Senior Engineering Manager (BE/ML) - Context & Personalisation

Senior Engineering Manager (BE/ML) - Context & Personalisation

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hey, g'day, mabuhay, kia ora, 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. We also have a campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. But you have choice in where and how you work — we trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.

This role is open to candidates remotely across Australia and New Zealand.

Job Description

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 it will likely evolve.

As a Senior Engineering Manager in the Canva AI Supergroup, you'll lead the Context & Personalisation team — the group responsible for making Canva AI feel uniquely tailored to every user.

As AI capabilities become increasingly commoditised, Canva's long-term differentiation will come from how intelligently we apply user context, preferences, brand signals, and history to create truly personalised AI experiences. This team builds the systems that power that vision — from AI memory and brand awareness to context-aware generation and personalised creative workflows.

You'll guide the evolution of Canva's centralised context platform, enabling teams across Canva to build powerful, personalised AI experiences for millions of users worldwide.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Leading and coaching a multidisciplinary team of backend and machine learning engineers building Canva's context and personalisation systems
• Defining and delivering the strategy and roadmap for Canva's centralised context platform and personalisation infrastructure
• Developing capabilities such as AI Memory, custom instructions, and brand-aware AI generation that make Canva AI feel deeply personal
• Designing scalable APIs and platform primitives that allow internal teams across Canva to build AI-powered experiences quickly and safely
• Partnering closely with Product and Design leaders to identify high-impact opportunities to elevate Canva AI experiences
• Driving adoption of context and personalisation capabilities across Canva's ecosystem, from editor experiences to enterprise features
• Growing and developing a high-performing engineering team while fostering strong cross-team collaboration

You're probably a match if:

• You're an experienced engineering leader who has built or scaled platform systems, developer infrastructure, or shared services
• You combine strong technical depth with product thinking, and enjoy shaping problems rather than waiting for specifications
• You have experience working in or alongside AI, machine learning, recommendation systems, or data-driven platforms
• You're comfortable operating in high-ambiguity, fast-moving environments, especially in emerging technology spaces
• You're passionate about developing engineers and building high-performing teams that shape strategy — not just execute it
• You're curious about the evolving AI landscape and actively engage with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot

Nice to have (but not essential):

• Experience building context systems, recommendation engines, or personalisation pipelines
• Experience working on platforms that serve multiple internal teams or product surfaces
• Experience operating in high-growth product environments balancing platform investment and feature delivery

About the team

This role sits within Canva AI (Generative AI Supergroup) — a group on a mission to ensure that by 2027, Canva is known not just as a design tool, but as an AI creative partner for every individual, team, classroom, and enterprise.

The Context & Personalisation team plays a uniquely strategic role within this vision. We operate at the intersection of product and platform, building the systems that transform user data, preferences, brand context, and creative history into meaningful AI intelligence.

The work we do powers personalised AI experiences across Canva's ecosystem — helping millions of people create faster, smarter, and with greater confidence.

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.

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 and carers
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support wellbeing, connection, and workspace setup
• Flexible leave options so you can recharge, give back, and take care of what matters most

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.