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      Canonical

      Engaged Employer

      Canonical reviews

      3.2

      46% would recommend to a friend

      (440 total reviews)

      Mark Shuttleworth

      41% approve of CEO

      47% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Canonical has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 440 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Canonical employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      440 reviews
      5.0
      Aug 27, 2023

      Lots of positives, but go in with your eyes open

      Software engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Canonical has a very technical culture from the executives on down, and for me (and I think for many others) that's a big plus compared to the corporate cultures of companies I've worked at in the past. There's a real focus on getting technical designs right and taking time for quality. The flexibility of remote work -- with the perk of twice-a-year travel -- is also really good. They also have a nice awards/recognition program for staff that go above and beyond, with meaningful cash "prizes" to match. And lastly, almost all of our work is open source!

      Cons

      Each of those pros comes with a con: the highly technical culture and willingness to get designs right means higher-ups sometimes go too far and micromanage things they probably shouldn't -- you have to be willing to handle the feedback and the slower pace. Fully-remote work is flexible but depending on your personality you will miss the office. Salaries are competitive, but not quite at FAANG levels. And of course, our interview process is (in)famously long and thorough -- be prepared for that going in.

      avatar
      Canonical Response
      2y
      Thank you for your 5 star review and for sharing your experience of working here. I am guessing you might have received an employee recognition reward this month! If this is correct....well done! It is really great that you were proposed on the back of some excellent work. Our regular 'sprints' allow for us to travel to one location and meet up in person. We feel it is important that we come together in person a few times a year at least and it helps to balance out the time we spend working remotely. Our interview process is continually going through review. This year we have been training our interviewers and have been working to better our interview plans. These two projects will be complete by the end of 2023. We will then start looking closely at judgement and decisions made to really understand the value this brings. Since introducing the current process in 2021 we have seen a notable increase in the exceptional talent we hire. This has demonstrated that our process has enabled us to attract and select world class people to join our teams. The process is not short and we set high standards but it does bring us great results. Our people are the backbone to our organisation and we are determined we will take time to select the best colleagues we can.
      1.0
      May 16, 2025

      Spineless Managers and an Overbearing CEO

      Sales
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Great teammates Travel Decent pay

      Cons

      CEO-Centric Chaos with Zero Accountability. Spineless managers who walk on eggshells around him. Most employees are contractors with no work rights and tax support. Pay/retention is dependent on an illogical and unfair bi-annual peer review. Everyone is constantly cribbing about the processes and each other. No Sales Focus- being run like a siloed legacy business and the competition is eating ’em alive. No HR to go to for help.

      4.0
      Apr 13, 2023

      Canonical recruitment

      Technical author
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Unsuccessful candidates are sent detailed, constructive feedback. Nothing superficial - very comprehensive interviews and written submissions required. Candidates are considered for the most-suitable vacancies, not only what they applied for. Assessment by experts in senior roles, not only by HR staff.

      Cons

      Whatever claims are made for the mandatory General Intelligence Assessment, it doesn't assess general intelligence. Some mechanism's needed to make Canonical's vast number of applications manageable, but there's no excuse for choosing the GIA. It's insulting pseudoscience, wide open to confirmation bias.

      avatar
      Canonical Response
      3y
      Hello and thank you for your post. One of the unique things about our hiring process is that it is run by our business leaders themselves. This means our candidates get to engage with business experts and team leads from the start of the process as you point out. Our Hiring Leadership team do indeed consider candidates for all roles at Canonical and we often route candidates to more suitable roles. Perhaps your own team has benefited from this approach. We appreciate it can be hard to identify the right role from the outside so a little help from the inside often helps. Our assessments are chosen carefully and any external providers selected with accreditations. It is important to know that no application is selected purely on the basis of these results, but we do know these are valid predictors of mental ability and processing speed.
      Viewing 1 - 3 of 440 Reviews
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      ReviewsCanonical reviews

      Glassdoor has 509 Canonical reviews submitted anonymously by Canonical employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Canonical is right for you.