About Canonical

Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the world's leading open source operating system powering enterprise innovation across public cloud, data science, AI, engineering, and IoT. As a pioneer in global distributed collaboration, Canonical employs over 1200 colleagues across 75+ countries with minimal office-based roles. Teams align through 2-4 annual in-person meetups in exciting global locations. Founder-led and profitable, Canonical serves top public cloud providers, silicon leaders, and industry giants, supporting over 60 million Ubuntu users worldwide.

Role Overview

Canonical seeks a Senior Site Reliability / GitOps Engineer for its Information Systems (IS) team. This role targets automation-first senior technologists passionate about Linux to elevate operations for Canonical's production services. You'll advance GitOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) across private and public clouds, leveraging open source tools, CI/CD practices, and Canonical's automation products. Collaborate globally to ensure reliable services for Canonical, its customers, and the Ubuntu community while contributing feedback and code to improve upstream technologies.

What Makes This Role Unique

Operate at scale for services impacting millions, blend SRE practices with GitOps leadership, and gain uninterrupted focus time for transformative projects. This position offers technical leadership within a supportive global SRE team committed to excellence in open source infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive GitOps and automation development as an embedded tech lead in the team.
• Collaborate closely with the IS architect to align solutions with Canonical's architecture vision.
• Design and architect services offered organization-wide as robust products.
• Apply IaC expertise to enhance automation and processes across IS operations.
• Automate software operations for consistency in private and public clouds, addressing distributed systems complexities.
• Maintain operational responsibility for Canonical's core services, networks, and infrastructure.
• Build troubleshooting, capacity planning, and performance skills; implement observability with Prometheus, Grafana, and Elasticsearch.
• Provide assistance to distributed engineering, operations, and support peers globally.
• Handle final responsibility for time-critical escalations.
• Mentor through design sessions, knowledge sharing, and collaborative work.

Qualifications & Requirements

Canonical looks for proven senior technologists with:

• Extensive experience in IT operations automation and Infrastructure as Code.
• Deep Linux proficiency and passion for open source technologies.
• Strong background in SRE practices, CI/CD pipelines, and GitOps workflows.
• Expertise in cloud environments (private/public) and distributed systems.
• Observability tool experience including Prometheus, Grafana, Elasticsearch.
• Ability to architect scalable, reusable services.
• Track record of contributing bugs, pull requests, and feedback to open source projects.
• Global collaboration skills in distributed teams.

Preferred Experience

Familiarity with Canonical products like Juju or MAAS, advanced scripting, and leading automation initiatives at scale.

Benefits & Perks

• 100% remote work from anywhere worldwide.
• Competitive compensation in a growing, profitable company.
• Global team with in-person strategy meetups 2-4 times yearly.
• Professional development through uninterrupted project time and mentorship.
• Impact millions via Ubuntu and open source contributions.
• Work with industry-leading talent on breakthrough technologies.
• Comprehensive support for work-life balance in a founder-led culture.

Career Growth

Advance as a technical leader in Canonical's IS team, influencing architecture and operations at enterprise scale. Opportunities include deeper involvement in product development, upstream open source contributions, and global leadership roles. Canonical invests in your growth with dedicated time for innovation, cross-team collaboration, and skill-building in emerging tech like AI infrastructure and edge computing.

Why Join Canonical

Be part of the team powering Ubuntu's dominance in cloud, AI, and IoT. Canonical's remote-first culture fosters autonomy and excellence, with a profitable model ensuring stability. Contribute to open source that shapes the future, supported by a global network of experts. This Senior SRE / GitOps role positions you at the forefront of operations automation, directly impacting Canonical's services and the broader Ubuntu ecosystem.

Role FAQs

Is this role fully remote?

Yes, fully home-based worldwide with occasional in-person team meetups.

What tech stack will I work with?

Open source IaC tools, GitOps, CI/CD, Prometheus/Grafana, Linux, Canonical products, across multi-cloud environments.

How does Canonical support open source?

You'll provide feedback, submit bugs, and contribute PRs to improve products used by millions.

What is the team structure?

Global SRE team focused on collaboration, mutual support, and high-impact services.

What's the interview process like?

Technical discussions, practical exercises in automation/IaC, and cultural fit with the IS team. (Word count: 1028)