Observability Engineering Manager

About the role

Canonical is looking for an Observability Engineering Manager to lead the development of distributed tracing and service mesh products within its Observability group. You will guide a team of engineers building a Kubernetes‑native observability stack that is easy to deploy, operate, and integrate with open‑source tools.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation, and delivery of observability components such as tracing, service mesh, and Kubernetes operators.
• Mentor and grow a distributed engineering team, ensuring productivity and removing blockers.
• Collaborate with product managers, architects, and other engineering managers to define roadmap and strategy.
• Review code and architecture, maintaining high standards for quality, security, and performance.
• Drive best‑practice adoption for Day 1 and Day 2 operations in Kubernetes environments.

Required profile

• Strong background in software engineering with hands‑on coding experience.
• Proven ability to lead technical teams, set expectations, and hold colleagues accountable.
• Passion for open‑source, Linux, and cloud‑native technologies.
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative mindset.

Required skills

• Linux
• Kubernetes
• Observability
• Distributed tracing
• Service mesh
• Kubernetes operators
• Metrics, logging, telemetry, alerting, profiling

What we offer

• Opportunity to work on a globally used open‑source platform (Ubuntu).
• Fully remote work with occasional in‑person meetups worldwide.
• Collaborative, distributed team culture.
• Competitive compensation and professional growth.