Canonical interview, decoded.
Updated · Sources at the end
Canonical asks for more writing than almost any other tech employer. Before any interview, candidates answer a written interview tailored to the job, and reported versions run to around 40 questions and 15 to 21 pages. It asks how you ranked in mathematics and in your native language at high school, and for your university result with the grading system, whatever your seniority. A five-part aptitude test follows, then three technical interviews, a talent interview and a late stage with senior people. The company says the whole thing takes about three months on average.
Canonical publishes Ubuntu and sells support and services around it. It has run as a fully distributed company for over 20 years, and its engineers work from home across the world, meeting in person a few times a year.
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The questions for your exact Canonical role and level.
Interviewing at Canonical? Below are the questions candidates report. For the ones your exact role and level will get, paste the posting. Your first mock is free.
Who Canonical hires
This guide follows the software engineer path, from graduates to senior engineers. Canonical says it values academic results at every level, and its blog adds that nearly everyone it hires has a good degree, while also saying it has hired outstanding people without one. Graduates who finished their first degree in 2025 or 2026 can apply to a fast-track process. Roles are globally remote, but every employee is asked to meet in person two to four times a year at company events that last one to two weeks.
What is the Canonical interview process?
Canonical describes its process on its careers site in three stages: assessment, interviews, and a late stage leading to an offer. It says the process takes around three months on average from application to offer, for every level from graduate to VP. The details below mark what the company says and what candidates report; candidates describe more interviews than the official outline, so plan for eight or more conversations.
Questions about your academic record come first. The graduate job ad asks how you did in mathematics and in your native language at high school, with reference to national or state rankings, and for your bachelor's result with the grading system used. A domain expert in the business reviews the application.
A long set of written questions tailored to the job. One candidate reports 42 questions and about 15 pages, another 38 questions and 21 pages. Questions cover your education, why Canonical, open source work, and technical topics for the role, such as monolithic against microservice architecture.
The company describes a five-part assessment of aptitude, problem solving and speed of learning. Candidates identify it as Thomas International's General Intelligence Assessment (GIA). Every applicant takes it.
Some roles add a test of domain skills. Candidates report a two-hour Python test on DevSkiller and a 90-minute test of coding problems.
The company says three interviews focus on technical and domain skills. Candidates list software architecture and engineering, Linux system skills, and a deep dive into the domain of the job, such as microservices or security.
A conversation about your career motivations and path, after a 10-minute Personality Profile Analysis on your working style. The company says pay discussions start here. One candidate describes answering in the STAR format.
You meet your potential manager, the hiring lead and other senior stakeholders. The company says candidates for management or leadership roles also meet the CEO, Mark Shuttleworth, and one security engineer reports a final interview with him as well. The hiring lead communicates an offer.
The Canonical written interview and aptitude test
What they ask and how to prepareMost of the effort in Canonical's process goes into two things before any interview: a long written interview and an aptitude test. Candidates report spending many hours on the written part; one estimated around 20 hours for the whole process including preparation. Both come early, so they decide whether you reach an engineer at all.
- School and university results: Expect to state how you ranked in mathematics and in your native language at high school, with the scoring system, and your degree result with its grading scale. Find the documents before you start, and answer exactly. Candidates report being asked for proof later.
- The long written answers: Candidates report 38 to 42 questions and 15 to 21 pages. Write each answer around one specific example with a result, keep your own part exact, and reread the job ad so the technical answers match the role. Draft offline and paste in, and budget several evenings.
- The aptitude test (GIA): Candidates identify it as Thomas International's GIA, which has five short timed parts: reasoning, perceptual speed, number speed and accuracy, word meaning and spatial visualisation. It measures speed of learning, so practise the format with Thomas's free example booklet until it feels familiar, then take it rested.
- The Personality Profile Analysis: A 10-minute questionnaire on your working style before the talent interview. There is no right answer; answer consistently and honestly, because the talent interview picks up on it.
- No online aids: The company asks candidates to present their ideas without online aids during assessments and interviews. Write the answers yourself.
Candidates who published their experience describe a long process with little feedback at the end, and Glassdoor ratings of the interview experience are low. Weigh the time against your other applications, and keep them going in parallel.
What Canonical screens for
Canonical's careers pages and blog are direct about what it screens for, and two rules shape how you should answer.
- Academic results at every level, from high school onward, which the company says it values regardless of seniority
- Evidence over claims: its blog says it wants to know how you can demonstrate the skills and qualities it looks for
- Initiative, leadership, commitment, technical excellence and persistence, the qualities the blog lists
- Your own work only: the company asks candidates to present their ideas without online aids in assessments and interviews
- Comfort with a fully remote company that still meets in person two to four times a year
Canonical interview questions
Candidate-reported themesThe written interview is where most candidates spend their time, and several have published the questions they were asked. The practice questions below follow those reports.
Behavioural & motivation
- How did you rank in mathematics in your final year of high school, and how do you know?Listening forA precise answer · Evidence you can show · Honest context
- What is the most exceptional thing you have accomplished, and what exactly was your part?Listening forOne specific achievement · Your own part · The qualities shown
- Tell us about your involvement in open source.Listening forReal contributions · Working in public · Honest if thin
- Why do you want to work at Canonical?Listening forSpecificity · Connection · Research
Technical
- Practice: outline your thoughts on monolithic, service-oriented and microservice architectures. When would you choose each?Software architecture in writingReported in the written interview for an engineering roleListening forClear distinctions · When to choose each · Costs named
- Practice: a Linux server is slow and the load average is high. Walk through how you find the cause.Linux system skillsA reported interview in its own right for engineering rolesListening forA method · The right tools · From symptom to cause
- Practice: write a function that parses a large log file and returns the ten most frequent error messages, then say how it scales.Coding testA timed online test for some roles: 90 minutes to two hoursListening forWorking code first · Scales with size · Edge cases
- Practice: explain in depth a system you built or ran in the domain of this job, and the hardest problem you hit.Domain deep diveThe third technical interview follows the job: microservices, security, Ubuntu packaging and so onListening forReal depth · A hard decision · Their part
These are the reported themes — your loop is role-specific. Paste the actual posting and Calibrd predicts the questions for that exact role and level.
