Staff Software Engineer - Experiments Platform (AU remote)

Company Overview and Work Environment

Canva operates major campuses in Sydney and Melbourne, with additional co-working locations in Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. This role offers flexible remote working arrangements within Australia, allowing you to choose the workspace that best supports your productivity.

Role Overview

Join Canva's initiative to integrate experimentation deeply into product development. As a Staff Software Engineer focused on the Experiments Platform, you will lead the backend systems supporting experimentation at scale. Your work will enable teams to understand product changes’ impacts effectively, guarding critical metrics such as user retention and application performance.

You will enhance the experimentation platform to facilitate setting up experiments, user targeting, variant exposure, and outcome measurements in a reliable and user-friendly manner. The platform aims to not only report results but also promote sound experimentation practices, highlight significant signals quickly, and issue early alerts if issues arise. Additionally, leveraging AI to automate analysis and accelerate team learning will be a key focus.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior technical leadership on backend systems powering Canva’s experimentation platform.
• Own complex technical challenges and collaborate with senior management to guide the platform’s future developments.
• Work cross-functionally with engineering and data science teams to build and evolve experimentation capabilities.

Candidate Profile

Ideal candidates will have experience in several of the following areas, though not all are mandatory:

• Backend platform engineering: Experienced in creating backend systems or platforms that are critical infrastructure for other engineers.
• Experimentation at scale: Familiarity with building or managing A/B testing, feature management, or progressive rollout systems.
• Technical leadership: Skilled in navigating ambiguous engineering problems, setting technical directions, and guiding teams toward outcomes.
• Adoption advocacy: Understanding the importance of building internal platforms that gain trust and usage across teams.

Technical Knowledge

• Strong foundation in backend and distributed systems design, including scalability, availability, and reliability considerations.
• Basic understanding of data engineering, analytics, and large-scale data workflows related to experimentation data.
• Knowledge of experimentation concepts like experiment assignment, targeting, feature flags, metrics, guardrails, and rollout strategies.
• Proficiency in Java is useful but not mandatory; emphasis is on solid engineering fundamentals adaptable to multiple languages.

Desirable Extras

• Previous direct involvement in designing or building experimentation, A/B testing, feature management, or rollout infrastructure.
• Experience bridging software engineering with data science or data engineering disciplines.
• Expertise with feature flag systems, user targeting, progressive rollout, or automated guardrails.
• Comfortable working alongside data scientists with a good grasp of experimentation and statistical principles.

Team Context

The role is part of Rollout Insights, the team responsible for delivering experimentation capabilities at Canva. The group delivers a shared platform leveraged by engineers, data scientists, and product teams to configure experiments, analyze impact, and make rollout decisions. Collaboration with senior engineering and data science leaders is a critical part of the role, reflecting the cross-disciplinary challenges of experimentation at scale.

Benefits and Culture

• Equity packages to share in the company's success.
• An inclusive parental leave policy supporting all parents and carers.
• Annual "Vibe & Thrive" allowance supporting wellbeing, social connections, and office setup.
• Flexible leave policies to enable personal recharge and contributions beyond work.

Additional Information

Canva embraces AI to amplify creativity and enhances its hiring process by incorporating AI-based challenges. The recruitment process respects diversity and inclusivity, encouraging applicants from various backgrounds. Interviews are conducted virtually, with accommodations available for interview adjustments as needed.