Backend Software Engineer, Discovery Platform

1 Week ago • All levels • Backend Development

Job Summary

Job Description

Canva's Discovery Platform team seeks a Backend Software Engineer to design and build scalable backend services in Java. This role involves collaborating with frontend engineers, designers, and product managers to deliver exceptional user experiences. Responsibilities include system design, architecture discussions, performance improvement, mentoring team members, and ensuring operational excellence (monitoring, alerting, on-call support). The ideal candidate possesses commercial experience with Java, strong system design and architecture skills, values clean code, and thrives in collaborative environments. Experience with AWS, messaging systems (SQS/SNS), and databases (DynamoDB, PostgreSQL) is required. The team's mission is to enable users to effortlessly find empowering content within Canva's vast design asset library.
Must have:
  • Commercial experience with Java
  • Strong system design & architecture skills
  • Experience with AWS, SQS/SNS, DynamoDB, PostgreSQL
  • Clean, testable code & collaboration
  • Team player with communication skills
Perks:
  • Equity packages
  • Inclusive parental leave
  • Vibe & Thrive allowance
  • Flexible leave options

Job Details

Company 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
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.

Job Description

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.

Similar Jobs

Sumo Logic - Senior Software Engineer II, Open Telemetry Projects

Sumo Logic

Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India (On-Site)
1 Day ago
Unity - Automation Infrastructure Engineer

Unity

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District, Israel (On-Site)
3 Weeks ago
Google - Web Solutions Engineer I, Tools Development and Automation

Google

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (On-Site)
1 Week ago
NVIDIA - Software Test Development Engineer

NVIDIA

(Remote)
1 Month ago
Riot Games - Software Engineering Manager - Content Access Platform

Riot Games

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland (On-Site)
19 Hours ago
Milestone - Senior Software Engineer - Backend

Milestone

Israel (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
Google - Site Reliability Engineer, Home and Assistant

Google

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
DraftKings - Software Engineer - Backend

DraftKings

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
Pocket Worlds - Senior Backend Engineer

Pocket Worlds

United States (Remote)
1 Month ago
Luxoft - Java Team Lead

Luxoft

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (On-Site)
5 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Similar Skill Jobs

ARHS - Java Achitect /Technical Lead

ARHS

Brussels, Brussels, Belgium (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Riot Games - Senior Software Engineer, Services - Esports Platform & Experiences

Riot Games

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland (On-Site)
5 Months ago
PwC - IN-Senior Associate_ JAVA_Utility Transformation _Advisory_Kolkata

PwC

Kolkata, West Bengal, India (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Extreme Network - Manager of QA Engineering

Extreme Network

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (Hybrid)
2 Days ago
Dream Sports - Engineering Manager - Backend

Dream Sports

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Google - Associate Software Developer Intern, 2025

Google

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (On-Site)
2 Days ago
Google - Partner Engineer, Device Platform Operations and Partner Engineering

Google

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
Epic Games - QA Programming Specialist

Epic Games

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Actian - Zen Sustaining Engineer - Bangalore/Pune

Actian

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Blitre Rewards - Back End Engineer - Operations

Blitre Rewards

New York, New York, United States (On-Site)
1 Day ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Jobs in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Aspire - Strategy - Australia Expansion

Aspire

Australia (Hybrid)
7 Hours ago
Google - Industry Lead, Ecommerce, Google Customer Solutions (Fixed Term Contract)

Google

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
Canva - Senior Fullstack Engineer - Editing Experience

Canva

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (Remote)
2 Weeks ago
Canva - Senior Software Engineer (Python) - Warehouse Platform

Canva

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (Remote)
1 Month ago
Microsoft - Director, AI Advertising Acceleration

Microsoft

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
Activision - Asia Communications Director

Activision

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Nine - Senior Network & Infrastructure Engineer

Nine

Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia (On-Site)
1 Week ago
lucas films - Technical Animator

lucas films

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Canva - Voice of Customer Program Manager

Canva

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Remote)
1 Month ago
Nine - Affiliate Content Associate Producer

Nine

North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (On-Site)
6 Days ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Backend Development Jobs

Gyaan - Senior Backend Engineer (Python)

Gyaan

Pune, Maharashtra, India (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Google - Engineering Manager, Node Platform Infra

Google

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)
2 Days ago
N-iX - Senior Golang Software Engineer

N-iX

(Remote)
2 Weeks ago
Volley - Senior Software Engineer, Platform

Volley

San Francisco, California, United States (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
ByteDance - Backend Software Engineer

ByteDance

Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Google - Software Engineering Intern, 2025

Google

Mexico City, Mexico City, Mexico (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago
Canva - Backend Software Engineer (Java) - User Product

Canva

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (Remote)
1 Month ago
Gaming Innovation Group  - Senior .NET Backend Developer

Gaming Innovation Group

St. Julian's, Malta (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
Sporty Group - Weekend Backend Engineer

Sporty Group

(On-Site)
9 Months ago
Canva - Staff Backend Engineer - Product Insights Enablement - Java

Canva

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Remote)
1 Month ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded