Product Manager - Desktop

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing. Canonical's product management team are technologists who have a passion for delivering products and solutions that help shape market demands while elevating open source software everywhere.

This is an application track for a product management position at Canonical on Ubuntu Desktop. Apply here if you excel at leadership, communication, and technical vision, and believe you can drive product strategy for the business and open source community needs of tomorrow.

We believe that open source is transforming the way that enterprises solve their business needs. Although open source has been around for thirty years, it is only now fundamental to every corner of the software landscape. Going forward we believe open source will have an even bigger impact as it moves into specialised vertical markets.

Our goal is to make open source easier, more reliable and more secure for deployment and development. We strive to be the provider of 'most software to most companies', starting with Ubuntu but expanding to cover every class of application on every class of compute.

Responsibilities

• Drive the vision of our desktop experience
• Lead the roadmap of our desktop product
• Drive our partnership with silicon vendors and OEMs
• Contribute to the largest Linux open source community
• Define future business models taking into account the competitive landscape
• Engage with the Ubuntu user community, key partners, HW manufacturers, and leading customers, enabling commercial success and driving go-to-market

Role Entails

• Lead the product development lifecycle, reviewing the priorities and goals for your product.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams such as engineering, design, marketing, and sales.
• Address common challenges across projects, align on priorities, enable informed decisions, and keep business execution on track.
• Conduct market research, analyse industry trends, and gather customer feedback to identify opportunities.
• Communicate your product vision, status updates, and key decisions to ensure alignment and manage expectations.
• Conduct usability testing, analyse user feedback, and iterate on the product to improve the user experience.
• Collaborate with marketing, sales, and support teams to develop go-to-market strategies, create product documentation, and provide training.
• Contribute to the success of our sales team in winning new opportunities, reviewing customer feedback and participating in customer meetings.

Requirements

• Exceptional academic results at high school and university
• Understanding of Linux and the wider open source software community
• Understanding of computer architecture, application development, enterprise IT, cloud or devices
• Passion to write about technologies and the tech landscape
• A strong work ethic, and personal interests aligned with the open source movement
• Curiosity, and the habit of continuous learning
• A strong sense of ownership
• Problem solving and the ability to innovate
• Outstanding communication skills in English, both verbal and written
• Ability to travel internationally up to 4 times a year for company events up to two weeks long

Nice-to-have Skills

• Familiarity with the Linux open source software ecosystem including windows managers (GNOME, KDE), identity management solutions (Entra, Orca, LDAP), and application development frameworks
• Familiarity with the technology ecosystem including Silicon, IHV, ISV, ODM/OEMs, cloud service providers
• Familiarity with data center, embedded and connected device technology and ecosystems

What We Offer

• 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
• Employee Assistance Program
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long haul company events

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.