Senior Software Engineer - Java, Product & Features (Open remote across ANZ)

About Canva

Launched in 2013, Canva is an online design and publishing tool with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere.

Canva’s Commitment and Mission

At Canva, we celebrate diversity. We deeply believe that bringing together diversity of thoughts, perspectives and expression is key to building the best product, team and company. We look for many different skills and abilities, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. So, even if you don’t think you quite meet all of the skills listed or tick all the boxes, we’d still love to hear from you!

Our mission at Canva is to empower the world to design and since launching in 2013, we have grown exponentially, amassing over 100+ million monthly active users across 190 different countries and a team of over 3,000 people… and the best bit is that we’ve only achieved 1% of what we know we’re capable of.

Join us and design your future.

The Position

Software engineering is the core of who we are at Canva. The Canva code base was built to scale from day one. This has allowed for a unique environment where engineers spend most of their time optimizing performance and releasing new features rather than fixing legacy code. With adherence to fundamentals and first principles, the team strives to use the most appropriate tools for the tasks at hand, aiming to strike that carefully measured balance between getting things done and the long-term maintainability of the code base and supporting infrastructure.

We promote a warm and collaborative work environment where engineers set big goals and are given the tools and support to achieve them. We also invite our engineers to contribute to the direction their peers are taking with proactive pair-ups for peer-reviewing of code as well as regular engineering forums for opinions and ideas to be heard. These practices ensure that knowledge is shared and releases are quick and efficient.

Finally - you're probably curious about our technology stack. At a high level, Canva's backend is powered by a set of services (some micro, some not-so-micro) built primarily in Java, hosted on Linux, sitting on AWS. We also sprinkle in some powerful open-source libraries and tools (have a look at finagle ), as well as bespoke components to power some of the magic.

Role Responsibilities

• Your day to day activities will consist of solution design and hands-on software development – working closely with leads, designers, and product managers to deliver features and functionality to our customers all over the world
• Once you’ve settled in and have a comfortable grasp of the product, environment, and processes, you’ll be given more responsibility and start leveraging your previous experience — bringing new ideas to the table concerning everything from feature development, process improvement, and product suggestions
• Developing and iterating on technical proposals – outlining how solutions will be structured and developed
• Developing solutions you’ve designed from the ground up through to deployment into production
• Identifying and addressing performance bottlenecks within the application and broader infrastructure
• Participating in design meetings, hiring interviews, and code reviews
• Performance debugging, benchmarking and building awesome things in general

Requirements

• Commercial experience developing complex web applications
• Most of our code is in Java, so ideally you will be comfortable using Java or happy to learn!
• Firmly grounded computer science and engineering fundamentals including concurrency, multithreading, data structures, solution design, architecture, and design patterns
• That you’re happy to roll the sleeves up and dive into java.util.concurrent from time to time 🙂
• Working collaboratively with team members and communicating effectively

Our Hiring Process

• We deeply believe diversity of thought and experience is key to creating the world’s best team and building a truly incredible product. Our hiring process is designed to help us get to know you and for you to get to know us, too. Hiring is a two-way conversation – you’re interviewing us as well.
• Throughout the process, we’ll share insights into the kind of work you’ll be doing at Canva, the team you’ll be joining, your coach (leader) and what it’s like working at Canva. Our biggest tip throughout the process is be yourself. You are the main character in this journey - so show us who you are!
• We look for many different skills and abilities, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. So, even if you don’t think you quite meet all of the skills listed or tick all the boxes, we’d still love to hear from you!
• We're also not about a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to recruitment. We want to ensure everyone has an equitable experience too, so to chat through any accommodations or adjustments to our recruitment process, please speak to your recruiter.
• We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion. Please note that interviews are conducted virtually. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process.
• While each role, level and speciality/group is different, our process has four main consistent components:

What’s the standard hiring process?