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Canonical does not publish salaries. Its job ads list an annual compensation review, a learning budget of USD 2,000 a year and parental leave, and the company says pay discussions start at the talent interview. Levels.fyi's figures (read 28 September 2026) sit well below the US median for software engineers, and pay varies by country because roles are hired worldwide. Calibrd benchmarks an offer against your level and location in the report.
How to prepare for a Canonical interview
- Gather your school and university results before you start, with the grading systems, and answer exactly.
- Budget several evenings for the written interview. Candidates report 15 to 21 pages.
- Practise the GIA format with Thomas International's free example booklet so the timed parts feel familiar.
- Prepare for a Linux systems interview even if the job is not a Linux role; candidates report one for engineering jobs.
- Plan for about three months, and keep other processes going alongside it.
- Say yes to travel only if you mean it: the company asks everyone to meet in person two to four times a year.
This guide covers Canonical's engineering and research hiring. For management and leadership roles the loop is similar but the bar shifts to people, delivery and strategy, so pair it with the leadership interview prep hub. The bar for your exact role comes from the role-by-role guides, and the prep that actually transfers is spoken, so run a mock interview before the real one.
Also interviewing at Crossover, Bending Spoons or Shopify? Their guides follow the same format, from the first screen to the offer.
Knowing the questions isn’t the same as answering them out loud. Run a Canonical mock: spoken answers, coached on the spot. Your first mock is free.
Run a Canonical mock →FAQ & sources
What is Canonical's interview process?
Canonical describes its process on its careers site in three stages: assessment, interviews, and a late stage leading to an offer. The stages, in order: Application questions; Written interview; Psychometric test; Technical assessment; Technical interviews; Talent interview; Late stage and offer.
What does Canonical look for in candidates?
Canonical's careers pages and blog are direct about what it screens for, and two rules shape how you should answer. Academic results at every level, from high school onward, which the company says it values regardless of seniority; Evidence over claims; Initiative, leadership, commitment, technical excellence and persistence, the qualities the blog lists; Your own work only.
What questions does Canonical ask in interviews?
The written interview is where most candidates spend their time, and several have published the questions they were asked. Technical themes: Software architecture in writing; Linux system skills; Coding test; Domain deep dive.
What is in the Canonical written interview?
Most of the effort in Canonical's process goes into two things before any interview: a long written interview and an aptitude test. Candidates report spending many hours on the written part; one estimated around 20 hours for the whole process including preparation. Covered on this page: School and university results; The long written answers; The aptitude test (GIA); The Personality Profile Analysis; No online aids.
How do I prepare for a Canonical interview?
Gather your school and university results before you start, with the grading systems, and answer exactly. Budget several evenings for the written interview. Candidates report 15 to 21 pages.
- 01Canonical, Hiring processthe three stages, the written interview tailored to the job, the five-part 30-to-45-minute psychometric test, the optional technical assessment, three technical interviews, the talent interview with a 10-minute Personality Profile Analysis and the start of pay discussions, the late stage, about three months on average, no online aids, fully distributed for over 20 years (read 28 September 2026)
- 02Canonical, Graduate Software Engineer job adthe high school mathematics and native language questions, the degree result with grading system, the fast-track process for 2025 and 2026 graduates, globally remote, meeting in person two to four times a year for one to two weeks, the USD 2,000 learning budget (read 28 September 2026)
- 03Ubuntu blog, How to get a job at Canonicalby Daniele Procida, 30 June 2025: the written interview shows what the company cares about, nearly everyone hired has a good degree, outstanding people without one have been hired, and the qualities it looks for
- 04Sahra Vadrot, Canonical hiring processa candidate's account (23 March 2026): 42 written questions and about 15 pages, a 90-minute coding test, the Thomas GIA, eight one-hour interviews, nearly three months, about 20 hours in total, a rejection
- 05dustri.org, My experience with Canonical's interview processa candidate's account (1 June 2025): the school grade questions, 38 written questions and 21 pages, the Thomas GIA and behavioural assessment, a two-hour DevSkiller Python test, interviews on software architecture, Linux, security, talent and hiring leads, and a final interview with Mark Shuttleworth
- 06Hacker News, a Canonical applicant's processa September 2023 thread listing about ten stages, written questions on accomplishments, motivation, open source and engineering strengths, and aptitude and personality tests
- 07Thomas International, General Intelligence Assessmentthe GIA's five parts: reasoning, perceptual speed, number speed and accuracy, word meaning and spatial visualisation
- 08OSnews, My experience with Canonical's interview processcoverage of the dustri.org account (2 June 2025), citing low Glassdoor ratings of the interview experience
- 09Levels.fyi, Canonical software engineer salariesUS figures from $83.7K for a graduate to $105K for Software Engineer I, a median of $88K across 131 submissions (read 28 September 2026 from the listing summary)
Interview processes change. This reflects widely-reported and sourced conditions as of 2026 — confirm specifics with your recruiter, and treat it as a map rather than a guarantee.
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