Senior Frontend Engineer - Graphics/WebGL

Canva; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity packages

Parental leave policy

Vibe & Thrive allowance

Flexible leave options

Job summary

Canva, a London-based leader in visual design, is seeking a frontend-focused engineer for its 3D team. You will work on rendering challenges and browser-based 3D experiences that power the Canva Editor, collaborating with design, product, and engineering to deliver high-quality, scalable visuals.

You will contribute to the 3D ecosystem, discuss technical direction with stakeholders, and mentor peers while helping Canva push the boundaries of in-browser 3D and performance optimized rendering.

Qualifications

• Experience with frontend tech stacks.
• Strong understanding of 3D rendering concepts.
• Familiarity with browser-based graphics performance and memory management.

Responsibilities

• Solve complex rendering challenges by building and optimizing 3D experiences in the browser.
• Collaborate with design and product to translate 3D requirements into Editor experiences.
• Build frontend components that integrate with Canva Editor and 3D features.
• Mentor engineers and share best practices for 3D UI development.

Skills

WebGL/WebGPU

WebAssembly

3D rendering

Frontend tech

Performance benchmarking

CS fundamentals

Tools

Browser-based 3D renderer

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 ads can feel a bit formulaic sometimes, but we promise Canva is anything but. If you're drawn to what we're building and you see yourself in this role, we'd love to hear from you.

Where and How You Can Work

Our London office is a hub for collaboration and energy. But we also believe in working where you do your best thinking. This role is based in London, with the flexibility to work in a way that suits you.

Canva's mission is to empower the world to design. With 285+ million monthly active users across 190+ countries, we're building the world's most loved visual communication platform. We're not a template tool. We're an AI-powered visual work platform that's replacing legacy tools across design, documents, presentations, video, and websites.

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:

• Solving complex rendering challenges by building and optimizing 3D experiences that run directly in the browser

• Working with cutting-edge web technologies including WebGL/WebGPU and WebAssembly to deliver high-fidelity 3D that feels fast and intuitive for everyday creators

• Collaborating closely with design and product teams to translate 3D design requirements into technically sound, polished Editor experiences

• Contributing to the broader 3D ecosystem by building frontend components that integrate seamlessly within Canva's Editor

• Mentoring and collaborating with engineers on the team, sharing knowledge about complex rendering patterns and helping establish best practices for 3D UI development

• Driving technical alignment across teams by communicating complex frontend decisions to stakeholders and ensuring 3D initiatives integrate smoothly with Canva's broader platform

You're probably a match if

• You are technically versatile, with diverse experience in frontend tech stacks

• You've got a good balance between big-picture thinking and nailing the details

• You have experience with real-time rendering, 3D graphics, or creative tool development - and a genuine interest in pushing what's possible in the browser

• You have experience with WebGL or WebGPU for rendering in the browser

• You share a passion for performance debugging and benchmarking, and deeply understand rendering performance and memory management

• You possess strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to break large projects down into smaller ones and deliver on them through others

• You demonstrate solid computer science fundamentals - from data structures and algorithms to scalable software architecture patterns

• You collaborate effectively with designers, product managers, and engineers, and communicate clearly to help deliver cohesive, high-quality user experiences

• You have Rust or WebAssembly experience (nice to have)

About the team

We're the 3D team at Canva, and we're building something genuinely new - democratizing 3D design for creators who've never touched a 3D tool before. We work on everything from our custom browser-based 3D renderer to backend scene processing and asset workflows, all deeply integrated with the Canva Editor.

It's a technically demanding, high-ownership environment. You'll collaborate with rendering specialists, graphics engineers, and AI teams across Canva, and have real influence over technical direction. We're small enough that your decisions matter, and large enough that what you ship reaches millions.

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 range 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.

We celebrate all types of skills and backgrounds at Canva so even if you don’t feel like your skills quite match what’s listed above - we still want to hear from you!

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.