Software Engineer - Secure Container Images

Canonical

Contract type

Ongoing

Work mode

Remote · EMEA region

Experience

3 years

Job description

Software engineering role building and maintaining hardened Ubuntu-based container images ('rocks'), owning the path from upstream source to published, tested, signed images. The role is based in the EMEA region and involves automation of packaging, building, testing, and publishing images at scale.

At a glance

Employment: Full-time · Employee (employment agreement)
Work mode: Remote · EMEA region
Languages: English – business level

What you'll do

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 the portfolio current with new features, patches, and applications
Collaborate with 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 the knowledge base and write about the work
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

What we're looking for

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

Nice to have

A security-oriented maintenance mindset: 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

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 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
Performance-driven annual bonus

Save

About Canonical

A pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. 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. We are founder-led, profitable, and growing. Powered by worldwide distributed collaboration since our inception in 2004, we have no central headquarters.

Mission

We believe tech and business leadership can emerge anywhere.

Key facts

2004
Open source software
Ubuntu platform widely used in public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT
Container images with more than 10 billion pulls
Founder-led, profitable, and growing
No central headquarters; most colleagues work from home
Worldwide distributed collaboration since inception in 2004

What they value

Precise
Reliable
Accessible
Adroit