Senior Software Engineer - (Java) Backend

1 Month ago • All levels • Backend Development

Job Summary

Job Description

Join Canva and redefine how the world experiences design. As a Senior Backend Engineer, you will be instrumental in building scalable APIs powering millions of user interactions, improving system performance and reliability, and contributing to shared services. You'll collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and frontend engineers to deliver end-to-end experiences with real user impact. The role involves leading the design and development of backend services, evolving the architecture through service design and system decomposition, championing reliability and best practices, writing robust code, mentoring peers, and maintaining service health. Hands-on experience using AI in coding is a plus.
Must have:
  • Highly experienced in building complex backend systems
  • Strong Java fundamentals
  • Proficient in multithreading and service design
  • Comfortable with end-to-end feature ownership
  • Thoughtful collaborator across disciplines
  • Mentoring skills and ability to raise technical bar
Good to have:
  • Performance optimization in real-world systems
  • Pragmatic approach to shipping reliable code
  • Understanding of system connections to product goals
  • Experience using AI in coding/programming
Perks:
  • Equity packages
  • Inclusive parental leave policy
  • Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance
  • Flexible leave options

Job Details

Job Description

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

Backend roles at Canva can vary significantly depending on the team—each focused on solving meaningful problems at scale. You might help build scalable APIs powering millions of user interactions, improve system performance and reliability at scale, or contribute to shared services and internal tools. With multiple teams hiring backend engineers, we’d love to learn what excites you most and find the right fit for your passions and strengths.

You’ll work closely with product managers, designers, and frontend engineers to deliver end-to-end experiences that have real user impact. Whether you're designing new systems or maintaining critical infrastructure, your work will play a key role in Canva’s mission to empower the world to design.

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. As a general guide, here’s what a backend engineer at this level typically focuses on day to day:

  • Leading the design and development of scalable, reliable backend services using modern frameworks and tools
  • Driving collaboration with PMs, designers, and fellow engineers to scope, define, and deliver impactful product features
  • Evolving and scaling Canva’s backend architecture through thoughtful service design, system decomposition, and shared tooling
  • Championing reliability, performance, and engineering best practices across multiple service domains
  • Writing robust, well-tested code and proactively identifying areas for technical improvement or refactor
  • Guiding design and code reviews, mentoring peers, and raising the technical bar for your team
  • Maintaining and improving service health, observability, and incident resilience in partnership with your team

You're probably a match if

  • You are highly experienced building complex backend systems in production environments
  • You have strong Java fundamentals and can confidently write production-grade code, applying backend concepts like multithreading, service design, and performance optimisation in real-world systems.
  • You’re comfortable taking ownership of features end-to-end—from architecture to delivery—and thrive in environments where you drive the “how”
  • You balance attention to detail with pragmatism, and consistently ship reliable, maintainable code at speed
  • You’re a thoughtful collaborator who works well across disciplines and proactively brings others on the journey
  • You understand the bigger picture—how your systems connect to product goals, reliability, and long-term scalability
  • You enjoy mentoring others, offering constructive feedback, and lifting the technical bar for your team
  • You have hands-on experience using AI in coding/programming to drive greater impact

Engineering at Canva

Join a vibrant engineering community solving complex problems for millions of users, world wide. Here, engineering is about more than writing great code. It’s about rapidly iterating to deliver real value for users - building a product that empowers the world to design.

We care deeply about craft and collaborate closely to achieve hugely ambitious goals. We mentor and support one another generously, grounded in a culture of ownership, purpose, and a shared commitment to excellence.

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. We see AI as a powerful amplifier of creativity and technology at Canva. We’re evolving how we assess AI skills in our Technology hiring experience - you’ll tackle interactive, real-time challenges that reflect the kind of work we do. In some interviews, you may also be asked to solve a problem using an AI tool to show how you approach challenges with tech by your side.

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.

Additional Information

.

