Life at Canonical: Victoria Antipova’s perspective as a new joiner in Product Marketing

Canonical is continuously hiring new talent. Being a remote- first company, Canonical’s new joiners receive a unique onboarding experience. In their first weeks, they are introduced to the different departments and the various tools they use to work asynchronously across the globe. New hires develop a good understanding of the open-source technologies that the company deploys and supports such as Openstack, Kubernetes, Kubeflow and OpenSearch – in addition of course to Ubuntu, the world’s most famous OS, which they install on their laptops. 

All new joiners across seniority levels get the chance to meet in person for three days in what we call an induction sprint, where they attend talks delivered by senior management and engage in fun team building activities. 

In this series of articles we will be interviewing Canonicalers who joined the company less than a year ago to ask them about their experience so far. For this edition, we will be talking to Victoria Antipova, who joined Canonical’s Product Marketing team in November 2023. 

Meet Victoria

As a Product Marketing Manager, Victoria is responsible for shaping and executing the go-to-market strategy for the Applications portfolio. She works across teams to craft product messaging, support launch initiatives, and highlight the unique value of open source solutions to ensure successful market entry and adoption.

How would you describe your first few months at Canonical?

The pace of Canonical’s life is truly breathtaking and inspiring. My first months have been very dynamic. I’ve been involved in the launch of several new products that expanded our open source data and AI offerings. I also got to join one of Europe’s biggest data events, meeting our community and spreading the word about what we do in the data and AI space. 

Additionally, I attended two major internal events in Madrid – our product and commercial sprints – where I met our marketing team and colleagues from other fields in person for the first time. 

Without a doubt, the best part of this journey is meeting amazing people from every part of the world and constantly learning from them. Everyone in the company is supportive and willing to share their experience, knowledge, and feedback to help each other learn and grow.

What was the induction sprint like? 

During a three-day induction sprint, we were introduced to the various departments within the company. Leaders from each division provided an overview of their team’s structure, strategic goals, and future plans. 

A key highlight for me was the chance to build relationships not only within the marketing team, but also with colleagues from various departments and regions. It is a precious experience that has given me a deeper understanding of our business and company culture. 

What aspect of your role excites you the most? 

I love product marketing because in my opinion it strikes a perfect balance between research, analytics, strategy, communication and creativity. This multifaceted nature encourages me to learn new skills, stay on top of trends, and quickly identify and adopt best practices – a challenge that keeps things exciting. Furthermore, I enjoy having the opportunity to engage with a variety of teams, from product management and sales to customer support and engineering. This cross-functional collaboration is highly fulfilling. 

Is this your first remote job? How do you feel about remote work?

Even though I have experience working and studying in hybrid setups, this is my first fully remote job. It brings its own set of challenges and unique advantages. In the absence of casual workplace interactions, like morning coffee chats, working remotely means putting in extra effort to build and maintain relationships, so being intentional about fostering good rapport, trust, and clear communication is essential. 

There is also something unique and inspiring in working remotely and meeting your colleagues in different parts of the world at company sprints. Sharing the experience of discovering Madrid together, preparing for our product sprint in the Netherlands, or looking forward to meeting everyone again in Cape Town is truly memorable. 

I believe this ‘’remote-first’’ approach empowers Canonical to attract talented people worldwide regardless of their exact geographic location, which significantly enriches the collective wisdom of the company. It gives us precious opportunities to grow and to learn from colleagues from all other the world. 

What do you advise readers considering a career at Canonical? 

Just apply! 🙂 Canonical is a great place to meet extraordinary people, expand your knowledge and travel to exciting places around the globe.  

Join the team

Canonical puts a great effort on employee onboarding to ensure new joiners like Victoria feel welcome and engaged. In the next article of this series, we’ll explore another new joiner’s story. In the meantime, we encourage you to browse current openings, find the most interesting role for you, and apply.