Principal Frontend Engineer Client Platform (Remote across ANZ)

Join the team powering the foundation of Canvas world-class user experience.

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 with additional hubs across ANZ. But you have a choice in where and how you workwe trust our Canvanauts to find the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.

What youd be doing in this role
As Canva scales change continues to be part of our DNA. Youll lead the technical direction for video technology that powers millions of daily exports architecting scalable high-performance rendering systems and pioneering AI-powered video features. Youll work alongside talented engineers tackling complex problems and pushing the boundaries of browser-based video creation.

At the moment this role is focused on

• Youll architect and lead the technical direction for Canvas frontend systems making key design decisions that balance performance scalability and user experience.
• Youll collaborate with senior Principal and Staff Engineers to establish technical standards and best practices while progressively taking ownership of architectural decisions.
• Youll solve complex technical challenges across data consumption bundling and performance optimisation applying deep expertise in React and frontend architecture to maximise both technical excellence and business impact.
• Youll define and communicate a technical vision and roadmap for a future-proof architecture that supports rapid feature development maintainability and cross-platform code reuse.
• Youll mentor and guide engineers on architecture-related projects sharing your expertise in React systems design and large-scale frontend ecosystems.

Youre probably a match if

Youre a technical leader with a deep passion for frontend architecture and a proven track record of designing and implementing large-scale systems using React TypeScript and MobX.

Youre someone who thrives on solving complex technical challenges understands browser runtimes and memory management in detail and can translate that insight into pragmatic scalable solutions. You enjoy bringing clarity and structure to complexity inspiring and guiding others along the journey.

Youll likely have:

• Extensive web frontend experience with a proven record of building sustainable scalable architectures.
• Deep expertise in React JavaScript runtimes and React Native with hands-on experience building large-scale systems.
• Strong systems architecture and technical leadership skills ideally in environments supporting hundreds of engineers.
• Industry connections and open-source contributions in frontend technologies like React demonstrating engagement with the broader technical community.

About the Group

The Client Platform group provides the systems libraries and frameworks that power Canva. This includes frontend foundations such as mobile and desktop platforms our Design System support for offline functionality React core libraries and backends for frontends.

We enable over 600 frontend engineers to deliver high-quality features efficiently and consistently. The group plays a central role in evolving our frontend tech stack to meet Canvas growing needs supporting our goal of delivering a world-class inclusive experience to 1 billion monthly active users.

About the Role

As a Principal Frontend Engineer within Client Platform youll collaborate with senior technical leaders to shape and evolve Canvas frontend architecture. This is a rare opportunity to influence the foundations of one of the most complex frontend applications in the world built by hundreds of engineers and used by over 250 million users each month.

Our frontend stack must continuously evolve to handle increasing complexity enabling powerful features while remaining highly performant reliable accessible and efficient. It must work seamlessly across browsers mobile devices and desktop applications all while being maintainable for our growing engineering community.

Whats in it for you
Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard and we do but youll also enjoy moments of magic connection and fun throughout life at Canva. We offer:
Equity packages we want our success to be yours too
Inclusive parental leave policies supporting all parents & carers
An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance supporting wellbeing social connection and office setup
Flexible leave options empowering you to recharge and thrive

Check out for more info.

Other stuff to know
We make hiring decisions based on your experience skills and passion as well as how you enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply please share your pronouns and any adjustments you might need during the interview process. We celebrate all kinds of skills and backgrounds even if you dont tick every box we want to hear from you!

Interviews are conducted virtually.

Remote Work :

Yes

Employment Type :

Full-time