Principal Frontend Engineer

Principal Frontend Engineer (Relocation to Australia Required)

• Full-time
• Recruitment type:
  Permanent

Join the team powering the foundation of Canva’s world‑class user experience.

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 campus is in Sydney, with additional hubs across ANZ. But you have a choice in where and how you work—we trust our Canvanauts to find the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.

At the moment, this role is focused on

• You’ll architect and lead the technical direction for Canva’s frontend systems, making key design decisions that balance performance, scalability, and user experience.
• You’ll collaborate with senior Principal and Staff Engineers to establish technical standards and best practices, while progressively taking ownership of architectural decisions.
• You’ll solve complex technical challenges across data consumption, bundling, and performance optimisation, applying deep expertise in React and frontend architecture to maximise both technical excellence and business impact.
• You’ll define and communicate a technical vision and roadmap for a future‑proof architecture that supports rapid feature development, maintainability, and cross‑platform code reuse.
• You’ll mentor and guide engineers on architecture‑related projects, sharing your expertise in React, systems design, and large‑scale frontend ecosystems.

You’re probably a match if

You’re a technical leader with a deep passion for frontend architecture and a proven track record of designing and implementing large‑scale systems using React, Type Script, and MobX.

You’ll likely have:

• Extensive web frontend experience with a proven record of building sustainable, scalable architectures.
• Strong systems architecture and technical leadership skills, ideally in environments supporting hundreds of engineers.
• Industry connections and open‑source contributions in frontend technologies like React, demonstrating engagement with the broader technical community.

About the Group

The Client Platform group provides the systems, libraries, and frameworks that power Canva. This includes frontend foundations such as mobile and desktop platforms, our Design System, support for offline functionality, React core libraries, and backends for frontends.

We enable over 600 frontend engineers to deliver high‑quality features efficiently and consistently. The group plays a central role in evolving our frontend tech stack to meet Canva’s growing needs, supporting our goal of delivering a world‑class, inclusive experience to 1 billion monthly active users.

About the Role

As a Principal Frontend Engineer within Client Platform, you’ll collaborate with senior technical leaders to shape and evolve Canva’s frontend architecture. This is a rare opportunity to influence the foundations of one of the most complex frontend applications in the world, built by hundreds of engineers and used by over 250 million users each month.

Location requirement This role is open to candidates globally; however, successful candidates will be required to relocate to Australia. We’ll support you through the relocation process.

What’s in it for you?

We offer:

• Equity packages — we want our success to be yours too
• Inclusive parental leave policies supporting all parents & carers
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance supporting wellbeing, social connection, and office setup
• Flexible leave options empowering you to recharge and thrive

Check out  for more info.

Other stuff to know We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills, and passion, as well as how you enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply, please share your pronouns and any adjustments you might need during the interview process. We celebrate all kinds of skills and backgrounds — even if you don’t tick every box, we want to hear from you!