Overall, a very disjointed and unclear interview process for some onsite rounds. The recruiter described some rounds to me to prep me for the onsite, but in the end those rounds were completely different to what was in the email and what described to me. Having interviewed at other companies recently, I would say that Canva really needs to work on being more clear on what is expected in each round vs what they actually end up asking. Furthermore, some interviewers are not able to probe you for the role in question to assess your skills properly. For open ended rounds like system design, they expect a preconceived solution and do not let you lead the interview as is common for senior+ roles. Some interviewers are not personable at all and make the call quite uncomfortable either by being overly silent or by interrupting you with constant questions, disrupting your flow of thought and not allowing you to flesh out your solution. Some interviewers are good and are aware of the pitfalls of the system and work with you and that was nice. However, overall I felt that some interviewers here do not live up to Canva's self proclaimed culture of collaboration. I wonder what the vetting process is for being an interviewer? Despite correct code solutions and great feedback, I was rejected for not matching their rubric in some places, which again was not communicated appropriately :) Edit : During my feedback call, I found out that the interviewer (for the system design round) said I didn't know a concept when I had clearly written it down on the whiteboard. This just proves to me that they were just listening and not paying attention to the screen, waiting for checklist answers to tick off. Interview here if you must, but just know that their assessment doesn't reflect upon who you are. This will continue to hold true if they don't vet the interviewers more thoroughly.

Pros: Interview prep materials were detailed and sent well ahead of each stage. The AI-assisted coding round was a genuinely interesting format. Cons: The process took roughly two and a half months end-to-end, across seven separate touchpoints: a recruiter screen, an informal chat with an engineering lead, two technical interviews, a three-competency final loop crammed into one almost-three-hour session with a single 15-minute break, an additional vibe check with someone more senior, and a couple of feedback calls. After the final loop, communication went quiet. I had to follow up twice over the following fortnight before getting any answer. After all that time investment, unpaid and unsupported by any interim feedback, the outcome was a generic "closer match" rejection. Advice to Management: Consider consolidating the number of discrete interview stages, or at minimum be upfront about the likely timeline so candidates can plan around it. If a decision date slips, a proactive heads-up beats making candidates chase twice for a status update.