Engineering Manager - Native Video Engine

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.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Leading a team building Canva’s Native Video Engine (NVE) — the cross-platform rendering and processing infrastructure powering video playback, export, and editing experiences.
• Driving strategy and execution across high-performance video rendering systems used across iOS, Android, Web, and Backend platforms.
• Partnering closely with Video Editing, Platform, Product, and Portable Platform teams to deliver reliable and scalable video capabilities.
• Supporting the evolution of Canva’s video infrastructure across playback, export, editing, and performance-critical workflows.
• Building a strong engineering culture focused on technical excellence, collaboration, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
• Helping engineers grow through coaching, feedback, mentoring, and career development conversations.
• Improving engineering quality through performance monitoring, testing practices, rollout management, and operational excellence.
• Contributing to cross-team alignment and technical direction across Canva’s Video Platform group.

You're probably a match if

• You’ve led engineering teams delivering complex technical products in systems-level, native, or cross-platform environments.
• You bring strong technical judgment and can help teams balance quality, performance, scalability, and delivery.
• You’re a strong communicator who can align engineers, product teams, and stakeholders around technical direction, priorities, and outcomes.
• You have experience building or working closely with video creation workflows and understand the complexities of rendering, playback, export, editing, and performance-sensitive media systems.
• You enjoy creating clarity in ambiguous technical environments and helping teams stay focused on meaningful outcomes.
• You care deeply about building healthy, inclusive, and high-performing engineering cultures where people can do their best work.
• Nice to have: experience with video processing, media pipelines, codecs, graphics rendering, cross-platform build systems (Bazel), WASM, React Native, high-scale export/rendering infrastructure, or creative tools and multimedia product development.

About the team

The Video group is shaping the future of storytelling at Canva, and the Native Video Engine (NVE) team sits at the foundation of that vision. The team builds and scales a cross-platform C/C++ rendering and multimedia processing engine that powers video playback, export, and editing experiences across Canva.

As Canva continues investing in video creation, the NVE team is focused on enabling fast, reliable, and high-quality rendering infrastructure that supports millions of users globally.

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.