Senior Backend Engineer - Research Enablement
CanvaVienna, ViennaPosted 20 April 2026
Job Description
About the Team
The Research Enablement EU team sits within Canva's AI research group. The team's role is to bridge the gap between research science and product. We take the models and experiments coming out of the research teams and make them production-ready. In practice, that means owning model deployment and rollout pipelines, building and maintaining the infrastructure and tooling that lets researchers iterate faster, and running the data collection systems that feed ML training. The team works closely with AI Platform and the broader research leads to keep Canva's generative AI capabilities moving from lab to product reliably and at scale.
About the Role
As a backend engineer you’ll be part of the team bridging the gap between research and production. Partnering closely with researchers, and stakeholders across our Gen AI group, you’ll ensure experimental code is production ready, build internal apps and services, and create the tooling and processes that let multiple model variants ship safely and quickly. Your work shortens the research-to-user loop, reduces duplication, and ensures our ML features are reliable, observable, and easy for other teams to adopt.
What you’ll do 
You will have the opportunity to work on some of the most cutting edge AI features at Canva and collaborate with teams across the group to bring the features to production effectively and make sure they perform reliably at scale. Additionally, you will participate in planning, development and maintenance of building blocks such as training data pipelines and internal tools like data visualisers and aggregators to support our researchers in their end-to-end workflows. This happens in close collaboration with our stakeholders, including data scientists, MLEs, PMs and designers.
Collaborate closely with stakeholders, PMs, and cross-functional teams to create innovative and scalable solutions
Design, develop, and maintain high-performance, scalable, and reusable backend components
Identify and implement best practices and methodologies for backend engineering
Help foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement
Participate in code reviews, ensuring adherence to coding standards and best practices
Contribute to the overall architecture and design of backend systems, ensuring maintainability and extensibility
You're likely a match if you have
Firmly grounded computer science and engineering fundamentals including concurrency, multithreading, data structures, solution design, architecture, and design patterns
Strong background in designing, building and running large scale Java or Python backend systems
Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment, taking ownership of projects and outcomes
Experience with big-picture thinking and attention to detail
Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
Nice to have
Experience in Machine Learning is a huge plus
SQL experience
DynamoDB experience is a plus
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 adjust ... (truncated, view full listing at source)
Apply Now
Direct link to company career page
AI Resume Fit Check
See exactly which skills you match and which are missing before you apply. Free, instant, no spam.
Check my resume fitFree · No credit card
More jobs at Canva
See all →Staff Engineer (one level above Senior - Backend) - App Experiences, Ecosystem
Sydney, · 20 April 2026
Staff Frontend Engineer (level about Senior) Editing Performance, Design exp
Sydney, · 20 April 2026
Commercial Counsel, GTM
Austin, TX · 20 April 2026
Sr. Knowledge Management Expert - Customer Service
Makati, · 20 April 2026