Staff Frontend Engineer - Accessibility Team (Remote across ANZ)

Location: Team Engineering

Team: Country Sydney / Australia

About the Role

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design. At Canva, our Accessibility Team is on a mission to make Canva the most accessible design tool globally, empowering everyone—from users with disabilities to creators building inclusive designs by default. As a Staff Frontend Engineer, you'll lead the technical evolution of accessibility across our platform, architecting scalable infrastructure that enables accessible-by-default development. You'll blend hands-on coding with strategic leadership, collaborating with engineers, designers, and product managers in our innovative, design-focused culture to deliver world-class experiences for 1 billion users. In this role, you'll drive architectural decisions for accessibility systems, lead cross-team initiatives, and build tooling that empowers every Canva team to create inclusive features independently. You'll mentor engineers, champion best practices, and engage senior stakeholders to embed accessibility into our strategic roadmap. With deep expertise in WCAG 2.2 AA, React, TypeScript, and modern web standards, you'll thoughtfully integrate AI to boost efficiency while tackling complex challenges at the cutting edge of frontend engineering and inclusive design. Canva's collaborative environment thrives on ownership, innovation, and fun—think Sydney flagship campus vibes with remote flexibility across ANZ. You'll shape the future of accessible creativity, resolving technical debt, fostering cross-team partnerships, and elevating standards organization-wide. If you're a hands-on leader passionate about universal design and ready to make a massive impact, join us in empowering design for all.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive architectural decisions for accessibility infrastructure that scales across Canva's platform
• Lead cross-team accessibility initiatives from conception to production deployment
• Design, develop, and deploy hands-on solutions collaborating with leads, designers, and PMs
• Mentor engineers and champion accessibility best practices company-wide
• Shape technical direction and influence product vision for embedded accessibility
• Engage senior stakeholders to align initiatives with business goals
• Build tooling and documentation empowering teams for efficient accessible development
• Resolve technical debt, improve processes, and scale accessibility solutions
• Identify cross-team collaboration opportunities advancing the accessibility mission
• Integrate AI thoughtfully into accessibility workflows for maximum inclusion and innovation

Required Qualifications

• Deep expertise in accessibility engineering including WCAG 2.2 AA, ATAG 2.0, and universal design principles
• Strong frontend engineering experience with JavaScript, React, TypeScript, and MobX
• Proven track record as a technical leader delivering high-impact platform and developer tooling projects
• Experience architecting scalable frontend infrastructure that supports accessible-by-default development
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and champion best practices across organizations
• Solid computer science fundamentals in architecture, design patterns, and performance optimization
• Experience engaging senior stakeholders to align technical initiatives with business objectives

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience integrating AI into accessibility workflows for efficiency and innovation
• Background in design tools or creative software with focus on inclusive user experiences
• Contributions to open-source accessibility projects or standards bodies
• Experience scaling accessibility solutions in large-scale web applications
• Familiarity with Canva's tech stack and design-first engineering culture

Required Skills

• WCAG 2.2 AA compliance and testing
• ATAG 2.0 and authoring tool accessibility
• React and component architecture
• TypeScript for type-safe frontend development
• MobX state management
• JavaScript performance optimization
• Scalable frontend architecture design
• Developer tooling and automation
• Cross-team technical leadership
• Stakeholder communication and influence
• Mentoring and knowledge sharing
• Strategic thinking linking tech to business impact
• Hands-on coding with minimal guidance
• AI integration for accessibility workflows
• Universal design principles
• Screen reader and assistive technology expertise

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
• Remote-friendly work across ANZ with hybrid flexibility
• Collaborative, design-focused culture with moments of magic and connectivity
• Professional growth opportunities in a high-impact engineering team
• Access to flagship campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, and co-working spaces

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.