Staff Backend Engineer

Summary

Join Canva and play a leading role in defining the technical roadmap and architecture for API platforms. Become an authority in API architecture and service communication, defining and promoting best practices. Design and implement intricate system aspects, proposing innovative solutions for Canva's distributed cloud infrastructure. Guide major project implementation, assisting with task breakdown and keeping engineers synchronized. Provide guidance and mentorship to other engineers, and facilitate cross-team initiatives to enhance reliability, velocity, and security. Canva offers flexible work arrangements and a range of benefits.

Requirements

• Ten-plus (10+) years of commercial experience developing sophisticated distributed web applications on the JVM; experience writing Java (experience with other backend languages such as Scala, Python and Typescript is a plus)
• Experience with planning, executing architectural changes, and a creative and conceptual problem-solving approach as opposed to a framework or library focused
• Strong communication and teamwork skills, both written and verbal
• Facilitating collaboration across teams, and fostering a positive working relationship between stakeholders and engineers. You know how to create a culture of trust, respect, and open communication
• Experience with guiding and mentoring other engineers, helping unblock technical challenges and being an all-around role model
• Expert in asynchronous or reactive programming techniques and associated patterns
• Deep knowledge of computer science and engineering fundamentals: concurrency, data structures, and distributed systems. And an understanding of resiliency techniques and patterns - load balancing, throttling, back pressure, circuit breaking, etc
• Experience working in large distributed cloud environments (ideally AWS)

Responsibilities

• Play a leading role in defining the technical roadmap and architecture for API platforms as Canva evolves. This involves helping shape the roadmaps for critical building blocks of Canva’s back end systems
• Become an authority in the area of API architecture and service communication. You will need to define and evangelise best practices for software architecture and layering, service performance, resiliency patterns and best practice library consumption. You will do this with both coding contributions and effective PR reviews
• Design and be a hands on implementer of intricate aspects of the system, showcasing your aptitude for tackling complex technical challenges effectively
• Propose innovative approaches and solutions to help future-proof Canva's distributed cloud infrastructure. You must engage with others to shape the improvements through writing clear design documents, influencing others designs and running design meetings
• Guide the implementation of major projects, assisting in realistic task breakdown and keeping engineers in sync within and across teams using excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Provide guidance and mentorship to other engineers, assisting them in their professional development and helping them navigate technical challenges
• Have a widespread impact across the organization by facilitating and orchestrating cross-team initiatives that set a higher standard for reliability, velocity, and security

Preferred Qualifications

• A huge plus will be an experience with RPC Frameworks like gRPC
• A strong working knowledge of modern networking protocols such as HTTP/2, protobuf and WebSockets will be highly regarded

Benefits

• 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