In this article, Keirthana TS, a Senior Technical Author at Canonical, breaks down what leadership means to her and how she understood the power of intentional leadership through her journey at Canonical.
My colleague, Maksim Beliaev, recently wrote about our hiring principles. In this article, I want to build on his points by talking more about what leadership means at Canonical, and how the different kinds of leadership roles complement each other.
My journey at Canonical taught me that leadership is not earned just by tenure. It is a discipline that can be developed and embodied through intent. What do I mean by this? I’m not saying that Canonical doesn’t have specialized leadership or management positions: we do, and they play a vital role. What I mean is that there is nothing holding individuals back from being leaders in their own domains, and having a positive impact on others. In fact, this is actively encouraged, and it is what I call intentional leadership.
Career progression at Canonical is based on our leveling framework, which groups contributors into specialists, seniors, and managers. In each of these tracks, there is scope to lead and be impactful: through technical depth (for specialists), driving people to achieve outcomes (senior), and shaping and steering organizational plans (manager). The question is: what brings out the spark in you? And what happens when these different leadership types exist in the same team dynamic?
Which of the three roles was right for me? Well, it took me some time to understand. When I first became a Senior Technical Author, I thought about it just in terms of how the role was defined for me and what others expected of me.
As I worked towards my aspiration, I realized that I should also look inward: I needed to be deliberate with my intent, and reflect on what change I wanted to bring about in my team and how I could work with other leaders in the team. So I set about observing the different leadership dynamics within Canonical. As I learnt the basics, I was curious how these roles would compete with each other for influence. I want to share a couple of experiences that piqued my curiosity.
I’ve noticed a consistent “compounding effect” on team output that only happens when a Senior and a Specialist work together. Think of it as a bridge: the Senior builds the structure and ensures the path is clear, while the Specialist paves the road and guides the traffic.
Take our recent push to overhaul documentation analytics. We had a tight six-month window to hit our SEO targets. This required leadership on two fronts:
A Senior’s strategic leadership
I focused on the “macro” environment. My role was to advocate for the team’s needs, standardize tool access, and build a foundational knowledge base. By leveling the playing field, I ensured no team member was left behind by technical barriers or a lack of context.
A Specialist’s technical leadership
While I provided the infrastructure, the Specialists became the “boots on the ground” leaders. They translated high-level marketing goals into “day-one” workflows, clearing technical ambiguities and demonstrating exactly how SEO best practices looked in practice.
I provided the macro environment and bootstrapping and the Specialist provided precision. Neither of us could have reached the objective alone; it was the overlap of our distinct leadership styles that turned a daunting goal into a team-wide success.
Let’s take another example. While Seniors and Specialists compound their skills to deliver efficiency, when Manager and Seniors collaborate, it’s about culture.
I saw this dynamic transform our team culture during a critical shift in our release cycles. We were shipping frequently, but our process was fragile: a “single point of failure” where one person owned everything, from testing to release notes. It wasn’t scalable, and it was high-risk. Fixing this required leadership at two different levels:
A Senior’s operational leadership
I focused on the “how.” I designed a new, robust execution model that moved us away from individual dependency toward team-wide participation. I introduced a team roster and failsafe automation, ensuring every team member gained the hands-on experience needed to ship with confidence. My leadership was about technical resilience and mentoring the team through the transition.
A Manager’s strategic leadership
While I overhauled the internal mechanics, my Manager focused on the “when” and the “why.” He provided the essential timeline that allowed us to implement these changes without missing a single existing commitment. By filtering customer requests and aligning our new capacity with Canonical’s business priorities, he ensured the team wasn’t overwhelmed by the shift.
I led the internal transformation, but my Manager led the external alignment. By leading together, we didn’t just fix a broken process; we matured the team’s culture, proving we could deliver higher quality without sacrificing our promises to the business.
These experiences helped me understand the circle of influence for my role. I realized that having different kinds of leadership roles at Canonical was quite intentional. These roles are not designed to compete for influence, instead to compound it. With that epiphany, I found myself changing the way I work to influence key decisions. I realized that I was being invited to take a seat at the table and demonstrate how to bring about a lasting change, using my strengths, and that has been the most fulfilling part of my journey.
I invite you to try intentional leadership as part of your career aspirations. It removes ambiguity. It replaces hierarchy with purpose. It sends an unmistakable message to professionals aspiring to grow at Canonical:
Leadership is not a title you wait for, but a responsibility you choose.
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