Rust Engineering Lead

Rust Engineering Lead - Linux and Open Source Join to apply for the Rust Engineering Lead - Linux and Open Source role at Canonical. Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT initiatives. With more than 1,200 colleagues across 75+ countries, we operate with a founder‑led, profitable, and growing organization that values distributed collaboration and home‑based work. We are hiring Rust Engineering Leads of all experience levels to drive Rust adoption across Canonical’s offerings—starting with Ubuntu and expanding to other open source projects. Rust is positioned as the next evolution for system‑level services traditionally written in C or C++. We envision Rust driving innovation from firmware and bootloaders to the kernel and desktop. In this role you will work on team‑level and system‑level projects in a fully distributed environment. Extensive personal experience with Linux is required; familiarity with multiple Linux distributions is preferred. Location: we have open roles for Rust engineers in every time zone. What your day will look like Design and implement well‑tested and well‑documented software in Rust. Advocate for Rust adoption within Canonical and upstream projects. Identify projects and codebases that could be prioritized for Rust adoption. Debug and resolve issues encountered by users. Participate in the engineering process through code and architectural reviews. Collaborate with community and colleagues on technical specifications. Seek improvements to engineering and operations practices. Deploy and operate services developed by the team (in some cases). Contribute to the success of your product through technical advocacy. What we are looking for in you Exceptional academic track record from high school through university. Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path. For more senior roles, experience building, deploying, and operating distributed systems and APIs. Drive and a track record of exceeding expectations. Well‑organized, self‑starting, and able to deliver to schedule. Appreciative of diversity, polite, and effective in a multicultural, multinational organisation. Professional manner when interacting with colleagues, partners, and community. Experience designing and writing high‑quality Rust software on Linux. Experience with and passion for Linux at the system level. Professional written and spoken English. Strong work ethic and confidence to shine alongside motivated colleagues. Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability. Passion, thoughtfulness, and self‑motivation. Result‑oriented, with a personal drive to meet commitments. Ability to travel twice a year for company events up to two weeks each. Nice‑to‑have skills we would value Experience developing for Ubuntu. Experience with LXD, MicroK8s, SnapD, IoT, Juju, Ubuntu Core, Ubuntu Pro. Performance engineering and security experience. What we offer colleagues 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; to succeed, we must be the best at what we do. Most colleagues at Canonical work from home since our 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 creates a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration. #J-18808-Ljbffr