Technical Architect (Remote)

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. Our customers include the world’s leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. We are hiring an Information Systems Architect to define the best practice in infrastructure as code at a global scale. The Information Systems (IS) team is responsible for all IT operations at Canonical, including the infrastructure for building, packaging and distributing Ubuntu globally. As the IS architect, you will own the design of hardware and software implementation from PCI lanes to CDN and everything in between. Our goal is to be a reference operation, using the latest capabilities in Ubuntu and open source more generally, with the most modern operating principles. Your choices will impact the Ubuntu user experience for millions of users, and drive how Canonical’s engineers engage with compute and network resources in a devops setting.
You do this by leading System Reliability Engineers (SRE) and Data Center Engineers (DCE) to embrace best practices, and make informed decisions on technology choices in all aspects of cloud infrastructure and services. You will coach the IS team on automation, reliability, operational/technical scalability, network infrastructure and security.
This is a home based position, with twice-annual travel to company events totaling around 4 weeks per year.
Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region
Define, get buy-in and implement the holistic vision of a world class internal cloud
Collaborate with, and provide the cloud-ops software development teams with input for roadmap, requirements and prioritization to build a world-class, highly standardized and automated operation
Lead technical choices to implement solutions as self-service products, ensuring scalable operation
Collaborate with product security as well as operations security to set best practice and mitigate new threats in a timely manner
Automate operations for reuse across the world’s largest companies, taking into consideration the complexities of distributed systems
Collaborate with development teams to design service architecture, documentation, playbooks, policies and operational procedures
Analyze incidents and events, and establish what the reason behind the reasons are, and what structural improvements can be made to minimize the chance of them reoccurring
Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
Undergraduate degree in a technical subject or a compelling narrative about your alternative chosen path
Track record of going above-and-beyond expectations to achieve outstanding results
Extensive knowledge of cloud computing concepts, technologies & operation
Practical knowledge of Linux networking, routing, and firewalls, internet transit and large scale/bandwidth networking.
A passion for writing, sharing, and maintaining enterprise open-source software solutions
Able to communicate clearly and effectively in English over email, chat, video or voice calls and in-person
Modern software engineering background (peer-review, unit testing, SCM, CI/CD, Agile)
Hands-on experience of automatic administration of enterprise Linux servers at scale
We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus or commission. Annual compensation review
Annual holiday leave
Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long haul company events
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 of software. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since its inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.