Senior Research Scientist - Generative AI

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 campus is in Sydney, with a second campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Auckland, NZ. You have flexibility in how and where you work — whether that's from one of our spaces, from home, or a mix of both. This role is remote-friendly within Australia or New Zealand, so you can choose the setup that empowers you and your team to do your best work.

Job Description

About the Role

At Canva, we’re building a future powered by AI that’s as magical as it is impactful. As a Senior Research Scientist, you’ll contribute to that future by advancing Canva’s foundation models for design generation and editing and conducting research that delivers practical, scalable impact. This role combines hands-on model development with collaborative research — from exploring new architectures to supporting product direction through scientific insights.

You’ll work at the intersection of innovation and impact, contributing to our AI research agenda and helping ensure our work reaches millions of users around the world.

What you’ll do

• Contribute to research projects that support the development of foundation models across Canva’s AI domains, particularly in visual design generation and editing

• Design and run experiments to test hypotheses, improve model behaviour, and assess real-world performance

• Translate theoretical research and academic papers into robust, production-ready implementations with guidance

• Help develop and refine model architectures and training methodologies to improve outcomes

• Collaborate closely with ML Engineers to scale models and integrate them into Canva’s product ecosystem

• Stay up to date with emerging trends, technologies, and open challenges to inform our research direction

• Share your knowledge internally through documentation and cross-team collaborations, and externally through papers or talks where appropriate

Who you are

You’re someone who enjoys working in a dynamic environment, connecting research with product application, and has demonstrated scientific and technical skills. You can balance long-term thinking with practical delivery, and you’re eager to learn from and collaborate with others.

We’re looking for someone who brings:

• Solid expertise in AI research, particularly in areas like LLMs, vision-language models, generative AI, or multi-modal systems

• A publication record or evidence of research impact in academia or industry

• Experience contributing to research projects from problem formulation through to deployment, with support from more senior team members

• Ability to turn complex theoretical ideas into tangible solutions, and evaluate them rigorously

• A collaborative mindset — you work well with engineers, product teams, and other researchers

What you’ll learn and how you’ll grow

• Involvement in Canva’s AI strategy and foundational model development

• Opportunities to learn from and collaborate with experienced researchers

• Exposure to product impact at a global scale (hundreds of millions of users)

• Dedicated time for self-driven research exploration and experimentation

Additional Information

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 make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. 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.

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.