Staff Front-End Engineer - Design Systems

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 Canva - 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 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.

This Staff Software Engineer role is responsible for driving one of the most exciting changes in Canva's frontend stack and tackling unique technical challenges in the design system domain. The majority of Canva's MAU is now mobile, and we’re evolving our tech stack to catch up. Very few companies have attempted a web to React Native migration at this scale, and fewer design systems get the opportunity to create a “universal” component library that works across both native mobile and web.

We're extending our existing React web component library, which already powers of all of Canva's UI, into a portable React component library that renders via React DOM on web and via React Native on mobile. UI defined once, rendered everywhere. We'll do this by absorbing cross-platform complexity into the design system layer, which means this role is at the frontier of figuring out the right abstractions before product teams ever have to think about them.

This is a high impact role, with multiple prominent Canva surfaces relying on this infrastructure to ship mobile-first experiences before the end of 2026.

• Own the Portable UI Platform. Ship shared React components across web and React Native that multiple prominent Canva surfaces depend on before end of 2026.

• Abstract cross-platform complexity. You’ll solve problems once in the platform layer, so product teams get portable-first capability for free.

• Set the standard: For how portable components are built, distributed, and consumed and design solutions that hold at current and future scale. 800+ engineers will build with it, so it has to be right.

• Mentor engineers: Through a steep learning curve as the org shifts from web-first to cross-platform. Bring people with you through design and code reviews, team decisions, and the day-to-day.

• Influence across boundaries: Work with products teams across the company to understand their needs, sequence the work, and decide what belongs in the platform. Adoption is the biggest risk to delivery.

• Lead strategic technical direction: For the Design System Evolution team, and across the wider design system as needed. We know where we're going; how we get there is yours to figure out.

• Evolve the design system for an AI-native world: AI-assisted workflows enable faster delivery, empowers non-technical consumers to build UI, and puts a premium on a strong visual language. Seizing the AI opportunity requires changes and investments to our system. You'll help figure out what those are and how to build toward them.
   

• Shape frontend engineering at Canva: More broadly, codifying best practices and methodologies, and influencing the frontend specialty.

You're probably a match if

We'd love to hear from you if you fit one or more of these:

(You don’t need meet fit all of these, but the more the better, and if you join our team we’re invested in helping you grow)

• Design System Leadership: Experience developing or leading a design system, with a passion for platform stewardship and enablement
   

• Web Technology Foundations: A deep understanding of the inner workings of fundamental web technologies (HTML, CSS, Web APIs, JS/TS, React)

• Cross-Platform Development: Hands-on experience with cross-platform and cross-device UI/UX development using React Native

• Delivery at Scale: Proven track record of shipping large, cross-functional projects across multiple teams with highly reliable, scalable technical solutions

• Collaboration & Communication: Excellent communicator and collaborator, with the ability to work effectively across cross-functional teams

• Technical Breadth & Depth: A strong balance between big-picture thinking and meticulous attention to detail

• Structured Problem Solving: Skilled at breaking down large, ambiguous problems into smaller decisions with clearly identified tradeoffs

• Culture of Excellence: Passionate about fostering technical excellence, continuous learning, and knowledge sharing within the team and across the specialty

• AI Curiosity: Open to exploring how AI can improve developer and design workflows

• Accessibility Awareness: Familiar with accessibility principles, with a genuine commitment to continued learning

Nice to have:

• Technical Advocacy: Experience championing goals and driving significant technical change — both as a leader and individual contributor

• Stakeholder Influence: Background in stakeholder communication or internal advocacy

• Accessible Code: Ability to write accessible code and interpret detailed specifications such as WCAG 2.2 AA

• Native Development: Exposure to native or hybrid development environments

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 is to build a world-class design system that empowers Canva staff to craft consistent and excellent experiences at scale.

Design System Evolution sits at the frontier of that work. The team's mandate is to evolve and expand design system capabilities to support emerging needs at Canva - expanding the design system’s reach into new surfaces, unlocking new technologies, and setting technical standards for the frontend specialty.

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 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.