Staff Software Engineer - Native Video Engine (China)

Location: Team Engineering

Team: Country Beijing / China

About the Role

At Canva, we're revolutionizing how the world creates visual content, and our Native Video Engine team in Beijing is at the heart of this transformation. As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll architect the foundational technology that powers next-generation video creation and rendering across Canva's global platform. This is your chance to bring industry-leading graphics expertise to a collaborative team that's building from the ground up, shaping not just code but the future of creative tools used by millions daily. Join us onsite in Beijing to mentor talent, drive innovation, and embed Canva's design-first culture into every pixel. You'll lead the development of high-performance rendering subsystems, optimizing for real-time playback, memory efficiency, and seamless cross-platform experiences. Collaborating with product managers, designers, and fellow engineers, you'll translate bold creative visions into robust, scalable architecture. From shader optimization to video pipeline innovation, your decisions will influence Canva's video capabilities for years, ensuring our users—from marketers to educators—can bring their ideas to life effortlessly. We're seeking a technical visionary with deep graphics and video expertise who thrives in Canva's collaborative, innovative environment. You'll mentor emerging engineers, establish best practices, and champion a culture of experimentation and excellence. This role offers the perfect platform to make a lasting impact on one of the world's most beloved design platforms, all while growing alongside a passionate team in Beijing's vibrant tech scene.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and implement core subsystems of the Native Video Engine, defining long-term technical foundations
• Lead development of advanced rendering pipelines optimized for performance, memory efficiency, and cross-platform compatibility
• Mentor and guide junior engineers in graphics programming, performance optimization, and system design best practices
• Collaborate with product and design teams to translate creative user needs into robust technical specifications
• Establish coding standards, development practices, and architectural patterns to scale the growing engineering team
• Research and integrate emerging graphics and video processing technologies to keep Canva at the forefront of innovation
• Drive technical decision-making, balancing performance, maintainability, and feature delivery
• Debug and resolve complex graphics, performance, and rendering issues across diverse hardware platforms
• Partner with Canva's global teams to ensure seamless integration of video capabilities into the design platform
• Contribute to the team culture by fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovative problem-solving

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with deep expertise in graphics programming (Vulkan, OpenGL, DirectX)
• Proven track record building high-performance rendering systems and video processing pipelines
• Strong experience in shader development, performance optimization, and multi-threaded graphics programming
• Hands-on experience with C++ or Rust in system-level programming for real-time applications
• Demonstrated leadership in technical projects, including mentoring junior engineers and architecting complex systems
• Experience with cross-platform development and hardware-specific optimizations
• Bachelor's or higher degree in Computer Science, Graphics, or related field

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in multimedia frameworks and video encoding/decoding (FFmpeg, AVFoundation)
• Contributions to open-source graphics or video projects
• Familiarity with machine learning acceleration in rendering pipelines
• Previous work in design tools or creative software ecosystems
• Experience scaling engineering teams in fast-paced environments

Required Skills

• Expertise in Vulkan, OpenGL, DirectX for high-performance graphics
• Shader programming and GPU optimization techniques
• Multi-threaded programming and real-time rendering systems
• Memory management in resource-constrained environments
• Video processing, encoding/decoding pipelines
• C++ or Rust system programming
• Cross-platform development (Windows, macOS, mobile)
• Performance profiling and bottleneck analysis
• Complex debugging of graphics and multimedia issues
• System architecture design and scalability patterns
• Technical leadership and mentorship
• Collaborative problem-solving in cross-functional teams
• Strong communication of technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Adaptability to fast-paced, innovative environments
• Passion for design tools and creative technology

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity package in a high-growth tech company
• Comprehensive health insurance and wellness programs
• Flexible onsite work environment in Beijing with modern office facilities
• Generous parental leave and family support benefits
• Professional development budget for conferences, courses, and certifications
• Canva Plus subscription and exclusive employee design tool access
• Regular team offsites, hackathons, and innovation workshops
• Free daily meals, snacks, and beverages in our Beijing office
• Visa sponsorship and relocation support for international talent

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.