Staff AI Automation Engineer

Company Description

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:

• Building MCP connectors and tool integrations that give a team of AI agents two-way access to the platforms our country specialists use today — analytics, SEO, search console, content tools, marketing platforms, and our internal data warehouse.
• Building the data pipelines that surface real-time market data (performance metrics, product usage, conversion funnels, content engagement) into a queryable layer the agents can act on.
• Designing, building, and evaluating the skills that agents execute: reusable blueprints for work cycles like SEO analysis, content production, localisation QA, and market reporting.
• Partnering directly with a Country Manager to iterate on agent performance against real MAU and ARR outcomes in-market, and tightening the feedback loop between human direction and agent output.
• Replacing manual processes with live tooling as the harness comes online, so the team is shipping into a real market from week one.
• Documenting the harness, skills, and evaluation framework so the model is repeatable as we deploy to additional markets.

You're probably a match if

• You are firmly grounded in computer science and engineering fundamentals and have experience developing web applications.
• You have hands-on experience managing cloud platform configurations, preferably in AWS (with Azure or GCP as a bonus).
• You have experience working with infrastructure for system integration — APIs, webhooks, event pipelines, and ideally MCP.
• You bring 7–10+ years of experience in system engineering, system architecture, applied AI engineering, or an equivalent technical role.
• You have hands-on experience building or evaluating LLM-based agents, tools, or skills — or strong engineering fundamentals and a clear appetite to go deep on agent architecture quickly.
• You're comfortable working close to the metric: shipping into a live operation and iterating on what real market data tells you.
• You communicate effectively and confidently, both verbal and written forms.
• You have hands-on experience using AI in your work to drive greater impact.

About the team

The AI Country Team is a brand new team with a simple objective: accelerate Canva's growth in international markets. We're doing it by pairing a Country Manager with a team of AI engineers who build the tools needed to succeed in specialist domains: SEO, content, marketing, product, localisation.

This is a small founding team tackling a wide-open problem space. There are no established playbooks yet, giving early hires the opportunity to shape the team's direction, define how the work gets done, and build solutions from the ground up. If you thrive in ambiguity and enjoy creating impact from day one, this role is for you.

As an Staff AI Systems Engineer, you'll sit at the centre of the build. You'll own the wiring between Canva's internal systems, third-party platforms, and the agents that act on them. You'll be hands-on building and evaluating the skills those agents run.

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 see AI as a powerful amplifier of creativity and technology at Canva. We’re evolving how we assess AI skills in our Technology hiring experience - you’ll tackle interactive, real-time challenges that reflect the kind of work we do. In some interviews, you may also be asked to solve a problem using an AI tool to show how you approach challenges with tech by your side. Your recruitment partner will walk you through what to expect.

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.