Senior Software Engineer - Product & Features (Java) - Open to remote across ANZ

Location: Team Engineering

Team: Country Perth / Australia

About the Role

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design. At Canva, our Engineering team builds the backend systems that power creative magic for millions of users worldwide. As a Senior Software Engineer - Product & Features (Java), you'll lead the development of scalable services that bring innovative design features to life, collaborating closely with product managers, designers, and frontend teams to deliver end-to-end experiences with real user impact. Open to remote across ANZ, this role offers flexibility to work from our Sydney flagship campus, Melbourne office, or your preferred setup while staying connected to our collaborative culture. You'll dive into leading the design of robust Java-based backend services, evolving Canva's architecture for massive scale, and championing best practices in reliability and performance. Expect to own features from concept to deployment, write production-grade code optimised for high-traffic design workflows, and leverage AI tools to accelerate innovation. Day-to-day involves partnering cross-functionally to scope impactful features, mentoring peers through code reviews, and ensuring your systems align with Canva's mission to empower everyone to design—whether optimising APIs for real-time collaboration or building shared tooling that scales creativity. Canva's engineering culture thrives on ownership, rapid iteration, and generous collaboration within a design-first environment. We're a vibrant community tackling complex problems with purpose, where your expertise in Java and backend systems will directly shape products used by millions. With equity packages, flexible leave, wellbeing allowances, and a hybrid model, we set you up for success in and outside work. If you balance technical depth with pragmatic shipping and love mentoring in a fun, high-impact team, join us to help power the next wave of Canva's creative revolution.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of scalable, reliable backend services using modern Java frameworks
• Drive collaboration with PMs, designers, and frontend engineers to deliver impactful product features
• Evolve Canva's backend architecture through service decomposition and shared tooling
• Champion reliability, performance, and engineering best practices across service domains
• Write robust, well-tested code and proactively identify technical improvements
• Guide design and code reviews while mentoring peers to raise the technical bar
• Maintain service health, observability, and incident resilience with your team
• Build scalable APIs powering millions of user interactions in Canva's design platform
• Optimise system performance and reliability at massive scale
• Contribute to shared services and internal tools that empower Canva's engineering teams
• Leverage AI tools to accelerate development and solve complex problems faster
• Partner cross-functionally to ensure backend systems align with Canva's design-first mission

Required Qualifications

• Highly experienced building complex backend systems in production environments at scale
• Strong Java fundamentals with ability to write production-grade code including multithreading, service design, and performance optimisation
• Hands-on experience using AI tools in coding and programming to drive greater impact
• Proven track record taking ownership of features end-to-end from architecture to delivery
• Experience leading design and code reviews while mentoring peers
• Deep understanding of backend concepts like scalability, reliability, and observability
• Comfortable shipping reliable, maintainable code at speed in fast-paced environments
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on design-focused products or consumer-facing applications
• Familiarity with modern Java frameworks (Spring Boot, Micronaut, etc.)
• Background in high-traffic, multi-tenant SaaS platforms
• Contributions to open-source projects or internal tooling
• Experience with cloud-native architectures (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes)
• Previous work mentoring junior engineers in collaborative teams

Required Skills

• Expert Java development
• Backend system architecture
• Microservices design
• Performance optimisation
• Multithreading and concurrency
• API development at scale
• Observability and monitoring
• Code review leadership
• Mentoring and technical guidance
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Pragmatic problem-solving
• AI-assisted coding
• Test-driven development
• Cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP)
• Reliability engineering
• Agile methodologies
• User-impact focus

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 campuses or remote setup
• Vibrant engineering community with mentorship and growth opportunities
• Hybrid work model balancing collaboration and flexibility
• Regular team events fostering connectivity and fun
• Access to cutting-edge tools and AI technologies

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.