Research Scientist - Efficient AI

About the Role

Join our core Generative AI team to invent foundational technologies and advance the frontier of efficient, large-scale AI models that power Canva's creative intelligence engine. You will play a pivotal role in translating research breakthroughs into impactful features that serve hundreds of millions of users worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Design and advance state-of-the-art generative AI models across multimodal domains.
• Improve AI efficiency through kernel and graph optimization, model compilation, and systems optimization.
• Implement model compression techniques such as quantization and distillation.
• Develop efficient model architectures and scalable inference systems.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to bring research innovations into production and contribute to the broader AI community through publications.

Requirements

• Strong expertise in foundation models, specifically generative AI (e.g., LLMs, VLMs, or diffusion models).
• Proven experience in AI efficiency, including low-level optimization, model compression, and inference systems.
• Strong academic or industry track record with publications in leading conferences like NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, or CVPR.
• Proficiency in Python, PyTorch, and deep learning frameworks such as Transformers, Diffusers, Megatron, or DeepSpeed.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across diverse teams.

About the Team

We are the CORE team within Canva's Generative AI supergroup, dedicated to building the technical foundation for the future of AI-assisted design. We operate at a massive scale, fostering a collaborative environment where research meets real-world product impact.