Staff Security Engineer

Location: Sydney, au, Remote

Company Description

Job Description

Staff Enterprise Security Engineer

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hey, gday, mabuhay, kia ora, 你好, hallo, vítejte!

Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time-consuming, and youre probably keen to find out whats on offer, so well get straight to the point.

About the team

The Security Group protects Canvas systems and data from information security threats, across Application Security, Risk Management, Enterprise Security, and Threat Detection and Response. Internal Systems Security is the team inside that focused on Canvas own environment.

What youd be doing in this role

The Internal Systems Security team secures the environment Canvanauts work in every day. Laptops, networks, identities, the SaaS tools everyone relies on, and now the AI agents doing real work alongside us.

Most of this work used to follow a playbook. Thats no longer true. Canvanauts now run AI agents that act on their behalf, which is a very different security problem to a person at a laptop. One of the questions on our plate right now: where does the policy layer sit for MCP tool calls, when we want decisions made per action rather than per application, and evaluated fast enough that nobody notices them?

This is a Staff level individual contributor role. Youd set technical direction without managing anyone.

At the moment, that means:

• Going out to teams across the business, working out where their real risks sit, and building the roadmap with them rather than handing them one.
• Helping those teams turn on AI workflows safely, instead of being the reason they cant.
• Reviewing new tools and agents before they land. Were the team that says yes, no, or yes with these settings.
• Threat modelling newer patterns like MCP, agentic workflows and SaaS to SaaS integrations, then turning what you find into controls people adopt.
• Setting the standards other teams build against, and automating the work so a multiplying workload doesnt need a bigger team.

Youre probably a match if:

• You go looking for problems. You can point to something you found yourself, got other people to care about, and saw through to a fix.
• You can bring people with you. Youve convinced an IT or engineering lead to take on something that wasnt on their roadmap, without a mandate.
• Youve done hands-on enterprise, corporate or internal security engineering, and built and run security services in production. Endpoints, networks, identity, SaaS estates.
• You value concepts over tools. Knowing the tooling matters. Knowing why a control works matters more.
• You write and review code to a standard other engineers trust, and you automate by default.

Nice to have

• Security work across a broad enterprise, especially somewhere less obvious like marketing or sales.
• macOS at fleet scale: device trust, posture signals, zero trust, certificate-based device attestation.
• SaaS security posture: configuration baselines, SSPM, OAuth and third party integration risk, non-human identities.
• Securing AI agents, MCP servers or agentic workflows. Action level policy, tool call mediation, audit trails and containment.
• Terraform, Python or Go, and cloud in AWS or GCP.

Where and how you can work

Our flagship Sydney campus is uniquely Canva, an extension of our Surry Hills neighbourhood. Its a thoughtfully designed space with plenty of room to collaborate, focus, and connect. This role is based in Sydney, and were 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.

Whats in it for you?

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard, and we do, but youll 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.

Heres a taste of whats on offer:

• Equity packages, because 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 your wellbeing, social connection, office setup and more
• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge, and support 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. 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 dont feel like your skills quite match whats listed above, we still want to hear from you.

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.