Engineering Manager (BE) - Permissions and Capabilities (Remote ANZ)

Location: Team Engineering

Team: Country Auckland / New Zealand

About the Role

At Canva, our User Platform forms the foundational backbone for user identity, access, and capabilities across our global design products. The Permissions & Capabilities team plays a pivotal role in ensuring millions of users—from classrooms to enterprises—can collaborate securely and at scale. As Engineering Manager (BE) - Permissions and Capabilities (Remote ANZ), you'll lead a talented group of engineers scaling authentication, authorization, and platform-wide enforcement services. Partnering with product, design, and engineering leaders, you'll tackle complex challenges to deliver innovative infrastructure that powers Canva's growth in our design-focused, collaborative culture. You'll coach and mentor your team with psychological safety at the core, while scaling the permissions platform across Canva. Collaborate across supergroups to build secure, reliable services, contribute to system designs impacting millions daily, and drive initiatives in performance, reliability, and developer experience. Own planning, delivery, and growth cycles, balancing engineering excellence with the fast pace of a product-led company that puts design first. Join the User Platform group breaking monoliths, embracing clean architecture, and scaling services that empower every Canvanaut. Thrive in Canva's innovative environment where your leadership will redefine secure global collaboration. With remote ANZ flexibility, equity, inclusive leave, and a vibe that celebrates growth and fun, this is your chance to lead platform evolution at a company reshaping how the world designs.

Key Responsibilities

• Coach and mentor a high-performing engineering team, fostering psychological safety and career growth
• Scale the permissions and capabilities platform underpinning user access across all of Canva
• Collaborate with supergroups, product, and design leaders to deliver secure, reliable services
• Contribute to the design and evolution of systems impacting millions of daily users
• Drive platform-wide initiatives focused on performance, reliability, and developer experience
• Own team planning cadences, delivery rituals, and impact cycles
• Partner closely with stakeholders to solve complex technical challenges in authentication and authorization
• Build and maintain production-ready infrastructure enabling safe global collaboration
• Champion engineering excellence while balancing fast-paced delivery in Canva's innovative culture
• Foster cross-functional relationships to align on Canva's design-first product vision
• Monitor and improve system scalability for classrooms to enterprise users

Required Qualifications

• Experience leading high-performing backend engineering teams with a focus on psychological safety and culture building
• Deep expertise in designing scalable, performant Java-based backend systems
• Proven track record building or working with complex permissioning, authentication, and authorization systems
• Strong experience in backend engineering management, including planning cadences, delivery rituals, and team growth cycles
• Ability to collaborate effectively across product, design, and engineering teams in a fast-paced product-led environment
• Demonstrated success scaling platform infrastructure that impacts millions of users
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of engineering management experience in high-scale environments

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience breaking apart monoliths and implementing clean architecture principles
• Familiarity with Canva's tech stack or similar design platform technologies
• Background in user identity platforms, SSO, or enterprise-grade access control
• Proven impact on developer experience, performance, and reliability initiatives
• Experience mentoring engineers in a global, collaborative team setting
• Knowledge of ANZ timezone collaboration in remote/hybrid environments

Required Skills

• Backend engineering leadership
• Java systems design and scalability
• Permissions and access control systems
• Authentication and authorization expertise
• Team coaching and mentoring
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Psychological safety culture building
• Platform scaling and reliability
• Developer experience optimization
• Production services delivery
• Clear technical communication
• Fast-paced product delivery
• Monolith decomposition
• Clean architecture principles
• Stakeholder partnership
• Performance optimization
• Global collaboration tools

Benefits

• Equity packages to share in Canva's success
• Inclusive parental leave policy supporting all parents and carers
• Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance for wellbeing and social connection
• Flexible leave options for recharging or making an impact
• Remote ANZ flexibility with hybrid options in Auckland/New Zealand
• Collaborative, design-focused culture with global team connections
• Professional growth opportunities in a high-impact engineering environment
• Fun, innovative workplace redefining design experiences
• Comprehensive health and wellness support

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.