Kubernetes Software Engineer at Canonical - Remote EMEA/Amer — Columbus
Traveler-Friendly Insight
Canonical is one of the most nomad-friendly employers in tech. As a remote-first company since 2004 with 1,000+ colleagues across 70+ countries, the culture is deeply async by design. There are no fixed daily standup requirements implied, and distributed collaboration is a core competency — not an afterthought.
Timezone flexibility: The role is open across EMEA and the Americas, covering roughly UTC-8 to UTC+3. Canonical teams typically operate asynchronously with overlap windows rather than rigid schedules, making it feasible to work from popular nomad hubs in multiple time zones.
Visa considerations: With allowed regions spanning EMEA and the Americas, strong digital nomad visa options include:
- Portugal (D8 visa) — popular with US/non-EU applicants, €760/month income threshold
- Spain (Digital Nomad Visa) — requires ~€2,334/month minimum income
- Costa Rica & Colombia — straightforward nomad visas for Americas-based applicants
- UAE Freelance/Remote Visa — tax-free option for EMEA coverage
Cost of living context: Without a posted salary, budgeting is tricky — but software engineers at Canonical-caliber companies typically earn $80k–$130k USD equivalent. That stretches very far in Medellín (~$1,500/mo living costs), comfortably in Lisbon (~$2,200/mo), and modestly in Dubai (~$3,000/mo).
Travel perks are real: Priority Pass membership and travel upgrades for long-haul company events, plus 2–4 weeks of global team travel per year, make this an unusually travel-rich remote role.
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. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1000+ colleagues in 70+ countries and very few office-based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.
The company is founder led, profitable and growing.
We are hiring a software engineer to join our Kubernetes product team. As a member of that team, you will build the operators and addons; the former offering complete lifecycle management of mission-critical components, and the latter a zero-ops experience for seamlessly integrating projects into your Kubernetes.
You will gain familiarity with the latest features in Kubernetes and look to incorporate the best of open-source to bring functionality to our end-users. You will collaborate with industry peers and partners to bring the right solutions to our customers.
This is an exciting opportunity for a software engineer passionate about open source software, Linux, Golang, Python and Kubernetes.
Location: This is a remote position available in EMEA and the Americas.
What You Will Focus On
- Write high-quality code to create new features
- Debug issues and interact with a vibrant community
- Collaborate proactively with a distributed team
- Work with helpful and talented engineers including experts in many fields
- Work from home with global travel 2 to 4 weeks for internal and external events
What We Are Looking For in You
- Go or Python is required; experience in both is even better
- Kubernetes experience is preferred but not strictly required
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Bachelor's or equivalent degree in Computer Science, STEM, or similar field
- Passion for technology and working with brilliant people
What We Offer You
We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. 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. We provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.
- 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 Programme
- Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
- Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long-haul company events
About Canonical
Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. 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 on a daily basis. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence — in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Canonical has been a remote-first company 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.
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.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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