Staff Software Engineer - API Platform (AU remote)

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, with a second campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth, & Adelaide. You have flexibility in how and where you work — whether that's from one of our spaces, from home, or a mix of both. This role is remote-friendly within Australia, so you can choose the setup that empowers you and your team to do your best work.

What You'd Be Doing in This Role:

Every team at Canva builds and ships on top of infrastructure that has to be fast, reliable, and easy to work with. That's what this role is about: owning and evolving the core systems that let engineering teams across Canva talk to each other's services, route traffic safely, and build in the languages that suit their work. As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll take technical ownership of a meaningful piece of that platform and help set the direction for where it goes next.

At the moment, this role is focused on: 

• Designing and building the core infrastructure that connects services across Canva's backend engineering org 
• Leading a major migration of how our backend services communicate, working closely with partner engineering teams & leaders
• Driving support for more languages and frameworks so more teams can build natively on our platform 
• Owning the reliability, performance and correctness of systems that sit in the critical path for the whole engineering org 
• Mentoring engineers and helping raise the technical bar across the team

You're Probably a Match If: 

• You've built and operated infrastructure that other engineering teams depend on, ideally something in the API gateway, RPC, or service mesh space (high traffic & large-scale).
• You're comfortable owning systems where reliability and correctness really matter, and you think in trade-offs rather than quick fixes 
• You can drive a technical direction across teams that don't report to you, and communicate it clearly to both engineers and the teams who consume what you build 
• You take genuine ownership of outcomes, and you're motivated by platform work that quietly makes everyone else's job easier
• You've spent years owning large-scale, high-transaction production systems commercially, and ideally worked in more than one language along the way.

About the Team:

We build and run the infrastructure that lets every other engineering team at Canva move fast without worrying about the plumbing underneath them. From how services talk to each other, to how traffic is routed and secured, to giving teams the freedom to build in the language that's right for the job, our work shows up in every product built on Canva's platform.

Don't tick all the boxes? Don't worry about that - nobody does!  

We’d still love to hear from you! At Canva, we know that great engineers come from a variety of backgrounds, and we value passion, curiosity, and a willingness to learn just as much as specific experience. If you're excited about this role but don’t tick every box, we encourage you to apply, you might a great fit in ways you didn’t expect!

What's in it for you?

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard - and we do - but you'll experience lots of moments of magic, connectivity and fun woven throughout life at Canva, too. We also offer a stack of benefits to set you up for every success in and outside of work.

Here's a taste of what's on offer:

• Equity packages - we want our success to be yours too
• Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support your wellbeing, social connection, office setup & more
• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge and supports you personally

Check out  lifeatcanva.com for more info.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process.

All interviews are conducted virtually