Job Opportunity: High Performance Software Engineer
* Boosting product performance by exploring emerging technologies—such as smarter data loading, server-side rendering, and advanced caching strategies.
* Building systems that enable confident, high-quality, and performance-aware code releases.
* Optimising our bundling and delivery pipelines to ensure they scale seamlessly with Canva's growing engineering organisation.
Role Overview:
As a Staff Frontend Engineer, you'll operate at the subgroup level, working across initiatives that span 3–4 platform teams, helping shape the direction of Canva's web platform. You'll have the opportunity to lead forward-looking projects, including:
* Designing and delivering JavaScript-based RPC clients to power seamless communication between our frontend and backend systems.
* Exploring the design and adoption of React Server Components, contributing to the evolution of Canva's rendering architecture.
* Shaping the future of our code bundling and delivery infrastructure, ensuring it scales with the needs of a growing product and engineering organisation.
* Identifying the benefits and limitations of existing technologies, and guiding teams toward architectural decisions that unblock scale and improve developer experience.
* Contributing high-level technical expertise and strategic direction to the development of tools that detect performance regressions before they reach production.
Requirements:
Deep experience with core web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, MobX or similar) and backend stacks (Node.js, Java), with a track record of delivering high-quality solutions across the stack.
A strong grasp of build systems and performance tooling – from bundling and minification to web vitals – and the ability to architect for scale and speed.
A history of leading end-to-end technical initiatives, influencing not just how features are built, but what gets built and why.
Proven ability to drive clarity in high-ambiguity spaces, tackling complex or undefined technical problems and aligning multiple teams toward a shared direction.
Experience operating in large-scale environments – managing cross-functional collaboration, influencing technical roadmaps, and aligning with stakeholders across the org.
A habit of initiating and scaling cross-team efforts, especially in hybrid product-platform spaces where coordination and strategic thinking are critical.
Practical experience creating and advocating for performance observability systems, embedding performance goals into the developer workflow.
The ability to translate performance metrics into real user impact – not just what the numbers say, but what they mean for experience and product outcomes.
A drive to contribute to company-wide goals, particularly in spaces with broad customer impact – such as improving the help experience for millions of users.