The best way to improve Ubuntu is to get involved with Debian. That's where the heavy lifting is.
alrs is true ; in most cases your work is automatically replicated to Ubuntu (where the package-maintainer relationship is less strong than in Debian. Most packages don't have a dedicated maintainer there).
And everyone can do it ; no sign-up or complicated process required. You just have to find a sponsor for your packages which is just a fancy name for "every code needs review". Debian is often described as bureaucratic but most of the processes are very sane.