Senior Backend Engineer (Java) - GenAI Platform Tooling

  • Full-time
  • Recruitment type: Permanent

Job 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 choice in where and how you work, we trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.

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.

At the moment this role is focused on:

  • Design and implement backend components of internal tools used across multiple teams for data evaluation and data training
  • Collaborate effectively with a cross-functional team of leads, designers, product managers, and other engineers throughout the lifecycle of a project
  • Building engineering tools and frameworks that help us rapidly and reliably conduct AI development
  • Facilitate knowledge sharing and effectively advocate for engineering needs
  • Model initiative and ownership in achieving goals, e.g. learning and maximising the use of the Canva engineering landscape, technical systems, ways of working and delivering outcomes
  • Contribute to defining, improving, and codifying best practices and methodologies for backend engineering at Canva
  • Participate in design and code reviews

You're probably a match if:

  • You have solid experience and knowledge in developing complex, distributed applications with Java.
  • Disciplined coding practices, and experience with code reviews and pull requests. You model best practices to your peers.
  • Strong communication and team collaboration skills, both written and verbal. A Canva engineer strives to understand the exact problem before jumping into writing code.
  • While not required, commercial experience with protocol buffers is an advantage.
  • All of our services are built on AWS. While not required, commercial experience with AWS services like DynamoDB, and SNS/SQS is an advantage.


About the team

Canva's Generative AI Platform Group is responsible for the delivery of capabilities which empower transformational ML and AI initiatives, from early ideation and prototyping, through to scaling to meet the needs of millions of Canva users in production. We empower thousands of engineers and product managers to deliver amazing product features which harness the power of cutting-edge technologies. 

The Training Data & Evaluation Tooling team is a new team, established to provide the engineering backbone for the operationalisation of the production of training and evaluation data; and to develop tools, services and processes to enable product engineers and our Generative AI Research group to rapidly move from idea to a powerful user experience as effortlessly as possible.

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 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.

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