Principal Software Engineer User Platform

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 own the technical direction for User Platforms most complex cross-cutting programmes Centralised Permissions & AuthZ Profile Decomposition and Authentication Platform setting the architectural strategy and driving delivery across teams.
• Youll serve as the platforms principal-level authority across Identity & Access Management providing credible technical leadership to Security API Platform Admin Experience and product engineering simultaneously.
• Youll architect and oversee the migration of 3000 access checks into a structurally-enforced authorisation platform (SpiceDB/Zanzibar-style) designing the adoption patterns and microsyncs infrastructure that makes this tractable at Canvas scale.
• Youll make high-stakes technical trade-offs for critical infrastructure including profile service decomposition and authentication pluggability balancing reliability velocity and security for systems serving hundreds of millions of users.
• Youll mentor and technically enable the broader User Platform engineering team raising the bar on system design technical communication and IAM best practices across a team of strong senior and staff engineers.
• Youll represent User Platforms technical strategy at the executive and cross-group level telling the right story to motivate adoption and alignment across the business.

Youre probably a match if

Were looking for a technical leader who has deep hard-won expertise in Identity & Access Management at scale someone who has built or significantly evolved Zanzibar-style authorisation systems zero-trust identity architectures or large-scale authentication platforms in production. You understand that platform work at this level is as much about influence and adoption as it is about technical correctness: you know how to drive widespread change across large engineering organisations and you can make complex IAM concepts legible and compelling to engineers and executives alike.

You combine deep hands-on technical ability with the strategic seniority to operate as a true principal across multiple groups and youre energised by the challenge of working at the intersection of security reliability and developer experience. Most importantly you want to work on problems that matter systems that will power the next billion Canva users.

Essential Technical Expertise

• Deep expertise in Identity & Access Management at scale: experience designing and operating Zanzibar-style authorisation systems (e.g. SpiceDB Google Zanzibar OPA) zero-trust identity architectures and large-scale authentication platforms.
• Proven track record of driving platform adoption across large engineering organisations (300 engineering teams) including technical communication stakeholder alignment and change management at scale.
• Strong system architecture and technical leadership skills with experience making high-stakes trade-offs for critical high-availability infrastructure.
• Experience decomposing and evolving monolithic services in production with a track record of improving reliability without disrupting dependents.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and elevate senior engineers and to represent complex technical decisions credibly to executive audiences.

About the Group

User Platform at Canva are a platform team responsible for the AuthZ/N infrastructure that serves as a backbone to Canva Products. User Platform own the identity authentication authorisation user profile and account systems that connect hundreds of millions of users to the tools they love and that every product team at Canva depends on to function. Our work directly enables Canvas ambition to become a secure AI-native company at a billion-user scale: from enforcing bounded auditable access for agentic AI workflows to powering seamless product onboarding for acquisitions and new product lines.

About the Role

As a Principal Engineer for User Platform youll take on one of the most strategically important technical leadership roles at Canva. Youll be the senior technical owner for our most complex cross-cutting programmes: migrating thousands of access checks into a declarative authorisation platform decomposing a monolithic profile service that sits at the heart of Canvas reliability & is involved multiple times in every request and evolving our tightly-coupled authentication systems into a pluggable platform that any product team can extend.

Your work spans User Platform API Platform Admin Experience Security and the entire product engineering organisation youll need to operate credibly at every level from deep system design to executive communication. This is a multiplier role: your architectural decisions technical influence and ability to drive adoption across a large engineering organisation will directly shape how fast Canva can move as we scale to a billion users. If youve spent time in your career solving hard Identity & Access Management problems at scale and youre ready to apply that expertise to one of the worlds most-used creative platforms this role was made for you.

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