Software-Defined Networking Engineer

Canonical Group - Cincinnati, OH

Full-time - Entry Level

Remote - Cincinnati, OH

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

The Software-Defined Networking Engineer role at Canonical involves working with open source networking software across various technologies and platforms. The position is designed for software engineers passionate about networking, from kernel-level IP to overlay SDN networking and telco solutions. The role emphasizes collaboration with industry partners, contributing to innovative product strategies, and engaging with the open-source community to develop future-proof networking solutions.

Responsibilities

• Work with advanced operating systems and network application technologies.
• Collaborate with public clouds and network silicon providers.
• Design and implement software-defined networking experiences for hardware platforms and software stacks.
• Write high-quality, well-designed, and well-documented software.
• Contribute to innovative product strategies.
• Debug issues and produce high-quality code to fix them.
• Collaborate proactively with a globally distributed organization.
• Contribute to technical documentation.
• Display technical leadership internally and in open source communities.
• Influence open-source projects and communities.
• Shape software-defined networking products for evolving data centre architectures.

Requirements

• Exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about an alternative path.
• Knowledge of networking architecture, design, and protocols.
• Deep understanding of Linux networking, from kernel to user space.
• Fluency in at least one of Golang, C/C++, Rust, or Python.
• Professional written and spoken English.
• Experience with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu preferred).
• Excellent interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, and accountability.
• Passion, thoughtfulness, and self-motivation.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• 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-haves

• Familiarity with existing open source networking technologies like eBPF, OVS, OVN, SoNIC, DENT, etc.
• Familiarity with data path hardware acceleration protocols and interfaces such as RDMA, RoCE, iWARP, NVMe, SR-IOV.
• Computer architecture knowledge of x86, ARM, and RISC-V.
• Experience in complex IP network engineering and implementation.
• Experience with virtualization technologies like QEMU, KVM, etc.
• Previous contribution to open source projects and community involvement.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Cloud-native Network Functions, and Container Network Interface plugins.
• Performance engineering and security experience.

Benefits

• Performance-driven annual bonus.
• 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.