Staff Frontend Engineer - Photo Editing

United States Digital Space LLC; United States; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity packages

Parental leave

Vibe & Thrive allowance

Flexible leave options

Opportunity to shape technical方向

Job summary

Canva is seeking a senior frontend architect to lead the technical direction across the Photo group, guiding multi-team initiatives and shaping the frontend platform.

You will collaborate with engineers, ML specialists, product managers and designers to deliver ambitious user experiences, while mentoring others and advancing performance and scalability. This role offers a hybrid Sydney-based setup with remote flexibility.

Qualifications

• Extensive commercial experience building and scaling complex frontend apps with modern JS/TS and React.
• Led multi-team frontend initiatives from ambiguous problems to delivery.
• Deep expertise in rendering performance, large-scale frontend architecture, or complex state management.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for frontend architecture across the Photo group and partner teams.
• Lead cross-team frontend initiatives balancing technical excellence with product outcomes.
• Raise engineering standards through architecture, performance improvements, mentoring and standards.
• Identify strategic technical opportunities shaping long-term product direction.
• Collaborate with senior engineers, ML engineers, PMs and designers to deliver ambitious UX.
• Represent the Photo group in cross-group architecture discussions and drive frontend platform evolution.
• Contribute hands-on to critical projects while enabling peers to excel.

Skills

JavaScript

TypeScript

React

Frontend architecture

Cross-team leadership

Tools

WebGL

WebGPU

WebAssembly

Canvas rendering

Job description

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.

Where and how you can work

Our flagship Sydney campus is uniquely the company - an extension of our Surry Hills neighbourhood. It’s a thoughtfully designed space with plenty of room to collaborate, focus, and connect. This role is based in Sydney, and we’re looking for someone who calls it home. Our hybrid way of working gives you the flexibility to work remotely and to come together on campus for meaningful in-person collaboration and connection when it matters most. We trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.

What you'd be doing in this role

As the company 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:

• Setting the technical direction for frontend architecture across the Photo group and partnering teams.
• Framing and leading complex cross-team frontend initiatives, balancing technical excellence with product outcomes.
• Raising the engineering bar through architecture, performance improvements, mentoring, and technical standards.
• Identifying strategic technical opportunities and risks that shape the company's long-term product direction.
• Collaborating closely with senior engineers, machine learning engineers, product managers, and designers to deliver ambitious user experiences.
• Representing the Photo group in cross-group architecture discussions and influencing the evolution of the company's frontend platform.
• Contributing hands-on to critical technical projects while enabling other engineers to do their best work.

You're probably a match if

• You have extensive commercial experience building and scaling complex frontend applications using modern JavaScript or TypeScript and React.
• You have successfully led multi-team technical initiatives from ambiguous problem definition through to successful delivery.
• You bring deep expertise in areas such as rendering performance, large-scale frontend architecture, complex state management, or platform engineering.
• You demonstrate exceptional technical judgement and communicate complex technical decisions clearly across engineering and non-engineering audiences.
• You have a proven track record of mentoring senior engineers and raising engineering standards across teams.
• You're comfortable operating in ambiguity and turning strategic goals into practical technical execution.

Nice to have

• Experience with WebGL, WebGPU, WebAssembly, Canvas rendering, or graphics-intensive applications.
• Experience building image editing, creative tooling, or media platforms.
• Experience integrating AI or machine learning capabilities into product experiences.
• Contributions to frontend platforms, design systems, or shared engineering infrastructure.

About the team

We're Photo. Our mission is to make the company's Photo Editor the place where anyone can transform images into stunning visual outcomes effortlessly and at any scale. We're building the workspace where images live, get edited, and get reused across designs.

We set ambitious goals, embrace difficult technical challenges, and believe innovation happens when talented people work together to solve meaningful problems. Our team combines cutting-edge frontend engineering with AI-powered image understanding and processing to help millions of people create beautiful designs every day.

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 the company, 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 that supports all parents and carers.
• An annual Vibe \& Thrive allowance to support your wellbeing, social connection, office setup and more.
• Flexible leave options that empower you to recharge, give back and thrive both personally and professionally.
• The opportunity to shape the technical direction of one of the company's most impactful product experiences while collaborating with world‑class engineers.

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more information.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion, as well as how you can enhance the company 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 the company, so even if you don't feel your experience perfectly matches everything we've listed, we'd still love to hear from you.

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.