Senior Design Manager (Infrastructure)

About Canonical

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to global enterprise and technology markets. The company publishes Ubuntu, a widely used platform in enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Canonical operates as a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with over 1200 colleagues across more than 75 countries, and maintains a remote-first work environment since its inception in 2004.

The Role: Senior Design Manager (Infrastructure)

Canonical is seeking a Senior Design Manager (Infrastructure) to join its team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This full-time role involves leading the Infrastructure Design team, focusing on products that build cloud experiences and software distribution mechanisms. The Design Manager will contribute to the security evolution of software packaging and delivery, ensuring the experience of Canonical's software and infrastructure aligns with its intentions and delivers necessary tools to the community and customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Review the work of the design team for quality assurance.
• Support individual designers in their professional growth and development.
• Continuously improve operational workflows, including production outsourcing and collaboration with Web Engineering.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, particularly within the Engineering organization, to define and validate outcomes.
• Evolve design systems and guidelines to promote consistent quality and enhance efficiency.
• Coordinate with other design leadership members to mature collective design practices.
• Facilitate team collaboration and knowledge sharing to strengthen culture.
• Engage with the open source community to gather insights and communicate the value of the team's work.

Qualifications and Experience

• 5-10 years of experience in design management.
• Demonstrated expertise in a deeply technical domain.
• Ability to coach designers in creating tools for developers and cloud engineers.
• Experience in managing expectations and ensuring timely delivery against a roadmap.
• Strong communication and active listening skills for engaging with product and engineering stakeholders, and team members.
• A background that enables driving sustainable quality improvements and guiding individual growth within a team.

Work Environment and Culture

Canonical maintains a remote-first work model, with teams meeting two to four times annually in various global locations for strategy and execution alignment. The company fosters a workplace free from discrimination, valuing diversity of experience, perspectives, and background to create a better work environment and products. Canonical is an equal opportunity employer committed to fair consideration for all applicants.