Staff Backend Engineer – Experiments

Canva

. Play a leading role in the technical vision for Pilot, Canva's A/B testing and experimentation platform, setting the direction for how we evolve toward AI-driven product decisions at Canva's scale.

Posted 4/21/2026full-timeRemote • Sydney • 🇦🇺 AustraliaLeadWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSCloudDistributed SystemsJavaKotlinKubernetesScalaSQLTerraform

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Play a leading role in the technical vision for Pilot, Canva's A/B testing and experimentation platform, setting the direction for how we evolve toward AI-driven product decisions at Canva's scale.
Build the technical roadmap for AI-driven, self-serve product insights, working closely with PM, PD, Data Science and other teams to make sure the roadmap reflects what teams actually need.
Shape the architecture and design of the experiments platform to handle Canva's growing scale.
Write design docs, run design reviews, and make the big calls on how the system evolves, with a particular focus on improving analysis pipeline reliability and latency.
Be the technical north star for the team.
Drive cross-team initiatives across Product Platform. Pilot doesn't exist in isolation. You'll work closely with other platform teams, as well as PM, PD, and Data Science, to make sure our systems fit together and raise the bar company-wide.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Experience developing distributed web applications on the JVM; experience writing Java (experience with other JVM languages such as Scala, Kotlin, etc is a plus).
Experience with planning, executing architectural changes, and a creative and conceptual problem-solving approach as opposed to a framework or library focused.
Deep knowledge of computer science and engineering fundamentals: concurrency, data structures, and distributed systems.
An understanding of resiliency techniques and patterns like load balancing, throttling, back pressure, and circuit breaking.
Experience working in large distributed cloud environments (ideally AWS), experience with cloud native technologies such as Kubernetes and Terraform is a plus.
Strong communication and teamwork skills, both written and verbal.
Experience facilitating collaboration and fostering positive working relationships between stakeholders and engineers, promoting a culture of trust, respect, and open communication.
Experience guiding and mentoring other engineers, helping unblock technical challenges and being an all-around role model.
A genuine curiosity about how AI can transform experimentation, not just as a feature to ship, but as a way to fundamentally change how teams get to insights.
Experience working with large distributed data processing systems (e.g. Snowflake), with strong SQL and data modelling skills.

Benefits

Comp & perks

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

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

JavaScalaKotlindistributed web applicationscloud environmentsKubernetesTerraformSQLdata modelingcomputer science fundamentals

Soft Skills

communication skillsteamwork skillscollaborationmentoringproblem-solvingrelationship buildingtrustrespectopen communicationcuriosity