Backend Software Engineer, Discovery Platform

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.

What you'd be doing in this role
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 a 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:
• Designing and building scalable backend services in Java that power Canva’s Discovery Platform
• Collaborating closely with frontend engineers, designers, product managers, and data analysts to deliver amazing user experiences
• Participating in system design and architecture discussions to guide the technical direction of new features
• Improving performance and reliability across our distributed backend systems
• Mentoring and supporting team members to uphold engineering excellence and growth
• Driving operational excellence, including monitoring, alerting and on-call support for critical services

You're probably a match if:
• You have commercial experience developing complex, distributed backend applications using Java.
• You bring strong technical skills in system design and software architecture
• You value clean, testable code and enjoy code reviews and collaboration
• You’re a team player with great communication skills and a product mindset
• You have experience with cloud-based infrastructure (e.g., AWS), messaging systems (like SQS/SNS), and databases (e.g., DynamoDB, PostgreSQL)
• You’re curious and passionate about making content discovery seamless for Canva users

About the team
The Discovery Platform team sits within the Global Content & Discovery supergroup, and our mission is to enable every user to effortlessly find content that empowers them to design. We're building powerful backend services that support content ranking, search, recommendations, and categorisation across Canva. With billions of design assets available, we play a key role in helping users get inspired and create magic.

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 range 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, home office setup & more
• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, recharge, and support your personal needs

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.

We celebrate all types of skills and backgrounds at Canva so even if you don’t feel like your skills quite match what’s listed above – we still want to hear from you!

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.

• You have experience in Search or worked with search related technologies such as Elasticsearch, Opensearch, etc.