Canva

Senior Machine Learning Engineer Interview Experience

July 29, 2026

Negative ExperienceNo Offer

Process

The interview process got off to a terrible start. When asked about my preferred code editor, I answered "Cursor/VSCode," only to be met with immediate condescension. The recruiter actually followed up by asking if I was currently employed, implying that using modern tools made me unqualified. Most developers can use Vim if required, but judging candidates based on editor preference—and being blatantly disrespectful about it—is a massive red flag for company culture.

Questions

What coding editor do you use?

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 12 interview experiences for the Canva Senior Machine Learning Engineer role.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Canva's interview process for their Senior Machine Learning Engineer roles is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive50%

Neutral8%

Negative42%

Candidates reported having mixed feelings for Canva's Senior Machine Learning Engineer interview process.

Canva Work Experiences

Amazing Culture, Good Work

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

Sydney, Australia

Pros: Seriously though, can't go past culture. The work is pretty good too. Have a good DE team, so ML engineers can focus on their specialty.

Cons: The gym is a bit small.

Amazing Culture, Good Work

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

Sydney, Australia

Pros: Seriously though, can't go past culture. The work is pretty good too. Have a good DE team, so ML engineers can focus on their specialty.

Cons: The gym is a bit small.

Good pay and remote work, but may with limited scope

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

October 6, 2026

Pros: Pay, remote work, perks, and a good office.

Cons: You may only work on a small piece of code.

Good pay and remote work, but may with limited scope

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

October 6, 2026

Pros: Pay, remote work, perks, and a good office.

Cons: You may only work on a small piece of code.

Great environment to meet the challenges of product and scale

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

Sydney, Australia

Pros: Strategize and engineer for a wide-reaching product. Work with high-caliber engineers and PMs. Emphasis on being a good human, while Canva is good to its staff too. A lot of established infrastructure, both for people and engineering.

Cons: Rapid growth in business size introduces many challenges. Processes are at different levels of maturity. Wins aren't easy in the very competitive graphic design industry!

Great environment to meet the challenges of product and scale

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

Sydney, Australia

Pros: Strategize and engineer for a wide-reaching product. Work with high-caliber engineers and PMs. Emphasis on being a good human, while Canva is good to its staff too. A lot of established infrastructure, both for people and engineering.

Cons: Rapid growth in business size introduces many challenges. Processes are at different levels of maturity. Wins aren't easy in the very competitive graphic design industry!

Amazing Culture, Good Work

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

Sydney, Australia

Pros: Seriously though, can't go past culture. The work is pretty good too. Have a good DE team, so ML engineers can focus on their specialty.

Cons: The gym is a bit small.

5.0
Amazing Culture, Good Work
Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
Sydney, Australia
March 9, 2021
Pros: Seriously though, can't go past culture. The work is pretty good too. Have a good DE team, so ML engineers can focus on their specialty.
Cons: The gym is a bit small.

Good pay and remote work, but may with limited scope

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

October 6, 2026

Pros: Pay, remote work, perks, and a good office.

Cons: You may only work on a small piece of code.

4.0
Good pay and remote work, but may with limited scope
Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
Sydney
October 6, 2026
Pros: Pay, remote work, perks, and a good office.
Cons: You may only work on a small piece of code.

Great environment to meet the challenges of product and scale

Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee

Sydney, Australia

Pros: Strategize and engineer for a wide-reaching product. Work with high-caliber engineers and PMs. Emphasis on being a good human, while Canva is good to its staff too. A lot of established infrastructure, both for people and engineering.

Cons: Rapid growth in business size introduces many challenges. Processes are at different levels of maturity. Wins aren't easy in the very competitive graphic design industry!

4.0
Great environment to meet the challenges of product and scale
Senior Machine Learning Engineer • Current Employee
Sydney, Australia
June 13, 2022
Pros: Strategize and engineer for a wide-reaching product. Work with high-caliber engineers and PMs. Emphasis on being a good human, while Canva is good to its staff too. A lot of established infrastructure, both for people and engineering.
Cons: Rapid growth in business size introduces many challenges. Processes are at different levels of maturity. Wins aren't easy in the very competitive graphic design industry!

Canva Interview Questions

Basic Calculator

Implement a basic calculator to evaluate a simple expression string. The expression can contain parentheses, addition, and subtraction.

Basic Calculator II

Implement a basic calculator to evaluate a simple expression string. The expression can contain non-negative integers, '+', '-', '*', '/' operators, and spaces; integer division should truncate toward zero.

Game of Life

Simulate the Game of Life, updating the state of a board based on the rules of cell survival and death in each generation. Modify the board in place to represent the next generation.

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