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.
This is an opportunity to shape the future of cloud networking user experience at Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. We're looking for an exceptional Staff Design Engineer who can make complex networking infrastructure intuitive, powerful, and delightful for developers and operations teams working in cloud environments.
As a Staff Design Engineer, you'll define the UX vision for how users interact with networking across our cloud portfolio—from MAAS to MicroCloud and Ubuntu Server networking. You'll work on challenges like visualizing network topologies, designing intuitive configuration interfaces, and creating experiences that make infrastructure manageable at scale.
This role sits in the design team reporting to the Infrastructure design manager and is expected to have a company-wide impact.
Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.
The role entails- Defining and driving the UX strategy for cloud networking products across Canonical's portfolio
- Designing intuitive interfaces for highly complex networking concepts that rethink VPCs, subnets, routing tables, security groups, load balancers, and network observability
- Creating and evolving design systems and patterns that scale across multiple products and platforms
- Conducting user research with DevOps engineers, network administrators, SREs, and cloud architects to understand their workflows, pain points, and mental models
- Building prototypes and high-fidelity designs using Figma or similar tools
- Creating experiences for network troubleshooting, monitoring, and observability
- Working on both GUI and terminal-based user experiences, understanding that our users span from UI to CLI preferences
- Mentoring designers and contribute to design culture across Canonical
- Owning one of our working groups to enable Canonical design’s horizontal efforts
What we are looking for in you
- Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
- Bachelor’s or equivalent in User Experience, Design, or STEM or a compelling narrative about your alternative chosen path
- 8+ years of experience in product design, UX design, or interaction design, with a strong portfolio of B2B/enterprise products
- Solid understanding of cloud computing and networking fundamentals, experience designing for developers and operations teams, and their workflows
- Strong information architecture skills and can organize complex systems into clear, navigable structures
- Experienced in user research methodologies and can translate findings into actionable design decisions
- Excellent communication skills and can articulate design rationale to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Self-motivated, organized, and comfortable working in a distributed, remote-first environment
- Knowledge and passion for the intersection of user experience, technology and design
- Commitment to continuous learning and improvement - curious, flexible, scientific
- Result-oriented with a drive to finish work and celebrate success
- Ability to travel internationally twice a year, for company events up to two weeks long
Your base pay will depend on various factors including your geographical location, level of experience, knowledge and skills. In addition to the benefits below, certain roles are also eligible for additional benefits and rewards including annual bonuses and sales incentives based on revenue or utilisation. Our compensation philosophy is to ensure equity right across our global workforce.
In addition to a competitive base pay, we provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. Please note that additional benefits may apply depending on the work location and, for more information on these, you can ask in the later stages of the recruitment process.
- Fully remote working environment - we’ve been working remotely since 2004!
- Personal learning and development budget of 2,000USD per annum
- Annual compensation review
- Recognition rewards
- Annual holiday leave
- Parental Leave
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues at ‘sprints’
- Priority Pass for travel and travel upgrades for long haul company events
Canonical is a pioneering tech firm that is 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. Work at Canonical is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game. Canonical provides a unique window into the world of 21st-century digital business.
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
- Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in UX, Design, STEM, or compelling alternative experience
- 8+ years of experience in product design, UX design, or interaction design with B2B/enterprise portfolio
- Strong portfolio of B2B/enterprise product design work
- Solid understanding of cloud computing and networking fundamentals
- Experience designing for developers and operations teams (DevOps, SRE, network admins)
- Strong information architecture skills for complex systems
- Experience in user research methodologies and translating findings into designs
- Proficiency building prototypes and high-fidelity designs using Figma or similar tools
- Experience designing both GUI and terminal/CLI-based user experiences
- Excellent communication skills to present design rationale to technical and non-technical audiences
- Self-motivated, organized, and comfortable working in a distributed, remote-first environment
- Ability to mentor designers and contribute to design culture
- Willingness and ability to travel internationally twice a year for up to two weeks
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.