1. Round 0: Straight after you apply you will receive an email from us letting you know we’ve received your application. About a week later, you’ll receive another email with an update on your application or asking you to book yourself in for a Zoom call. This can vary during busier periods but our recruiters are always working hard to respond to you as quickly as possible.
2. Round 1: Zoom call. During this call, someone from the Talent Acquisition team will have a chat with you about your aspirations and experience and we’ll share more about the role and Canva’s culture. If you’ve applied for an engineering role we’ll also ask you some technical questions during this call.
3. Round 2: First Interview. This will either be with your potential coach (leader) or someone you’d work closely with in the role. They’ll give you more insight into the team, what your day-to-day will be like and the impact you will be able to have. For engineers, you’ll have a peer-to-peer technical interview including a problem solving challenge to explore.
4. Round 3: Take home challenge. We’ll send you a brief with the details of a challenge to complete in your own time and present back to us. Different people work in different ways, so this step of the process is to show us who you are and how you work. This is an opportunity for you to showcase your thinking but also get a sense of the type of work you’d do in the role. We want to see your personality and authentic self shine. Please note, engineers aren’t asked to complete a take home challenge.
5. Round 4: Final Interview. You’ll meet with a number of people you’ll be working closest with and will take them through your findings from your challenge. You’ll also answer some behavioural questions aligned to our 12 skills framework. These questions are based on real life scenarios, so we highly recommend having examples of your previous experience ready and to explain your thinking. For engineers this is a 3 hour interview combining technical problem solving with questions about your experience (some people call these ‘behavioural questions’). Most importantly, this is another opportunity for you to ask any questions you have. Remember this is as much about you getting to know the team and Canva.

How long does it take to hire at Canva?

Each role and level can be different, but generally our process takes 4-5 weeks from the initial conversation with your recruiter through to a decision on the outcome. (And we hope for you it’s a big YES). Your recruiter will keep you updated along the way to ensure you know what to expect and if there are any changes in the timeline.

Who will I meet throughout the process?

You’ll meet a bunch of Canvanauts along the way to give you as much context as possible. It’s always great to get a variety of perspectives. It will vary from role to role but in most cases you will meet your recruiter, your potential coach (leader) and some fellow teammates.

How should I prepare for my interview and do you have any tips?

1. Be yourself - Canva celebrates individuality and diversity of thought. We want to see your personality and authentic self shine. Plus you're always your best when you’re yourself.
2. Don’t overthink it - The thought of interviewing can be a little daunting. Trust us, we've been there too. The good part is every single Canvanaut who has joined has been exactly where you are now. So take a deep breath and have your questions and examples of previous work ready. The rest we will guide you through.
3. Do your prep - It’s always a good idea to get to know us as much as you can before the interview. Checking out our CanvaLife careers site and social media is a great place to start. You can find links to our social media channels at the bottom of this page. Then, if you are still hungry for some more Canva, you can also check us out in the press and see what we’ve been up to. We also recommend getting to know who you will be meeting with in your interview. Jump on LinkedIn, view their profiles and find out what they were up to before they joined Canva and what their roles are now. You might find something in common or a shared connection.
4. Have your questions ready - The interview is as much about you getting to know us as it is about us getting to know you. This is your opportunity to have any burning questions ready. You might have questions on our culture, the team you will join, the role you will do, what’s it like to work from home and of course what it would be like working at Canva. Ask away!
5. Get ready to answer questions - When answering interview questions it's always a great idea to have tangible examples to support your answer.

We suggest using the STARR method:

(S)ituation - setting the scene and giving context

(T)ask - Describing the task, including challenges and expectations

(A)ction - Explaining thought process, what you did and how you did it

(R)esults & (R)eflection - What was the outcome? What were the key takeaways?

Bonus Tip: Check out our Interactive Job-Seeker Workbook (https://www.canva.com/design/DAFSJTDzliE/xXlzu5fgviaQmQUoSseMKA/view) for a deep-dive into how to nail your job interview. It includes all of our top tips, tricks, video examples and tools to help you prepare. You've got this!

Benefits

Benefits

• Competitive salary, plus equity options
• Flexible working hours, we mean it when we say we value work-life balance
• In-house chefs that cook delicious breakfast and lunch for us each day
• Free Gym and Yoga
• Generous parental (including secondary) leave policy
• Pet-friendly offices
• We offer a full relocation package (including visa)

Working at Canva

Our culture is unlike anywhere else and we design your #CanvaLife experience to empower you to do the best work of your life.

Whether you’re in the office, working from home or choosing your own adventure, our benefits for permanent Canvanauts include:

• Our benefits for permanent Canvanauts include: Flexible hours and working fully remotely from anywhere in New Zealand, which values your work-life balance because you know how you work best.
• Unique and flexible leave so you can recharge, give back, support others or focus on your own professional development.
• An inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents and carers throughout their parenting and caring journey.
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance. This is for you to spend on whatever will support your wellbeing and development. Because you know what you need to Vibe and Thrive, better than anyone.
• We have virtual wellness & development benefits including Canva University, Employee Assistant Programs, Fitness & Yoga Classes and other benefits to support your physical, mental, and social wellbeing.
• Canva For Good program matching your not-for-profit donations, Force for Good leave (3 paid volunteering days) and a range of sustainability and ethical initiatives to get involved in.