Staff Frontend Engineer - Design Systems

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. 

Where and how you can work

Our flagship campus is in Sydney. We also have a campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. But you have choice in where and how you work. That means if you want to do your thing in the office (if you're near one), at home or a bit of both, it's up to you. 

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.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Leading strategic technical direction for our design system
• Working on our trickiest and most impactful projects and design solutions that address problems at both current and future scale
• Working within the design system and help evolve the system to meet the needs of our users by contributing to the continuous improvement of standards, guidelines, and reusable components
• Mentoring team members and participating actively in design and code reviews, team processes and decision making
• Contribute to defining, improving, and codifying best practices and methodologies for frontend engineering at Canva
• Crafting and presenting engaging presentations to the frontend specialty

You're probably a match if have

• Deep experience working in frontend web technologies (HTML, CSS, Web APIs, React/TS) and cross-browser development
• Proven track-record of delivering large, cross-functional projects across multiple teams and highly reliable technical solutions that scale
• Ideally you have experience developing or leading a design system, but experience with and passion for platform stewardship / enablement is a plus
• Experience with cross-platform and cross-device UI/UX development
• Excellent communication and collaboration with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams
• A great balance between big-picture technical thinking and nailing the details
• Experience breaking down big undefined problems into smaller decisions with clearly identified tradeoffs
• Passion for fostering a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and knowledge sharing within the team and across the specialty.
• Curiosity about how AI can improve developer and design workflows
• Awareness of accessibility principles with a commitment to further learning

Nice to have:

• Experience successfully advocating for goals and driving significant technical changes through leading others and as an individual contributor
• Experience in stakeholder communication or internal advocacy
• Experience writing accessible code and reading detailed specifications (WCAG 2.2 AA)
• Experience in native or hybrid development development

About the team

A design system is a collection of design guidelines, reusable user interface components, and related resources and tools. Canva has three design system teams working on our shared mission to build a world-class design system that empowers Canva staff to craft consistent and excellent experiences at scale.

The Design System teams work on some of the biggest frontend problems like accessibility, theming, surface architecture, powering AI workflows, and curating the set of foundational base components that all frontend engineers and product designers at Canva use daily. You would work on our most impactful technical challenges, as well as help lead the technical vision for and empower engineers to build the design system in a scalable and consistent way, keeping in mind users, designers, and engineers alike. We have a unique opportunity to build a world-class design system and revolutionise ways of working across design and frontend engineering at Canva.

About the Role

In this role, you’ll be joining the Design System Evolution team whose purpose is to future-proof the design system while serving as the interface between Canva’s emerging needs and system evolution. You’ll also sometimes operate at the subgroup level across the 3 design system teams. This is an exciting opportunity for a very experienced engineer who’s passionate about design systems, can balance technical depth with communication and mentorship, and wants the opportunity to play a leading role in taking a design system at Canva’s scale to the next level of maturity.

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.