Senior Backend Engineer (Java)

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 a 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 tools and frameworks that meet teachers where they work by bringing Canva into their learning management systems.
• Building scalable backend services to empower millions of teachers and students to assign or complete activities.
• Guiding the implementation of major projects, planning task breakdowns, and keeping engineers in sync using excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Providing guidance and mentorship to other engineers, assisting them in their professional development and helping them navigate technical challenges.
• Finding the right balance between delivering high-quality engineering solutions and ensuring timely value delivery. Ensuring that we avoid over-engineering while never compromising on essential quality.
• Troubleshooting and resolving technical issues related to the team’s domain as and when they arise, and being part of the team’s rostered on-call rotation

You're probably a match if

• You have commercial experience developing complex, distributed applications writing services in Java.
• You have disciplined coding practices, and experience with code reviews and pull requests. You model best practices to your peers.
• You have strong communication and team collaboration skills, both written and verbal. A Canva engineer strives to understand the exact problem before jumping into writing code.
• You may have commercial experience with protocol buffers is an advantage.

Nice to haves (but not required)

• Experience working with DynamoDB or other NoSQL database services.
• Experience with Learning Management Systems or integrations with 3rd parties
• Experience with LTI, OpenId Connect, SAML or other SSO flows
• Experience with building workflow management or reporting tools
• Experience with teaching or the education sector

About the team

Our group mission is to ignite creativity in every learner by being fun and accessible, saving teachers and course creators time, and looking after every learner, whether in school, on campus, or in the workplace. We want to continue evolving Canva into a best-in-class learning tool, so we have a sticky product with better retention. During the first half of 2025, our team will focus on streamlining the mechanics of delivering and managing classwork in Canva. Our plan is to unify our education entities into a cohesive Classroom experience that matches teachers’ mental models and boosts our assignment flows so they’re easier to use (with or without an LMS).

Joining our group presents an exciting opportunity to work on a core product directly impacting millions of users worldwide. If you are passionate about building scalable back-end solutions, have a strong desire to thrive in a collaborative and innovative environment, and are passionate about empowering every learner, we encourage you to apply.

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, 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.

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.