Senior Backend Engineer (Java) - AI Media Transforms (m/f/x)

Canva
Vienna
Workplace: HybridFull timeEUR 80,000+Function: Software EngineeringSkills: ["Communication","Leadership"]

Own the backend service that powers every Canva AI editing feature. Build and evolve Java APIs and proto contracts that orchestrate GPU-backed, queue-driven jobs end to end—from state machines and pipelines to persistence, moderation, and resilient error handling. Ship new model-backed editing capabilities, run production on call with autoscaling and rollouts, and optimize latency and cost. Serve as the backend tech lead and partner across ML, inference, and product teams.

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FursaFursa
Canva
Canva
1 day ago

Senior Backend Engineer (Java) - AI Media Transforms (m/f/x)

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Canonical indexed version, validated from employer's careers page.

Source: Company careers pageValidated by: Fursa AI
Last checked: 12 hours agoStatus: Live
Reposted: similar role first listed 2 months ago

Job Summary

Own the backend service that powers every Canva AI editing feature. Build and evolve Java APIs and proto contracts that orchestrate GPU-backed, queue-driven jobs end to end—from state machines and pipelines to persistence, moderation, and resilient error handling. Ship new model-backed editing capabilities, run production on call with autoscaling and rollouts, and optimize latency and cost. Serve as the backend tech lead and partner across ML, inference, and product teams.
Location: Vienna
Workplace: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Software Engineering
Seniority: Mid level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Own the backend service behind Canva AI editing features, including API/proto design, job state machines, pipelines, worker orchestration, persistence, moderation, and reliability-focused error handling.
  • •Ship new editing capabilities end to end by designing APIs, building pipelines, wiring async GPU handoffs, and rolling out behind feature flags with metrics.
  • •Run the service in production with on-call responsibilities, including autoscaling, GPU capacity and instance choices, health probes, region rollouts, release schedules, and deploy tests.
  • •Improve performance and cost per request by profiling the full request path (queue wait through GPU time, moderation, and S3 uploads).
  • •Lead backend technical direction and partner across ML, inference, and product teams on architecture decisions and evolving contracts.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: EUR 80,000
Equity and Bonus:Equity
Perks:EquityParental Leave

Key Requirements

  • •Significant experience designing, building, and operating backend systems in production, including on-call responsibility.
  • •High proficiency in Java (or another JVM language such as Kotlin or Scala) with strong understanding of the surrounding tooling and ecosystem.
  • •Strong computer science fundamentals in concurrency, distributed systems, and performance engineering for services at scale.
  • •Experience building asynchronous, job-based systems using queues, workers, state machines, retries, timeouts, and handling partial failures.
  • •Ability to design and evolve APIs/proto contracts safely across multiple downstream callers, backed by clear communication.
Experience:Production backendGPU-backed systemsGenerative AI
Skills:CommunicationLeadership
Languages:English
Tech Stack:JavaKotlinScalaPythonProtoQueuesS3GPUAutoscalingFeature flags

Company Brief

Canva
Canva is an online visual communications platform that provides drag-and-drop design tools, templates, and media assets for creating presentations, social media graphics, videos, documents and more, serving individuals and large enterprises globally.
Industry: Enterprise Software
Company Size: Enterprise (1,001+ employees)
Revenue: USD 1B+
Growth: Scaleup
Valuation: Decacorn (USD 10B+)
Funding: Series E+
Headquarters: Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Founded: 2012
Glassdoor
Glassdoor: 3.9
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