Canva

Computer Software

PrincipalFront-EndEngineer-WebPlatform

A$225–325k ~AI est. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia FULL TIME Remote Friendly
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for executive candidates.

The Brief

“Principal Front-End Engineer - Web Platform at Canva. Skills: Frontend architecture, Performance optimization, Server-side rendering, React Server Components. Own technical direction for web platform. Set architecture for SSR”

What You'll Achieve.

First page load times reach bar; Performance is property of platform; Patterns adopted as default

Industry & Context.

Computer Software
Problems you'll solve

Root cause analysis; Troubleshooting

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

5+ years frontend engineering, React at depth, Performance at scale, Active individual contribution, Active code commits daily

Nice to Have

Open-source contributions, Live migrations experience, Edge runtimes experience, Backend partnership experience, Server-side rendering in production, React Server Components in production

What You'll Do.

Own technical direction for web platform

Set architecture for SSR

Set architecture for React Server Components

Drive path to sub-two-second first page load

Build measurement for performance

Build observability for performance

Build engineering discipline for performance

Influence broader frontend specialty

Define patterns for frontend specialty

Author design documents

Create working prototypes

Create migration guides

Work across product orgs

Shape team transitions

Define product response to network drops

Define product response to slow devices

Define product response to poor network

Route architectural decisions

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

Cross-functional teams; Product orgs; Frontend specialty; Principal engineers; Staff engineers

Communication Scope

Design documents; Migration guides

Process & Methodology

Roadmap planning

Full Job Description

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: Collingwood is home to our Melbourne campus - a vibrant, creative hub for connection and impactful work. While Sydney is home to our HQ, Melbourne brings its own unique vibe, with local artwork, lush greenery, and thoughtfully designed spaces to help you collaborate, focus, and feel part of a welcoming community. This role is based in Melbourne, 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. 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. Web Platform owns how Canva loads, renders, and runs in the browser. Every product team at Canva builds on top of what this group ships. Every user who opens canva.com sees the work of this team in the first few hundred milliseconds of their experience. Our ambition is to load the first page in under two seconds, and we're not there yet. Getting there is one of the most interesting frontend engineering problems in the company. The strategic bet is rebuilding how the web product is served. Server-side rendering. React Server Components. Reducing round trips between the client and the backend. A modern offline strategy that loads a minimal editor when the network drops. The kind of frontend architecture that takes a mature, complex product and makes it feel instant on every device a user might pick up. There's a second reason this wo

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