Staff Front End Engineer

Job Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hey, g'day, mabuhay, kia ora,你好, hallo, vítejte!

Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time consuming and you're probably keen to find out what's on offer, so we'll get straight to the point. 

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.

Canva’s engineering organisation is 600 people strong, and right now every one of them needs to make the shift from a world where React meant the browser, to a world where React means iOS, Android, and web all at once. The Portable Platform is that move. A production-scale React codebase, hundreds of engineers who’ve spent their careers building for the browser, and a migration that has to land cleanly enough that those engineers never have to become mobile experts. It’s a difficult engineering problem and it’s yours to help solve.

As a Staff engineer, you’ll own the architecture layer of that transition. The abstraction you design becomes the foundation those engineers build on. The patterns you establish become the defaults the organisation works within. You’ll work alongside the Principal Engineer driving the deeper mobile architectural bets, and the engineers going deep on the mobile side. Your contribution is the expertise and clarity that brings everyone else with you.

What success looks like. Within 12 months, the frontend layer of the Portable Platform is built and in use. Engineers write React without thinking about which runtime they’re targeting. Runtime concerns stay in the platform, not in product code. Web implementations of core components are in production, and hundreds of engineers have a clear path forward.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Build the frontend layer of the Portable Platform: Design and ship the frontend architecture that lets React engineers write once and run across web and React Native. The abstraction has to be clean enough that product engineers never have to think about which runtime they’re targeting.

• Lead the React Web to React Native transition: Navigate the extraction from a pure React Web codebase to React Web plus React Native. Make the transition clean. The decisions made here shape how Canva’s frontend codebase evolves for years.

• Own the web implementations of common abstractions: Build the web side of shared Portable Platform components — the pieces that work consistently across iOS, Android, and browser. You own the web runtime slice of that contract.

• Support the upskilling of frontend engineers: Six hundred-plus frontend engineers are moving from a world where they only had to think about web. Help them understand the new mental model — through code standards, documentation, design reviews, and direct collaboration.

• Bring SSR and React Server Components into the picture: Server-side rendering and RSC are part of this story — particularly how a backend wires up to the portable frontend layer. This isn’t the headline, but it matters, and you’ll need to reason about it well.

• Stay hands-on: Staff engineers at Canva ship code. You’ll be in the codebase, writing design docs, committing to production. The architecture work and the engineering work aren’t separate here.

You’re probably a match

We'd love to hear from you if you fit one or more of these. You don't need to meet all of them, but the more the better and if you join the team, we're invested in helping you grow.

Experience

• React at depth: You understand how React is built, reconciliation, the rendering model, the server component model. You’ve made decisions below the framework’s surface.

• Performance in depth: You’ve driven measurable gains on a complex frontend product and know how to distinguish a real win from a misleading benchmark.

• Portable or cross-platform experience: You’ve worked on a codebase that runs across more than one runtime and understand the trade-offs of abstracting at the component layer.

• React Native mental model: You don’t need to be a mobile expert, but you understand how React Native differs from React Web and how engineers need to think differently when targeting both runtimes.

• Cross-team influence: You’ve shipped something that changed how more than one team builds, through documentation, prototypes, and direct conversation.

• Hands-on: Writing code day-to-day. Recent commits, recent design docs, recent reviews.

• AI fluency: You’ve used AI tooling in real engineering work and have a view on what it changes for frontend development.

Nice to have:

• SSR and React Server Components: Familiarity with server-side rendering and RSC patterns — how a backend wires up to a React frontend, and where this fits in the Portable Platform story.

• React Native experience: Hands-on React Native work, even at a surface level. If you’ve shipped something in React Native, that’s a genuine plus.

• Open-source contributions: React, React Native, or the broader frontend ecosystem.

• Design system or component library depth: Experience building shared component abstractions that other engineers consume, especially abstractions that need to work across different rendering environments.

About the Group and Team

Join Client Platform at Canva — the layer that frontend engineers depend on, and the group closest to what users actually experience. We own the foundations every product team builds on: web, native mobile, desktop, and the Design System. Hundreds of millions of users touch what this group ships every day.

Mobile Platform is the subgroup responsible for optimal platform support across mobile development. The Portable Platform is the biggest bet the subgroup has taken on — moving Canva from a browser-wrapped mobile experience to a native-grade platform across iOS, Android, and web from a shared codebase. This role is at the centre of that.

A good architectural decision here changes the working conditions for every frontend engineer at Canva. The people who thrive here care about how React works below the framework level, are comfortable where the right answer doesn’t yet exist, and want their work to have a lasting effect on how a large engineering organisation builds.

What's in it for you?

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard - and we do - but you'll experience lots of moments of magic, connectivity and fun woven throughout life at Canva, too. We also offer a stack of benefits to set you up for every success in and outside of work.

Here's a taste of what's on offer:

• Equity packages - we want our success to be yours too
• Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support your wellbeing, social connection, office setup & more
• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge and supports you personally

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process.

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually. 

Qualifications

Additional Information