Staff Software Engineer - Canva AI

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hey, g'day, mabuhay, kia ora, 你好, hallo, vítejte!
Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time consuming and you're probably keen to find out what's on offer, so we'll get straight to the point.

Where and how you can work
Our flagship campus is in Sydney. We also have a campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. But you have choice in where and how you work, we trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.

About the team 
This role is with the Conversational Experience Group, the face of Canva AI. We own the end-to-end core product experiences and the conductor platform that powers Canva AI. Our vision is to deliver the most intuitive conversational experience, empowering users worldwide to effortlessly generate any content they need—whether designs, documents, images, or engaging in insightful Q&A and brainstorming. Our mission significantly impacts Canva's overarching success, aligning directly with Canva's strategic objective to be the world's leading visual communication platform.

What you’d be doing in this role
As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll lead the evolution of our frontend architecture of Canva AI, ensuring it scales seamlessly to support the integration of features across Canva into Canva AI. You will also lead the projects of introducing Canva AI to most critical surfaces, e.g. bringing Canva AI to the editor for the first time ever. You will provide strong technical leadership, shaping best practices and frameworks to enable smooth, efficient integration of front-end capabilities from multiple teams. Your role will involve hands-on implementation of critical features and fostering collaboration across Canva, positioning Canva AI as a central, accessible hub for innovative user experiences. This role offers broad exposure and significant impact, directly contributing to Canva’s strategic vision..

As Canva scales, change continues to be part of our DNA. But we like to think that's all part of the fun. So this will give you the flavour of the type of things you'll be working on when you start, but this will likely evolve.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Establishing yourself as a trusted technical leader—resolving technical debt and earning credibility through impact
• Re-architecting Canva AI’s frontend foundation to enable seamless integration of new capabilities like “Ask Canva”
• Designing and implementing scalable, robust frameworks that empower teams across Canva to build into Canva AI independently
• Driving critical integration projects from idea to production, introducing Canva AI to new product surfaces including the editor
• Collaborating cross-functionally to evolve Canva AI into a unified, accessible platform that meets real user needs
• Mentoring engineers and championing best practices to elevate frontend engineering standards across the group
• Expanding your T-shaped skill set by contributing to backend and machine learning integration as needed

You're probably a match if: 

• You’re an experienced technical leader who still loves writing code. You're hands-on, action-oriented, and impact-driven
• You bring a full-stack mindset with deep frontend expertise, and are comfortable flexing into backend or ML as needed
• You think strategically. You are connecting your work to company-wide priorities and scaling solutions that move the needle
• You take ownership and thrive in ambiguity, driving high-impact projects with autonomy and minimal guidance
• You lead by example by uplifting engineering standards, mentoring others, and championing a collaborative culture
• You’re product-minded and forward-thinking, proactively shaping technical direction and influencing product vision
• You’re confident engaging senior stakeholders and know how to bring others along toward shared outcomes
• You’re deeply curious about AI, staying ahead of trends and using that insight to shape innovative, user-first solutions