Software Engineer - Secure Container Images

Summary

Canonical is a pioneering technology firm advancing open-source software through its Ubuntu platform. The Software Engineer will build and maintain hardened Ubuntu-based container images, automate CI/CD pipelines, assess security compliance, and collaborate across engineering teams and the open-source community. The role also includes setting image quality standards, documenting work, mentoring colleagues, and contributing to hiring.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain a growing portfolio of high-quality, hardened container images
• Design and operate automated CI/CD pipelines that build, test, scan, sign, publish, promote, and retire images across environments and architectures
• Write tooling and tests to assess security compliance and cloud-native compatibility
• Work closely with the community and partners to share container expertise and keep our portfolio current with new features, patches, and applications
• Collaborate with our product security, platform, infrastructure, and customer-facing teams
• Contribute technical input to the team's decision-making
• Set the standard for quality, defining image standards that span security, compatibility, performance, size, and developer experience
• Grow our knowledge base and write about the work we do
• Work in a collaborative, agile, and globally distributed environment
• Mentor colleagues and contribute to hiring
• Work from home with global travel of up to 15% for internal and external events

Skills

• • Proficiency in Bash and Python
• • Experience working with CI/CD systems (e.g. GitHub Actions, Jenkins)
• • Experience building container images
• • Command of at least one container management or orchestration tool (e.g. Docker, Podman, or Kubernetes)
• • Hands-on experience with Linux systems, package management, build systems, release engineering, or artifact pipelines
• • Clear communication and end-to-end ownership, spanning design, review, documentation, operation, and cross-team collaboration
• • A commitment to sharing knowledge and helping those around you grow
• • A genuine appetite for learning and for working outside your comfort zone
• • A Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, a STEM field, or a similar discipline
• • An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• • Business level written and spoken English
• • Sincere personal motivation aligned with our mission
• • International travel 2-4 times a year for company events up to two weeks long
• • 0-7 years relevant experience
• • 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
• • Work from home with global travel of up to 15% for internal and external events
• • A security-oriented maintenance mindset: you can investigate dependency and vulnerability findings, assess their impact, and deliver a safe fix
• • An understanding of software supply chain security, with some experience generating and consuming artifacts such as SBOMs, signatures, provenance, or CVE reports
• • Familiarity with GitOps principles and workflows
• • Familiarity with additional languages such as Go or Rust
• • Hands-on experience building minimal and distroless container images
• • Knowledge of the OCI specifications
• • Familiarity with security or compliance frameworks such as CIS, NIST, FedRAMP, or DISA STIG
• • Evidence of contributions to open source projects
• • A passion for embedding security across all stages of the engineering lifecycle (DevSecOps), and an interest in using AI or agentic development responsibly and safely
• • Relevant Linux, container, or cloud-native certifications (such as CKS or DCA) are welcome

Qualifications

Must Haves

• • Proficiency in Bash and Python
• • Experience working with CI/CD systems (e.g. GitHub Actions, Jenkins)
• • Experience building container images
• • Command of at least one container management or orchestration tool (e.g. Docker, Podman, or Kubernetes)
• • Hands-on experience with Linux systems, package management, build systems, release engineering, or artifact pipelines
• • Clear communication and end-to-end ownership, spanning design, review, documentation, operation, and cross-team collaboration
• • A commitment to sharing knowledge and helping those around you grow
• • A genuine appetite for learning and for working outside your comfort zone
• • A Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, a STEM field, or a similar discipline
• • An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university
• • Business level written and spoken English
• • Sincere personal motivation aligned with our mission
• • International travel 2-4 times a year for company events up to two weeks long
• • 0-7 years relevant experience
• • 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
• • Work from home with global travel of up to 15% for internal and external events

Nice to Haves

• • A security-oriented maintenance mindset: you can investigate dependency and vulnerability findings, assess their impact, and deliver a safe fix
• • An understanding of software supply chain security, with some experience generating and consuming artifacts such as SBOMs, signatures, provenance, or CVE reports
• • Familiarity with GitOps principles and workflows
• • Familiarity with additional languages such as Go or Rust
• • Hands-on experience building minimal and distroless container images
• • Knowledge of the OCI specifications
• • Familiarity with security or compliance frameworks such as CIS, NIST, FedRAMP, or DISA STIG
• • Evidence of contributions to open source projects
• • A passion for embedding security across all stages of the engineering lifecycle (DevSecOps), and an interest in using AI or agentic development responsibly and safely
• • Relevant Linux, container, or cloud-native certifications (such as CKS or DCA) are welcome

Benefits

• Performance-driven annual bonus
• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
• Bi-annual compensation review
• Company recognition rewards
• 40 days annual leave per annum, including public holidays and our All Company holiday periods
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Team Member Assistance Program & Wellness Platform
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues, with Priority Pass for lounge access