About Canonical

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems, powering global enterprise and technology markets with its flagship platform, Ubuntu. Ubuntu is at the heart of breakthrough initiatives in public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include the world's top public cloud and silicon providers, as well as industry leaders across multiple sectors. As a pioneer in global distributed collaboration, Canonical employs over 1000 colleagues across 70+ countries, with very few office-based roles. Teams align on strategy and execution through in-person meetings two to four times a year in exciting locations worldwide. Founder-led, profitable, and growing, Canonical is committed to advancing open source excellence.

Role Overview

Canonical is launching a new career path for Performance Engineers, known internally as 'percorr', focused on delivering exceptional clarity in software performance, correctness, and efficiency. These roles are being integrated into every engineering team, from kernel-level development to server, desktop applications, and web technologies. Performance Engineers serve as drivers of performance engineering skills, tools, culture, and insights across Canonical's entire product range. A central performance engineering team will develop shared tools, dashboarding, measurement frameworks, and analytical capabilities. This role suits perfectionists and precision artists passionate about optimizing everything from user experience to data center efficiency and carbon footprint reduction.

Key Focus Areas

Performance Engineers delve deep into the software stack, understanding applications, runtimes, compilers, systems, and down to the CPU. They enhance test harnesses, unblock teams on previously unmeasurable aspects, and optimize stacks for major silicon vendors and clouds. Engineers may rotate between products every two years, bringing fresh perspectives and raising performance standards across Ubuntu's ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

As a Performance Engineer at Canonical, you will:

• Drive software performance and correctness within specific projects across the open source stack.
• Champion performance engineering practices, tools, and culture throughout engineering teams.
• Build and maintain shared performance tools, dashboards, and measurement frameworks.
• Provide deep insights into low-level CPU, kernel, distributed systems, compilers, runtimes, databases, and web performance.
• Optimize Ubuntu for diverse architectures, CPU families, and hypervisors to ensure peak efficiency.
• Lead initiatives to improve test harnesses and verification methods for complex systems.
• Collaborate globally, sharing skills and setting expectations for performance excellence.

Qualifications & Requirements

Canonical seeks truly exceptional individuals who are also leaders, confident in driving change and running programs. Ideal candidates bring:

• Profound expertise in performance analysis across software layers, from hardware to applications.
• Strong leadership to influence teams, share insights, and execute performance initiatives.
• Proficiency in languages such as C, C++, Rust, Golang, Python, Java, Flutter-Dart, or others.
• Nice-to-have skills: low-level CPU knowledge (cache, registers, vectorization), kernel insights (scheduling, hardware acceleration), distributed tracing, compiler optimizations, runtime performance (Golang, JVM), database tuning, web performance, and tools like eBPF, D-Trace, flamegraphs, Phoronix Test Suite.
• Experience building test harnesses in various languages and environments.

This role is open to applicants worldwide, with Canonical accommodating teams in every time zone.

Benefits & Perks

Joining Canonical offers unparalleled benefits in a remote-first environment:

• 100% home-based, worldwide location flexibility.
• Global collaboration with 1000+ colleagues across 70+ countries.
• Exciting in-person offsites 2-4 times yearly in diverse locations.
• Access to cutting-edge projects with top cloud and silicon partners.
• Competitive compensation reflecting tech sector rates.
• Profitable, growing company with founder leadership ensuring stability and vision.

Career Growth

Performance Engineers at Canonical have a dynamic career path. Rotate between products every two years to broaden expertise and impact. Advance as leaders in 'percorr', shaping tools and practices company-wide. Opportunities to specialize in kernel, hardware, AI workloads, or sustainability-focused optimizations. Canonical invests in your growth, fostering precision, rigor, and innovation in open source.

Why Join Canonical

Be part of the team delivering Ubuntu to enterprises worldwide, optimizing for public cloud, AI, IoT, and beyond. Work remotely with a distributed, high-performing culture that values insight and drive. Contribute to open source at scale, reducing global carbon footprints through efficient software. Canonical's remote-first model, global reach, and commitment to performance make it the ideal place for top talent seeking meaningful impact.

Role FAQs

Q: Is this role fully remote? Yes, it's home-based worldwide, with teams in every time zone.

Q: What experience is required? Deep performance expertise and leadership; specific skills in nice-to-haves are valued but not mandatory.

Q: Can I specialize in certain areas? Yes, from kernel and CPU to web and databases, with rotation options.

Q: How does Canonical support global teams? Through distributed collaboration and periodic in-person strategy meetings.

Q: What makes 'percorr' unique? It combines performance and correctness engineering, driving holistic improvements across Ubuntu.