Staff Software Engineer (Java)

TL;DR

Staff Software Engineer (Java): Designing and building core authorization and access control systems for a high-scale platform with an accent on IAM architecture, SpiceDB integration, and distributed systems. Focus on driving platform adoption across engineering teams, ensuring high availability for hundreds of millions of users, and shaping authorization models for AI-native workflows.

Location: Must be based in Sydney, Australia. This is a hybrid role requiring regular in-person collaboration at the Sydney campus.

Company

Canva is a global design platform empowering millions of users to create visual content with ease.

What you will do

• Design and own core components of the centralized authorization and access control platform.
• Develop patterns, tooling, and integrations to enable product teams to adopt authorization capabilities.
• Make critical technical trade-offs for high-availability infrastructure serving massive user traffic.
• Partner with Security, API Platform, and product engineering teams to align on requirements and drive adoption.
• Shape the platform's direction, including identity models and authorization for agentic AI workflows.
• Mentor and uplift engineers across the team on system design and IAM best practices.

Requirements

• Must be based in Sydney, Australia.
• Extensive experience with Identity & Access Management (IAM) at scale, including RBAC, ReBAC, or ABAC.
• Strong backend engineering background with experience building high-performance services, preferably in Java.
• Solid understanding of distributed systems and computer science fundamentals.
• Proven track record of driving platform adoption across engineering teams through clear communication.
• Ability to turn ambiguous, cross-cutting problems into well-sequenced technical work.

Nice to have

• Experience with policy languages like OPA or Cedar.
• Experience with Zanzibar-style authorization systems such as SpiceDB.
• Experience evolving large-scale services in production without disrupting dependent systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work model balancing remote flexibility with in-person collaboration.
• Opportunity to work on critical infrastructure powering a global platform.
• Collaborative environment focused on solving complex, high-impact technical challenges.
• Supportive team culture that values diverse backgrounds and skills.