Backend Software Engineer - (Java) - Content Design Empowerment

Company Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hey, g'day, mabuhay, kia ora, 你好, hallo, vítejte!

Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time-consuming and you're probably keen to find out what's on offer, so we'll get straight to the point. 

Where and how you can work

Our flagship campus is in Sydney. We also have a campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. But you have a choice in where and how you work. That means if you want to do your thing in the office (if you're near one), at home or a bit of both, it's up to you.

What you’d be doing in this role

As Canva scales change continues to be part of our DNA. But we like to think that's all part of the fun. So this will give you the flavour of the type of things you'll be working on when you start, but this will likely evolve.

Job Description

About the Group/Team

The Elements Experience team is building innovative features to help users create visually cohesive designs with less effort. Currently, we’re working on tools to personalise design starting points, and restyling elements to match a design aesthetic. Our work directly impacts millions of users who rely on Canva's elements to create professional, cohesive designs every day. About the Role/Specialty

This year the Elements Experience team is on a mission to transform how users create and customise design elements in Canva. Our group is focusing on making elements fully customisable, editable, and stylistically cohesive through brilliant algorithms and ML/LLM processing. We're working to solve key user pain points around finding cohesive elements, applying consistent styles, and reducing manual editing work.

What you’ll do (responsibilities)

• Building robust backend services and APIs that power element customisation and style consistency features

• Collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders from content leadership, design experience, legal, and creators royalties teams

• Developing scalable, performant systems that handle complex transformations and ML/LLM processing with minimal latency

• Implementing new approaches to content processing and style analysis that enable faster, more intuitive design creation

• Contributing to backend architecture improvements that support intelligent editing and discovery experiences

What we're looking for

• You have solid experience working with Java and our backend technology stack

• Are grounded in computer science and engineering fundamentals including concurrency, multithreading, data structures, solution design, architecture, and design patterns

• Have experience building scalable backend services that handle complex data processing and transformations

• Are skilled at analysing problems by examining root causes and developing pragmatic solutions using precedent and judgment

• Have experience working with APIs, microservices, and understand how to build reliable, maintainable backend systems

• Can work autonomously on technical solutions and contribute to improving team processes and practices

• Have a track record of delivering on defined technical problems and executing consistently on technical proposals

• Demonstrate strong communication skills and can effectively collaborate with frontend engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders

• Are proactive in picking up unowned work that enables the team to move faster and seek to gain ownership of systems or components

What's in it for you?

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard - and we do - but you'll experience lots of moments of magic, connectivity and fun woven throughout life at Canva, too. We also offer a range of benefits to set you up for every success in and outside of work.

Here's a taste of what's on offer:

• Equity packages - we want our success to be yours too

• Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers

• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support your wellbeing, social connection, office setup & more

• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge and supports you personally

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

Other stuff to know

We see AI as a powerful amplifier of creativity and technology at Canva.We’re evolving how we assess AI skills in our Technology hiring experience - you’ll tackle interactive, real-time challenges that reflect the kind of work we do. In some interviews, you may also be asked to solve a problem using an AI tool to show how you approach challenges with tech by your side. Your recruitment partner will walk you through what to expect. We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process. We celebrate all types of skills and backgrounds at Canva so even if you don’t feel like your skills quite match what’s listed above - we still want to hear from you!

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process.

We celebrate all types of skills and backgrounds at Canva so even if you don’t feel like your skills quite match what’s listed above - we still want to hear from you!

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.