Similar Jobs

GT HQ - Employer Branding Specialist

GT HQ

Kyiv, Kyiv City, Ukraine (Remote)
2 Months ago
Creatore - Marketing Pulse Roundup

Creatore

Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India (On-Site)
2 Months ago
The game - Social Creative

The game

London, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
6 Months ago
Lilt - Localization Project Manager, Production (Contractor)

Lilt

New Delhi, Delhi, India (Remote)
1 Year ago
Canva - Senior Backend Software Engineer

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
3 Months ago
IION - Lead Backend Engineer

IION

India (Remote)
1 Month ago
Experian - Senior Backend Developer C#

Experian

Blumenau, State Of Santa Catarina, Brazil (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
Canva - Senior Backend Software Engineer

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
3 Months ago
zeta - Principal Engineer - Backend

zeta

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Matellio - Technology Lead - PHP

Matellio

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India (On-Site)
3 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Similar Skill Jobs

Lilt - Customer Success Manager

Lilt

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States (Hybrid)
4 Months ago
Canva - Senior Software Engineer - Video Export (Fullstack)

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
5 Months ago
Lorikeet - AI Implementation Strategist

Lorikeet

London, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Lilt - Welsh Translators for UI/Tech Content

Lilt

United Kingdom (Remote)
2 Months ago
Creatore - Marketing Pulse Roundup

Creatore

Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Canva - Senior Frontend Engineer - Canva Docs

Canva

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Remote)
4 Months ago
CGS Carrers - Accounting Analyst

CGS Carrers

United States (Remote)
1 Month ago
Canva - Enterprise Account Executive

Canva

Austin, Texas, United States (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Lilt - Traditional Chinese Linguists

Lilt

Taiwan (Remote)
1 Year ago
Canva - Engineering Manager (FE) - Web Workflows

Canva

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (Remote)
3 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Jobs in Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

RocketWerkz - MATHEMATICIAN PROGRAMMER

RocketWerkz

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (On-Site)
1 Year ago
Canva - AI Research Lead - Video & Audio Generation

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
1 Month ago
RocketWerkz - GAME PROGRAMMER (C#)

RocketWerkz

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (On-Site)
12 Months ago
Entain group - Driver and Equipment Installer

Entain group

Dunedin, Otago Region, New Zealand (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Canva - Senior Software Engineer (Python) - Data Platform

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
2 Months ago
Canva - Backend Software Engineer

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
2 Months ago
Zuru - Design Project Coordinator

Zuru

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Rippling - Global Payroll Subject Matter Expert

Rippling

New Zealand (Remote)
1 Month ago
Canva - Engineering Manager (BE) - Content Enrichment

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
2 Months ago
Canva - Engineering Manager (BE) - Content Management & Distribution

Canva

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)
3 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Backend Development Jobs

bytedance - Backend Software Engineer

bytedance

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Genies.io - Senior Backend Engineer

Genies.io

Los Angeles, California, United States (On-Site)
3 Months ago
LeoVegas - Senior Backend Engineer - Retention/Sports/iGaming

LeoVegas

Málaga, Andalusia, Spain (Hybrid)
10 Months ago
Apple - Senior Software Engineer - Backend (Developer Publications)

Apple

San Diego, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago
binance - Senior Backend Architect - Java

binance

Taipei City, Taiwan (Remote)
5 Months ago
Alation - Software Engineer III - Backend

Alation

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
GoMotive - Software Engineer - Backend

GoMotive

Pakistan (Remote)
3 Months ago
Playtika - Youda-PHP Developer

Playtika

Netherlands (Hybrid)
4 Months ago
miniclip - Backend Developer

miniclip

Netherlands (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Sagecor - Back End Developer

Sagecor

Annapolis Junction, Maryland, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

About The Company

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (Remote)

Beijing, China (On-Site)

Austin, Texas, United States (On-Site)

Austin, Texas, United States (On-Site)

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia (Remote)

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (Remote)

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia (Remote)

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia (Remote)

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand (Remote)

View All Jobs

Get notified when new jobs are added by Canva

Level Up Your Career in Game Development!

Transform Your Passion into Profession with Our Comprehensive Courses for Aspiring Game Developers.

Job Common Plug