Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Visual Suite - Productivity Group

Location: Team Engineering

Team: Country Sydney / Australia

About the Role

Join Canva's Visual Suite Platform Team, an agile group of backend and machine learning engineers powering the services behind our game-changing productivity tools—Docs, Email, Sheets, Presentations, Websites, and Whiteboards. As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer in the Productivity Group, you'll sit at the exciting intersection of deep ML expertise and platform engineering, enabling product teams across Design Experience to bring innovative visual AI features to millions of creators worldwide. In our collaborative, high-velocity culture, you'll thrive by solving complex challenges while creating blueprints that multiply impact across Canva. In this role, you'll act as a trusted solution expert, debugging intricate AI implementations, optimizing inference for seamless user experiences, and partnering directly with product teams to navigate technical hurdles. You'll develop proven patterns and paved roads that empower others to move faster, balancing hands-on problem-solving with strategic thinking to scale enablement. With exposure to Canva's core visual products, you'll make tangible impact in a design-first environment where creativity meets cutting-edge ML. We're seeking a force multiplier who excels in Python, Kubernetes, data pipelines, model evaluations, and inference optimization, with strong debugging skills across the ML stack. Excellent communication, collaboration, and a passion for mentoring will set you apart in our growth-oriented team. Don't tick every box? No worries—Canva values curiosity, diverse backgrounds, and a drive to learn. If you're excited to redefine how the world designs with AI, apply today and help shape the future of visual productivity.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a solution expert across ML domains including evaluations, training, inference, data pipelines, quality, and optimisation
• Partner directly with product teams to navigate technical challenges and deliver effective AI solutions
• Provide expert guidance on platform capabilities to help teams build efficiently
• Develop blueprints, patterns, and paved roads to accelerate ML implementations across teams
• Debug and resolve complex AI issues, sharing root cause learnings organisation-wide
• Balance hands-on problem-solving with strategic enablement to scale impact
• Optimise inference performance for Visual Suite products like Docs, Sheets, and Presentations
• Collaborate with Design Experience teams to integrate ML into creative workflows
• Mentor engineers on best practices for ML at Canva scale
• Context-switch across high-velocity projects while maintaining technical excellence

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated expertise in Python with hands-on experience in ML frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow
• Commercial experience working with Kubernetes (K8s) for scalable ML deployments
• Proven experience building and optimizing data pipelines for ML workflows
• Strong background in model evaluations, training, and inference optimization
• Experience debugging complex issues across the full ML stack
• Ability to collaborate effectively with product, research, and data science teams
• Excellent problem-solving skills with a track record of enabling team success

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of Java for backend integrations
• Exposure to Terraform for infrastructure as code
• Experience supporting Visual Suite products (Docs, Sheets, Presentations, etc.)
• Background in serving infrastructure and performance optimization
• History of creating ML blueprints, patterns, or paved roads for teams

Required Skills

• Python expertise with ML frameworks
• Kubernetes (K8s) for production ML systems
• Data pipeline development and optimization
• Model evaluation and training methodologies
• Inference optimization and serving infrastructure
• Full-stack ML debugging and troubleshooting
• Cross-team collaboration and enablement
• Context-switching across concurrent projects
• Explaining complex ML concepts to diverse audiences
• Mentoring and knowledge sharing
• Strong organisational and task breakdown skills
• Excellent written communication for design docs and PRs
• Pragmatic judgment in high-velocity environments
• Collaborative mindset focused on force multiplication
• Passion for design-focused AI innovations

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 flagship Sydney campus and co-working spaces in major cities
• Rich learning culture with growth opportunities in design and AI
• Collaborative environment redefining visual communication worldwide

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.