Job Overview
Location
Brisbane
Job Type
Full-time
Category
Engineering Manager
Date Posted
January 9, 2026
Full Job Description
đź“‹ Description
- • Lead and inspire a high-performing, remote-first team of engineers who are building the Editing APIs that sit at the very core of Canva’s creative platform. Your leadership will directly influence how millions of users interact with the editor every day.
- • Own the technical vision and long-term strategy for APIs that enable everything from drag-and-drop elements to real-time collaboration, ensuring they scale to billions of design operations per month.
- • Coach engineers at all levels—from new grads to principal ICs—through career frameworks, 1:1s, feedback loops, and hands-on mentorship, turning individual growth into collective impact.
- • Partner deeply with Product, Design, Data, and the GenAI group to translate ambitious product goals (think AI-powered auto-layout or third-party plugin ecosystems) into concrete, deliverable API capabilities.
- • Drive the roadmap for both internal and external Editing APIs, balancing immediate feature needs with foundational investments in performance, reliability, and developer experience.
- • Champion engineering excellence by instituting best practices in API design, testing, observability, and security, while fostering a culture of experimentation and continuous learning.
- • Navigate ambiguity with confidence—whether it’s scoping a net-new AI-driven endpoint or untangling legacy code—by breaking complex problems into iterative, measurable milestones.
- • Represent the Editing API team in cross-functional forums, communicating technical trade-offs and strategic decisions to executives, partner teams, and the broader engineering org.
- • Ensure the APIs you ship are not only loved by internal developers but also ready for external adoption, laying the groundwork for a thriving third-party ecosystem.
- • Promote psychological safety and inclusive leadership, ensuring every team member—regardless of location or background—can do the best work of their career.
🎯 Requirements
- • Proven experience leading and scaling high-performing software engineering teams in a remote or hybrid environment.
- • Strong background in API design, developer platforms, or large-scale frontend frameworks (JavaScript, TypeScript, React, MobX, etc.).
- • Demonstrated success delivering cross-functional initiatives with internal stakeholders and measurable customer impact.
- • Comfortable navigating ambiguity, balancing priorities, and making data-informed decisions in a fast-growing company.
- • Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to align engineers, product managers, and executives around a shared vision.
🏖️ Benefits
- • Competitive equity packages—share in Canva’s success as we reach our crazy big goals.
- • Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents and carers, no matter how you define family.
- • Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance for wellbeing, social connection, learning, and anything that helps you thrive.
- • Flexible leave options to recharge, grow, volunteer, or simply take that extra-long holiday you’ve been dreaming about.
Skills & Technologies
JavaScript
TypeScript
React
Backend
Onsite
About Canva Pty Ltd
Canva is an Australian graphic-design platform providing a web-based and mobile application for creating social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content. It offers templates, stock photography, illustrations, fonts and drag-and-drop functionality through a freemium subscription model serving consumers, small businesses, educators and large enterprises. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Sydney, the company operates globally with offices in Manila, Beijing and Austin, and supports over 100 languages.
