Engineering Manager, Ubuntu Desktop Gaming at Canonical

Overview / Job Description

• We are creating a new team to focus on Linux gaming on Ubuntu. Our goal is to enable game ecosystems like Steam, and individual game publishers, to be confident they can deliver outstanding gameplay on Ubuntu - in fact the best gameplay possible on your hardware.
• As part of that we are hiring a manager to lead the team.
• We are in an exciting time for gaming on Linux. Compatibility tools like Proton have matured, and many native Windows titles "just work" today, massively expanding the gaming catalog available on Linux.
• Nevertheless, delivering a well rounded gaming experience is about more than just compatibility; it’s about maximising performance across a wide range of hardware, ensuring anti-cheat mechanisms are robust and secure, making it easy to access tools for content creation, driver management and HUD overlays as well as ensuring game controllers, headsets, RGB keyboards and gaming mice are fully supported.
• We want to create a platform that makes it easy for players to find the games they want, use the devices they own and share those experiences with friends.
• In this role you will work with open source projects like Proton as well as with partners like Unity to improve the gaming experience for Ubuntu users around the world, as well as the wider Linux gaming ecosystem in general.
• As an engineering manager at Canonical you must be technically strong, but your responsibility is to run an effective team and develop the colleagues you manage.
• You are expected to help them grow as engineers, do important work, do it outstandingly well, find professional and personal satisfaction, and work well with colleagues and community.
• Technical leadership experience and a background in software engineering are necessary prerequisites for this role.
• You will be expected to lead, challenge, and develop strong engineers, positively influence the culture, facilitate technical delivery, and work with your team on strategy and execution.

Responsibilities
What you’ll do:

• Build and lead a globally distributed team of engineers
• Coach, mentor, and provide hands-on examples to shape career development
• Demonstrate sound engineering principles
• Help determine the product roadmap through insights, estimation and execution
• Set and manage expectations with other teams, management, and stakeholders
• Advocate and advance modern, agile software development practices
• Develop and evangelize great engineering and organizational practices
• Grow a healthy, collaborative engineering culture in line with the company values
• Be an active part of the leadership team and collaborate with other leaders in the organisation
• Work from home with global travel twice a year for company events up to two weeks long

Valued Skills and Experience:

• Experience leading a distributed team to deliver features
• Ideally, experience with devops - running production services at scale
• Experience working in an agile development environment
• Developing and growing people
• Knowledgeable and passionate about software development
• Experience in Linux graphics or gaming technologies.
• A gamer, with first hand experiences of the challenges users face on Linux.
• Understanding of the current Linux gaming technology landscape
• Ideas and insights as to how Ubuntu can have a positive impact on Linux gaming