Senior Backend Engineer - AI Enablement

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 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:

• Building services and solutions to empower non-ML engineers and non-technical Canvanauts to adopt AI capabilities
• Expanding adoption of first and third-party AI features across Canva
• Developing and promoting AI-powered workflows for all Canvanauts
• Contributing to company-wide AI enablement through knowledge sharing and internal forums
• Assisting in the development of learning materials to scale AI adoption internally
• Bringing a backend lens to the conversation to help define how AI can be scaled across the product

You’re probably a match if:

• A willingness to work with Canvanauts from a wide variety of specialties and backgrounds, from engineers and product managers to experience and learning designers
• An enthusiasm for delivering impact in more ways than just code
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills
• The drive and creativity to work independently at times to solve demanding problems
• Passion for engineering excellence, systems architecture, and meeting non-functional requirements
• Understanding of Computer Science/Engineering fundamentals and first principles covering system design, data structures, architecture, and design patterns
• Experience building scalable internal tooling in programming languages like Java 
• Exposure to the integration of AI features, from custom models to third-party LLMs
• Familiarity with working on platform or enablement teams (and an understanding of how they differ from product-focused teams)
• Experience with containerization, Terraform, and GitOps principles for automation and deployment is a plus

About the team
The AI Enablement team sits within the AI Platform group in Canva’s Generative AI Supergroup. We’re responsible for scaling the use of AI across Canva by enabling Canvanauts from all backgrounds — not just ML engineers — to build, prototype, and ship with AI. We empower teams through internal tooling, learning resources, and knowledge-sharing programs to bring delightful, AI-enhanced experiences to our users.

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, take time to recharge and support 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.

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.