Lead Front-End Engineer

Join the Revolution at Leonardo.Ai

At Leonardo.Ai, we’re building a generative AI platform that empowers millions of people, regardless of expertise, to create high-quality images and videos with speed and ease. Now part of the Canva family, we’re scaling our R&D team to deliver intuitive, intelligent, and beautiful tools to over 250 million users globally.

This is an opportunity to shape how people engage with creativity and AI, building features that help them move from idea to output with clarity and confidence.

The Role

As a Lead Front-End Engineer at Leonardo.Ai, you won’t just build features, you’ll help shape how people interact with our most advanced tools. From real-time canvas experiences to video generation and advanced prompting, you’ll lead the engineering behind entirely new creative workflows.

Our engineering function is structured into cross-functional squads, each focused on a key product or platform area. You’ll work closely with design, product, and research, and collaborate with engineers who care deeply about quality, user experience, and craft.

What you'll do:

• Lead a pod of Engineers: Guide a team of up to four front-end engineers through mentorship, task planning, and technical oversight. You’ll also represent your pod in roadmap planning and cross-functional meetings.

• Deliver AI-powered creative tools: Build new features and experiences from real-time canvas editing to next-gen video workflows that help users engage with generative AI in ways that feel seamless and inspiring.

• Own technical architecture: Lead front-end architecture decisions that ensure scalability, maintainability, and long-term performance. You’ll take the lead on technical planning and play a key role in shaping how we build.

• Work closely with product and design: Partner daily with designers, PMs, and ML engineers to deliver polished, intuitive, and powerful features that meet real user needs.

• Write clean, scalable front-end code: Remain hands-on in writing high-quality React and Next.js code using TypeScript and GraphQL, continually optimising for performance, accessibility, and long-term stability.

• Raise the bar across the team: Participate in reviews, share constructive feedback, and help improve engineering quality and delivery practices across the front-end group.

• Bring curiosity and insight: Keep up with trends in web development and creative tools. Share fresh ideas that help us move smarter and faster.

Skills we like:

• Experience leading or mentoring engineers in a fast-moving team

• Proven ability to deliver production-ready front-end applications

• Deep knowledge of React and Next.js (especially App Router and rendering patterns)

• Strong proficiency with TypeScript and GraphQL APIs

• Experience collaborating closely with designers and PMs

• A track record of building user-facing products with performance in mind

• Clear, thoughtful communication and a collaborative mindset

• Interest in creative tools, design systems, and front-end performance

Our Culture:

• Inclusive Culture: We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and empowered. At Leonardo AI, we welcome and value your unique perspectives and experiences, as they are essential to our success.

• Flexible Work Environment: We recognise the importance of maintaining a work-life balance. Enjoy the flexibility to work remotely or from our vibrant offices. We have employees across Australia, ensuring you can thrive both personally and professionally.

• Empowering Growth: Your development is our priority. We offer continuous learning opportunities and career growth tailored to your goals. You’ll be encouraged to grow and excel in your career at Leonardo AI.

• Impactful Work: Join us in shaping the future of AI. You'll work on innovative projects that have a meaningful impact, and your contributions will help drive advancements in AI creativity.

What's in it for you?

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:

• Impact the future of AI

• 20 days of annual leave

• Reward package including equity - we want our success to be yours too

• An inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers with 18 weeks of paid leave

• 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 support you personally, including remote working abroad

• Support with your professional development

• Fun and engaging company events, both virtual and in-person