Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. 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. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.
The company is founder led, profitable and growing.
Canonical builds the open-source software that runs the world’s clouds, devices and AI, and we hold our managers to a high standard. Our Talent Development team exists to make leaders and managers at Canonical genuinely excellent. We define what great management looks like here, and we put that standard into the hands of managers and leaders across the company.
The Organisational Development Associate is where our most driven early-career people begin. From day one you work with real teams and take on real change, coached hard by senior practitioners on a fast path toward running this work yourself. This is not a support or back-office role, and it is not generalist HR. We hire for potential, drive and coachability over a polished CV, and we back the people we hire to move fast.
Applying to this role will enter you into our People Track for consideration across roles in the function.
Location: These are remote based positions, available across EMEA and the Americas.
The role entails
- Being embedded inside a real team: see how it works day to day, and surface what is and isn't working.
- Running the diagnostics on a team's health and management effectiveness (engagement, 360, direct feedback), and turning the evidence into a clear, honest read.
- Owning an improvement end to end: a concrete change to how a team works that you design, drive and land, with a senior practitioner alongside you.
- Supporting managers in delivering effective 360 performance feedback to individuals and helping them turn it into two or three real commitments they follow through on.
- Helping build the playbook: the standards, tools and shared language the whole function runs on. You are building the system others use, not producing filler.
- Learning coaching and organisational development directly from senior practitioners, on a fast, visible path to running this work yourself.
What we are looking for in you
- A track record of leading and organising early. You have run things, built things, won people over and made change happen, in a startup, a student society, the military, a team, anywhere. People around you already see you as a driver.
- A deliberate pull toward developing people and organisations. You chose this field on purpose, with a real grounding in organisational or industrial psychology, behavioural science or a comparable basis. It is not a fallback.
- Drive and eagerness to learn. You have your own ideas and the confidence to challenge, and you are hungry to be coached and to grow fast.
- The presence to sit across from experienced people and talk about change with confidence.
- An exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
- Up to around two years of experience since graduating.
- Business level written and spoken English.
- Organised, accurate, confident, authentic, results-oriented, and enthusiastic.
- Sincere personal motivation aligned with our mission.
- Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events.
In addition we expect that you will match our values, by being:
- 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 skills
- Any exposure to people, organisational, coaching or consulting work, through study, an internship or a first job.
- A genuine interest in the craft of management and organisations, not just the subject matter.
- Comfort working with data.
What we offer colleagues
We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus. We provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.
- Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person.
- 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.
About Canonical
Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence - in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since its inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.
Canonical is an equal opportunity employer
We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.
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