Canva

Backend Software Engineer (Java) - Discovery Platform

To empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere

  • Software engineering

  • Full-time

  • Office | Melbourne, VIC, Australia

  • Visa sponsorship · No

  • Mid Level · A role for someone with some well-developed knowledge and skills they can bring to the role and team. Typically within 2-5 years of experience.

  • ·

Why Canva

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

About the role

What you’d be doing in this role As Canva scales change continues to be part of our DNA. But we like to think that's all part of the fun. So this will give you the flavour of the type of things you'll be working on when you start, but this will likely evolve.

About the Discovery Platform Group Almost 100% of our users will interact with the Discovery Group features every time they come to Canva. We are responsible for the AI, Machine Learning, Infrastructure, and User Experience that powers many parts of Canva’s core product experience.  Our work is the key discovery mechanism to promote and expose Canva’s content to current and potential users. Without good discovery, users will never know we even have content!

Some of the key capabilities we own/contribute include:

  • Running and deploying our core search and recommender indexes and services
  • Improving our ML rankers across search and recommendations
  • Integrating AI technologies into our ranking and content understanding capabilities
  • Building the amazing search and recommendations experience in the editor and marketplace
  • Building the private search experience - similar to Google Drive

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), embracing the new possibilities it presents is imperative for Canva's long-term success. Discovery Platform sub-group has been entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the highest throughput machine learning (ML) and information retrieval systems at Canva. Simultaneously, we are laying the groundwork for the next generation of ML and generative AI capabilities, ensuring Canva remains at the forefront of innovation in this dynamic landscape.

Job Description

What you’ll be doing in this role

  • Scale out our backend systems including Opensearch and Elasticsearch
  • Build and maintain new APIs to support Public and Private Search
  • Build and maintain platform capabilities that support internal teams
  • Build and maintain our own experimentation tool
  • Contribute to a culture of high collaboration and communication
  • Contribute to a strong culture of operational excellence where the team is proactively improving the performance of critical services it owns
  • Be a part of a fun and rewarding environment of learning and celebration

You're probably a match if

  • Commercial experience developing sophisticated web applications
  • Most of our code is in Java, so ideally you will be comfortable using Java.
  • Firmly grounded computer science and engineering fundamentals including concurrency, multithreading, data structures, solution design, architecture, and design patterns
  • Working collaboratively with team members and communicating effectively
  • Good writing and verbal communication skills
  • Previous on-call experience

Bonus experience (not mandatory)

  • You have experience in Search or worked with search related technologies such as Elasticsearch, Opensearch, etc.

What you'll be responsible for

  • Stakeholder Engagement

    Partner with stakeholders to understand specifications, business requirements, and communicate insights

  • 🤖

    Scripting and Automation

    Develop scripts and automated workflows to improve the efficiency and accuracy of repeated tasks

  • 🛠

    Test Automation

    Create and implement code tests and software test automation

Skills you'll need

  • 👥

    Collaboration

    Works with others by being open, clear in communication and listening to achieve goals

  • 🧮

    Numerical problem solving

    Works with numerical information and performs mathematical calculations to solve problems

  • 🔍

    Attention to detail

    Accurately identifies and rectifies discrepancies or errors that exists in information and deliverables

Meet the team

Avatar
Engineering

Canva

Responsible for protecting Canva systems and data from information security threats. Our teams work together, and with other groups, to deliver preventive and detective controls and processes that reduce security risk. The group runs programs across Identity and Access Management, Application Security, Risk and Compliance, Threat Detection and Response, and Red Teams.