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

Canva
Vienna
Workplace: HybridFull timeEUR 80,000+ annuallyFunction: Software EngineeringSkills: ["Communication","Leadership","Problem-solving","Mentoring","Teamwork"]

Design, build, and operate high-performance backend services for AI-driven media editing at Canva. Lead architecture decisions, collaborate with ML teams on GPU-backed inference, and drive scalable, cost-aware backend platforms for inpainting, outpainting, upscaling, and background removal.

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FursaFursa
Canva
Canva
2 months ago

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

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Source: Company careers pageValidated by: Fursa AI
Last checked: 16 hours agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Design, build, and operate high-performance backend services for AI-driven media editing at Canva. Lead architecture decisions, collaborate with ML teams on GPU-backed inference, and drive scalable, cost-aware backend platforms for inpainting, outpainting, upscaling, and background removal.
Location: Vienna
Workplace: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Software Engineering
Seniority: Mid level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Build and operate the AI editing serving stack, owning backend services for inpainting, outpainting, upscaling, and background removal from API design to GPU-backed inference and production monitoring.
  • •Productionise model work from research by partnering with CORE and Photo AI; write pipelines, evals, and rollout patterns to make capabilities repeatable.
  • •Design shared building blocks and reusable libraries (upscaler, outpainting, depth estimation, segmentation, BG removal) for Canva teams to reuse.
  • •Drive inference performance and cost by identifying bottlenecks and shipping improvements in GPU utilization, pre/post-processing, batching, streaming, and routing.
  • •Partner across teams (Photo AI, CORE, Inference, Canva AI) and mentor engineers, contribute to architecture reviews, and participate in on-call rotations.

Pay and Benefits

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

Key Requirements

  • •Significant commercial experience designing, building, and operating high-performance backend systems in production.
  • •High proficiency in Java or a similar JVM language (Kotlin, Scala) with solid ecosystem knowledge.
  • •Strong computer science fundamentals — concurrency, distributed systems, performance engineering, and scalable service design patterns.
  • •Comfortable collaborating with ML engineers/researchers; ability to read PyTorch, reason about GPU memory and inference latency.
  • •Track record of leading technical initiatives end-to-end, driving architecture decisions, and mentoring engineers.
Experience:Generative AI
Skills:CommunicationLeadershipProblem-solvingMentoringTeamwork
Languages:English
Tech Stack:JavaKotlinScalaPyTorchGPUAPI designDistributed systemsBackend

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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