Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Canva AI

Location: Team Engineering

Team: Country Sydney / Australia

About the Role

Join Canva's AI Group, the team powering the intelligence behind Canva's magical AI experiences—from content generation and smart Q&A to intuitive brainstorming tools. Our vision is to create the most natural conversational AI that empowers millions of users worldwide to design, write, ideate, and bring ideas to life effortlessly. As a core part of Canva's mission to become the world's leading visual communication platform, your work will touch every designer, creator, and team collaborating on Canva daily. As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Canva AI, you'll reimagine human-AI interaction by building on large language models to craft scalable, seamless systems integrated across Canva's design ecosystem. This deeply hands-on role involves writing production code (including Java backend), prototyping innovative features, and partnering with software engineers and product teams to deliver AI that feels genuinely human and empowering. You'll shape conversational platforms that adapt to diverse creative use cases, fine-tune LLMs for peak performance, and mentor peers to elevate our engineering craft—all while thriving in our collaborative, design-focused culture. You'll love this role if you have a bias for action, deep ML product experience (especially conversational AI), and passion for experimenting with cutting-edge techniques. At Canva, we celebrate diverse backgrounds and curiosity over perfect checklists—apply if you're excited to build AI that democratizes design for everyone. Enjoy our hybrid Sydney-based setup (remote-friendly within AU/NZ), equity, inclusive leave, Vibe & Thrive allowance, and the magic of working with a world-class team redefining visual storytelling.

Key Responsibilities

• Build a flexible, scalable conversational AI platform serving diverse use cases without custom implementations
• Fine-tune and evaluate LLM-based models to optimize performance, efficiency, and user experience
• Contribute hands-on to platform engineering across ML and backend systems
• Explore and integrate industry-standard tools and best practices like MCP and A2A
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define and deliver impactful AI features
• Mentor other Machine Learning Engineers and elevate engineering quality
• Take AI prototypes from concept to production, partnering across Canva teams
• Write production code side-by-side with software engineers to solve complex problems
• Influence product roadmaps with a product-minded, bias-for-action approach
• Experiment proactively with emerging AI techniques to stay ahead of the curve
• Design ML-driven features that feel seamless, intuitive, and genuinely helpful for designers

Required Qualifications

• Deep experience building and deploying ML-powered products, particularly in conversational AI
• Strong hands-on coding experience, including production Java backend development
• Proven track record of fine-tuning and evaluating LLM-based models
• Experience with scalable ML platform engineering and backend systems
• Ability to thrive in ambiguous environments and influence product roadmaps
• History of mentoring junior ML engineers and driving engineering excellence
• Bachelor's or higher degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field
• 5+ years of professional experience in machine learning engineering

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with industry-standard AI tools like MCP and A2A integrations
• Background in building conversational AI platforms for diverse use cases
• Familiarity with Canva's design-first product ecosystem
• Contributions to open-source ML projects or AI research publications
• Experience scaling ML systems to serve millions of users daily
• Knowledge of creative AI applications in design and content generation

Required Skills

• Conversational AI development
• LLM fine-tuning and evaluation
• Java backend development
• Scalable ML platform engineering
• Production ML deployment
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Mentoring and technical leadership
• Product-minded engineering
• Bias for action in ambiguous settings
• Rapid prototyping to production
• AI experimentation and research
• Backend systems architecture
• Model optimization for efficiency
• User experience-focused AI design
• Roadmap influence and prioritization
• Hands-on problem solving
• Engineering excellence advocacy

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
• Hybrid work model with flexibility across Sydney, Melbourne, and other AU/NZ locations
• Access to Canva's flagship Sydney campus and collaborative co-working spaces
• Rich learning and development opportunities in a fast-paced AI environment
• Delightful team culture with moments of magic, connectivity, and fun
• Comprehensive health and wellness programs

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.