Software Engineer (Java) Backend (Open to remote across ANZ)

Job Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hey, gday, mabuhay, kia ora, 你好, hallo, vítejte!

Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time consuming and youre probably keen to find out whats on offer, so well 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 coworking 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

Backend roles at Canva can vary significantly depending on the team—each focused on solving meaningful problems at scale. You might help build scalable APIs powering millions of user interactions, improve system performance and reliability at scale, or contribute to shared services and internal tools. With multiple teams hiring backend engineers, we’d love to learn what excites you most and find the right fit for your passions and strengths.

You’ll work closely with product managers, designers, and frontend engineers to deliver endtoend experiences that have real user impact. Whether youre designing new systems or maintaining critical infrastructure, your work will play a key role in Canva’s mission to empower the world to design.

As Canva scales, change continues to be part of our DNA. But we like to think thats all part of the fun. So this will give you the flavour of the type of things youll be working on when you start, but this will likely evolve. As a general guide, here’s what a backend engineer at this level typically focuses on day to day:

• Designing and implementing backend features within an existing service architecture
• Building and maintaining services that power user experiences and internal systems at scale
• Writing clean, welltested, and maintainable code with guidance from more experienced engineers
• Collaborating with engineers, product managers, and designers to understand problems and ship highquality solutions
• Participating in code reviews, pair programming, and technical discussions as part of a supportive team
• Contributing to system health by writing tests, improving observability, and fixing bugs or performance issues
• Continuously learning through mentorship, feedback, and exposure to different parts of Canva’s engineering stack

• Youre probably a match if

  • You are experienced in building backend systems using Java in a production environment
  • You have strong Java fundamentals and can confidently write productiongrade code, applying backend concepts like multithreading, service design, and performance optimisation in realworld systems.
  • You understand the basics of distributed systems and are comfortable developing and consuming RESTful APIs
  • You can work through problems from design to deployment with support from your team
  • You apply sound engineering practices—such as testing, monitoring, and documentation—and write clean, maintainable code
  • You enjoy collaborating with engineers, designers, and product managers to build endtoend solutions
  • You take initiative, seek feedback, and are always looking to improve your craft and contribute to your team’s success
  • You have handson experience using AI in codingprogramming to drive greater impact

  • Engineering at Canva

    Join a vibrant engineering community solving complex problems for millions of users, world wide. Here, engineering is about more than writing great code. It’s about rapidly iterating to deliver real value for users building a product that empowers the world to design.

    We care deeply about craft and collaborate closely to achieve hugely ambitious goals. We mentor and support one another generously, grounded in a culture of ownership, purpose, and a shared commitment to excellence.

    Whats in it for you?

    Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard and we do but youll 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.

    Heres a taste of whats 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. 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, realtime 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.

      Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.

      Additional Information

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