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 1200+ colleagues in 75+ 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.
Canonical builds the open-source software that runs the world’s clouds, devices and AI, and we hold our managers to a high standard. Our Talent Development team exists to make leaders and managers at Canonical genuinely excellent. We define what great management looks like here, and we put that standard into the hands of managers and leaders across the company.
The Organisational Development Associate is where our most driven early-career people begin. From day one you work with real teams and take on real change, coached hard by senior practitioners on a fast path toward running this work yourself. This is not a support or back-office role, and it is not generalist HR. We hire for potential, drive and coachability over a polished CV, and we back the people we hire to move fast.
Applying to this role will enter you into our People Track for consideration across roles in the function.
Location: These are remote based positions, available across EMEA and the Americas.
The role entails- Being embedded inside a real team: see how it works day to day, and surface what is and isn't working.
- Running the diagnostics on a team's health and management effectiveness (engagement, 360, direct feedback), and turning the evidence into a clear, honest read.
- Owning an improvement end to end: a concrete change to how a team works that you design, drive and land, with a senior practitioner alongside you.
- Supporting managers in delivering effective 360 performance feedback to individuals and helping them turn it into two or three real commitments they follow through on.
- Helping build the playbook: the standards, tools and shared language the whole function runs on. You are building the system others use, not producing filler.
- Learning coaching and organisational development directly from senior practitioners, on a fast, visible path to running this work yourself.
- A track record of leading and organising early. You have run things, built things, won people over and made change happen, in a startup, a student society, the military, a team, anywhere. People around you already see you as a driver.
- A deliberate pull toward developing people and organisations. You chose this field on purpose, with a real grounding in organisational or industrial psychology, behavioural science or a comparable basis. It is not a fallback.
- Drive and eagerness to learn. You have your own ideas and the confidence to challenge, and you are hungry to be coached and to grow fast.
- The presence to sit across from experienced people and talk about change with confidence.
- An exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
- Up to around two years of experience since graduating.
- Business level written and spoken English.
- Organised, accurate, confident, authentic, results-oriented, and enthusiastic.
- Sincere personal motivation aligned with our mission.
- Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events.
In addition we expect that you will match our values, by being:
- Precise, taking care to deliver correctness and clarity.
- Reliable, delivering high quality work that builds trust and confidence.
- Accessible, collaborating to build products and systems that are usable.
- Adroit, blending enthusiasm, knowledge, adaptability, style and character.
- Any exposure to people, organisational, coaching or consulting work, through study, an internship or a first job.
- A genuine interest in the craft of management and organisations, not just the subject matter.
- Comfort working with data.
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.
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 of software. 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. 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.
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.
#LI-remote
Skills Required
- Track record of leading, organizing, building initiatives, influencing people, and driving change
- Academic grounding in organizational psychology, industrial psychology, behavioral science, or a comparable field
- Drive, eagerness to learn, confidence to challenge, and coachability
- Confidence communicating about organizational change with experienced stakeholders
- Exceptional academic record from high school and university
- Up to approximately two years of experience since graduating
- Business-level written and spoken English
- Organized, accurate, confident, authentic, results-oriented, and enthusiastic
- Personal motivation aligned with Canonical's mission
- Willingness to travel up to four times per year for internal events
- Exposure to people, organizational development, coaching, or consulting work
- Interest in management and organizational development
- Comfort working with data
Canonical Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Canonical and has not been reviewed or approved by Canonical.
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Strong & Reliable Incentives — Performance-based bonuses/commissions and annual compensation reviews are part of the package. Feedback suggests variable-pay roles like sales and some senior positions can realize competitive total compensation.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Total time off is portrayed as generous, combining annual leave with local holidays and company-wide shutdowns. Feedback suggests this breadth is attractive for those who value extended breaks.
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Healthcare Strength — Core medical, dental, and vision coverage is available and consistently highlighted in role materials. Feedback suggests coverage quality is solid for a remote-first tech employer.
Canonical Insights
What We Do
We deliver open source to the world faster, more securely and more cost effectively than any other company. We develop Ubuntu, the world’s most popular enterprise Linux from cloud to edge, together with a passionate global community of 200,000 contributors. Ubuntu means 'humanity to others'. We chose it because it embodies the generosity at the heart of open source, the new normal for platforms and innovation. Together with a community of 200,000, we publish an operating system that runs from the tiny connected devices up to the world's biggest mainframes, the platform that everybody uses on the public cloud, and the workstation experience of the world's most productive developers. Secure and reliable, elegant and intuitive, and open for innovation - Ubuntu is the future of open source, which is why its the fastest growing Linux in the world despite already being the most widely deployed.







