Senior Engineering Manager - Video Templates (Bay area only)

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 office is in Sydney, Australia, but we've made our way from down under, to a hub in San Francisco, which is now home to our US operations and now Video teams. We offer flexibility in how and where you work. 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:

• Defining the roadmap for Canva’s next-generation video template system, including a scalable Template Schema and high-performance rendering engine across Web, Mobile, and Desktop.

• Partnering closely with Motion Designers, Product Managers, and AI Researchers to translate creative needs into scalable engineering systems.

• Architecting and overseeing the “Template Authoring Mode,” balancing professional-grade precision with Canva’s signature simplicity.

• Recruiting, onboarding, and leading a new specialized engineering team in SF, fostering a culture of technical excellence, creativity, and rapid iteration.

• Owning end-to-end delivery of the template platform, managing complex cross-group dependencies across Video Engine, Content, and Platform teams.

• Driving innovation through Generative AI integration — from automated asset matching to intelligent layout adaptation.

You're probably a match if

• You have proven experience managing engineering teams and team leads, ideally within creative tools, multimedia systems, or complex platform environments.

• You bring deep systems architecture expertise and have built extensible frameworks, SDKs, or large-scale content systems.

• You’re familiar with video editing workflows, timeline-based data structures, or graphics rendering pipelines.

• You care deeply about user experience and can advocate for both internal creators and end-user delight.

• You’ve successfully navigated high-growth, matrixed organizations and driven alignment across globally distributed teams.

• You balance long-term architectural thinking with pragmatic execution and fast iteration.

Nice to have:

• Experience building No-Code/Low-Code platforms, game engines, or professional creative suites.

• Deep understanding of template ecosystems (e.g., Lottie, After Effects, or similar design-to-code frameworks).

• Experience scaling global infrastructure with massive asset libraries and low-latency delivery.

• Exposure to AI/ML integration in creative products (e.g., smart cropping, auto-captioning).

About the team

Video at Canva is on a mission to democratize video creation, delivering seamless, professional-quality experiences to millions worldwide. We work at the forefront of innovation, building robust and scalable video infrastructure that powers everyone from individual creators to global enterprises.

The Video Template team in San Francisco is a strategic initiative within Canva’s Video Group. We move with the speed of a startup, backed by the impact of a global platform. By building the next generation of intelligent, programmable templates, we’re not just shipping features — we’re creating the foundational framework that will scale video creativity to the next 200+ million users.

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

• Health benefits plans to support you and your wellbeing

• 401(k) retirement plan with company contribution

• 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.

At Canva we value fairness, and we strive to provide competitive, market-informed compensation whilst ensuring internal equity within the team in each region. We make hiring decisions based on your skills, experience and our overall assessment of what we observed and learnt in the hiring process. The target salary range for this position is $215,000 to $329,000. When calculating offers, we make salary decisions based on market data and candidates' skills and experience.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills, merit and business needs, in compliance with applicable local laws.

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!

When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process. Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.