Senior Engineer - Video Platform - Remote across ANZ

Location: Team Engineering

Team: Country Auckland / New Zealand

About the Role

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design at Canva! We're seeking a Senior Engineer - Video Platform to build the foundational Native Video Engine that will power Canva's next era of video creation. Remote across ANZ, you'll work within our innovative Engineering team in Auckland/New Zealand, collaborating with designers, product teams, and fellow engineers to democratize professional-quality video for millions worldwide. As part of our brand-new team scripting Canva's biggest tech shift, you'll create cutting-edge rendering technology that unlocks unprecedented performance and next-generation features, all while embodying our collaborative, design-focused culture. In this role, you'll design and implement core components of our Native Video Engine, optimize rendering pipelines for memory efficiency and cross-platform compatibility, and drive technical decisions that balance innovation with scalability. You'll mentor junior engineers, establish engineering best practices, and partner with product teams to translate creative user needs into seamless technical solutions. Your expertise in graphics programming (Vulkan, OpenGL, DirectX), shader development, video processing, and system languages like C++ and Rust will be crucial in delivering high-performance video experiences that empower creativity at scale. Canva's Video team is on a mission to make complex video production accessible to everyone through scalable architectures and AI-powered features. You'll thrive in our flexible, trust-based environment where Canvanauts choose work styles that fuel innovation. With equity packages, inclusive parental leave, wellbeing allowances, and flexible options, we support your success inside and outside work. If you have deep graphics expertise, love solving complex performance challenges, and want to shape the future of creative tools, apply now to bring your passion to Canva!

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement key components within Canva's core Native Video Engine
• Contribute to technical decisions impacting platform functionality and performance
• Develop rendering pipeline features with focus on performance optimization and memory efficiency
• Ensure cross-platform compatibility across desktop and mobile environments
• Mentor and support junior engineers in graphics programming and system design
• Collaborate with product and design teams to translate user needs into technical specifications
• Establish coding standards, development practices, and scalable architectural patterns
• Research and evaluate emerging technologies in graphics and video processing
• Drive technical discussions balancing performance, maintainability, and feature requirements
• Optimize video rendering for seamless creative experiences used by millions worldwide
• Build foundation for Canva's next-generation video creation platform

Required Qualifications

• Deep expertise in graphics programming (Vulkan, OpenGL, DirectX) with hands-on experience building high-performance rendering systems
• Experience in shader development, performance optimisation, and multi-threaded graphics programming
• Strong understanding of memory management, real-time rendering, and rendering pipeline architecture
• Proven experience with video processing, encoding/decoding, and multimedia frameworks
• Solid programming skills in system languages including C++ and Rust
• Demonstrated ability to debug complex graphics and performance issues
• Experience with cross-platform development and hardware-specific optimisations
• Track record of mentoring junior engineers and leading technical discussions

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building native video engines or similar high-performance multimedia systems
• Familiarity with emerging graphics and video processing technologies
• Background in collaborative environments with product and design teams
• Contributions to open-source graphics or video projects
• Experience scaling engineering teams and establishing coding standards

Required Skills

• Graphics APIs (Vulkan, OpenGL, DirectX)
• Shader development and optimization
• Multi-threaded graphics programming
• Memory management in real-time systems
• Rendering pipeline architecture
• Video encoding/decoding pipelines
• C++ and Rust programming
• Cross-platform development
• Performance profiling and debugging
• Hardware-specific optimizations
• Technical leadership and mentoring
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Problem-solving in complex systems
• Researching emerging technologies
• System design and architecture
• Code review and standards establishment

Benefits

• Equity packages to share in Canva's success
• Inclusive parental leave policy supporting all parents and carers
• Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance for wellbeing, social connection, and office setup
• Flexible leave options to recharge and support personal needs
• Choice in work location across ANZ with remote flexibility
• Collaborative, innovative culture focused on democratizing design
• Virtual interview process with reasonable adjustments available
• Opportunities to work on groundbreaking video technology impacting millions

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.