and Open Source Innovation
As the publisher of Ubuntu, Canonical remains at the forefront of global open-source innovation. Ubuntu powers cloud infrastructure, AI systems, IoT platforms, and enterprise workloads across industries worldwide.
Canonical continues to redefine modern software engineering through distributed collaboration, technical excellence, and open innovation.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Canonical is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. Applications are evaluated fairly regardless of background, identity, or personal characteristics.
How to Apply
Interested candidates can apply directly through the official Canonical careers portal:
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LIKELY QUESTIONS - Why do you want to join Canonical specifically, rather than another graduate software engineering program? - Tell me about your experience using Linux or Ubuntu. What have you configured, debugged, or built on it? - Which programming language are you strongest in, and can you describe a technically challenging project you built with it? - Canonical contributes heavily to open source. Have you made any open-source contributions, and if not, how have you still demonstrated engagement with developer communities? - This role could involve systems work, cloud infrastructure, packaging, or distributed software. Which areas interest you most, and how does your background align with them? - Describe a time you had to debug a difficult issue. How did you isolate the root cause and verify the fix? - How do you ensure code quality when working in a distributed team across time zones? - Canonical values strong written communication and accountability in a remote-first environment. How have you demonstrated those traits in past projects? BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS - Tell me about a time you learned a new technical domain quickly to deliver a result. Model approach: Situation - Briefly set up a project where you had limited prior knowledge, such as Linux internals, containers, or a new language. Task - Explain the concrete outcome you needed to deliver and timeline. Action - Show how you broke the topic down, used documentation, built small experiments, asked focused questions, and applied learning quickly. Result - Quantify the outcome: feature delivered, bug fixed, improved grade, reduced errors, or faster performance. End with how this proves curiosity and adaptability. - Describe a time you received critical feedback on your code or technical approach. Model approach: Situation - Mention a code review, team project, or internship where your approach was challenged. Task - Your goal was to improve the solution while maintaining team trust and delivery momentum. Action - Emphasize listening without defensiveness, understanding the reasoning, revising the design, adding tests or documentation, and incorporating the lesson into future work. Result - Better code quality, fewer bugs, improved collaboration, or stronger review outcomes. Highlight coachability and ownership. - Give an example of working effectively with others on a distributed or collaborative technical project. Model approach: Situation - Use a university team, hackathon, open-source effort, or remote collaboration. Task - Explain the shared objective and coordination challenge. Action - Describe how you clarified ownership, documented decisions, communicated asynchronously, used version control well, and kept stakeholders updated. Result - Successful delivery, smoother teamwork, or fewer misunderstandings. Tie it to Canonical's remote-first culture. - Tell me about a time you took ownership of a problem that was not clearly assigned to you. Model approach: Situation - Present a gap such as flaky tests, poor documentation, deployment friction, or an unresolved bug. Task - The team needed someone to drive it to resolution. Action - Explain how you investigated the issue, proposed a solution, aligned others where needed, implemented the fix, and followed through with documentation or prevention steps. Result - Improved reliability, developer experience, or user experience. Stress initiative, accountability, and long-term thinking. SMART QUESTIONS TO ASK - How does Canonical decide which graduate engineers are matched to which teams, and how much input does the engineer have in that process? - What distinguishes graduates who ramp up successfully in their first six to twelve months at Canonical? - How do teams balance deep technical work with customer-driven priorities, especially in areas like Ubuntu, cloud infrastructure, or security? - What does strong performance look like for a graduate engineer in a remote-first team, both technically and in communication? - How are mentorship, code review, and onboarding structured for new graduates working across time zones? RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR - Vague answers about onboarding, mentorship, or how graduates are supported in a remote environment. - Inconsistent explanations of team matching, role scope, or what technologies you would realistically work on. - Signals of poor remote culture such as excessive meeting load, unclear ownership, or expectations of constant availability across time zones.
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Adjacent Career Paths
Roles you'd also qualify for based on this posting's requirements:
- Junior Linux Systems Engineer — The role emphasizes Linux, scripting, troubleshooting, and infrastructure fundamentals that map directly to systems engineering work.
- Associate Site Reliability Engineer — Experience with Linux, cloud infrastructure, automation, and reliability makes this a natural fit for entry-level SRE positions.
- Junior DevOps Engineer — The posting's focus on containers, Kubernetes, CI-friendly coding, and distributed systems aligns well with DevOps engineering.
- Associate Embedded Software Engineer — Work on kernels, drivers, firmware, Raspberry Pi, and RISC-V closely matches embedded and low-level software roles.