Build an Interview Portfolio in Canva

Design a polished 8-slide AI engineering portfolio deck for interviews.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

In a job interview, showing your work visually is far more memorable than describing it verbally. A polished presentation deck lets you prove your skills on screen instead of hoping the interviewer connects the dots from your resume.

In this project, you will build an 8-slide portfolio presentation in Canva designed for screen-sharing during an interview with Landair Advisors. The deck maps your AI engineering experience directly to their job requirements using architecture diagrams, project deep-dives, and speaker notes.

What You'll Build

A dark-themed tech portfolio presentation with architecture diagrams, speaker notes, and Presenter View configuration ready for professional screen-share delivery.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A professional 8-slide presentation deck in Canva tailored to the Applied AI Engineer role at Landair Advisors.
Clean architecture diagrams for your RAG pipeline and LLC Ownership Resolver projects.
A presentation configured for Presenter View screen-share with speaker notes guiding your talking points.
Secret Mission: Design a proposed system architecture diagram showing what you would build for Landair's AI workflows.

Are there any prerequisites?

None. This guide walks you through setting up everything you need, including your free Canva account. All you need is a web browser.

Before We Start

Before We Start...

Set Up Your Canva Account

Before you can build your portfolio deck, you need a design tool that's fast to learn and built for presentations.

Canva is a free, browser-based design tool with thousands of professional templates. In this step, you'll create your account, start a new presentation, and pick a dark tech theme as your foundation.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a free Canva account.
Start a new 16:9 presentation design.
Apply a dark tech template as your base.

Create your free Canva account

Canva's free tier includes everything you need for this project: professional templates, shape elements for diagrams, and Presenter View for screen-sharing.

In your browser, navigate to canva.com.
Click Sign up in the top-right corner.
Choose to sign up with your email or Google account.
Complete the sign-up prompts. Canva may ask about your use case. Select any option to continue.

After signing up, you land on the Canva homepage. You should see a search bar at the top and rows of template suggestions below it.

Stuck on a pricing page?

Canva may prompt you to start a Pro trial during sign-up. Look for a Skip or Maybe later link to continue with the free plan. You do not need a paid subscription for this project.

Help me get past the Canva pricing prompt and onto the free homepage.

Start a new presentation

Canva supports many design types (social posts, posters, videos). You need a widescreen presentation format that fills your screen during a screen-share.

Click Create a design in the top-right corner of the homepage.
Select Presentation (16:9) from the dropdown.

Canva opens the presentation editor. You should see a blank white slide in the center of the screen with editing panels on the left.

Why 16:9?

The 16:9 aspect ratio matches standard laptop and monitor screens. When you screen-share this deck during your interview, it fills the viewer's entire window with no black bars.

Choose a dark tech template

Starting from a template gives you a professional color palette, font pairing, and layout structure. Dark themes signal technical sophistication and look crisp on screen-share.

Click Design in the left sidebar of the editor.
In the templates search bar, type Dark Blue Modern Technology Presentation and press Enter.
Browse the results and click on a dark, minimal template that appeals to you.
Click Apply all pages to load the full template into your presentation.

Your blank slide is now replaced with the template's dark design, including placeholder text and graphics across multiple pages.

Alternative search terms

If you don't find a template you like, try searching Black and White Modern Technology Presentation instead. Any dark-themed tech template works as a starting point. You'll customize all the content in the next steps.

Templates not loading?

Make sure you clicked Design in the left sidebar (not Elements or Uploads). The templates panel only appears under the Design tab.

Some templates show a crown icon, meaning they require Canva Pro. Look for templates without the crown. There are plenty of free dark tech options available.

Help me find a dark technology template in Canva's free tier.

Your presentation canvas is ready. Next up, you'll replace all that placeholder content with your own story, starting with a hook slide and a skills-mapping slide that shows Landair exactly why you're the right fit.

Build Your Opening and Mapping Slides

Your template is loaded and ready to go. Now it's time to fill it with the content that will make an interviewer sit up and pay attention.

The first two slides of any interview deck do the heaviest lifting. Slide 1 hooks the audience with a clear positioning statement. Slide 2 proves you've done your homework by mapping your experience directly to what the company needs.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a hook slide with your name and positioning statement.
Build a two-column mapping slide showing what Landair needs vs. what you've built.
Add speaker notes to guide your delivery.

Create Slide 1: the hook

Your opening slide should be minimal and bold. The interviewer needs to know who you are and what you do in under 5 seconds of looking at it.

In the Canva editor, click on the template's title text to select it.
Replace the title with your name (e.g. Alex Chen).
Below your name, add a positioning statement. Type: I build production AI systems that automate complex workflows.
Add a subtitle line beneath the positioning statement with your key identifiers: AI Engineer | RAG Pipelines | Agentic Workflows | Production APIs
Delete any remaining template placeholder text or images that you haven't replaced.

Why keep Slide 1 minimal?

Co-founders see dozens of resumes and presentations. A clean, punchy opener with no paragraphs signals confidence. It also gives you room to speak naturally rather than reading off the screen.

Use the template's existing text boxes

Instead of creating new text elements, click directly on the template's existing title and subtitle placeholders to replace them. This preserves the template's font choices and spacing.

Create Slide 2: the match

This slide is where you prove you've researched the role. You'll create a side-by-side comparison showing that everything Landair needs is something you've already built.

Duplicate Slide 1 to create Slide 2. In the upper corner of the current page, click the Duplicate page icon.
Select all the text content on the new Slide 2 and delete it so you have a clean page with just the template's background.
Click Text in the left sidebar.
Add a heading text box on the left half of the slide. Type: What Landair Needs
Below the left heading, add a body text box with these bullet points (one per line):

AI-powered apps with LLMs
RAG pipelines
Backend APIs for AI products
Agentic workflows
Cloud infrastructure + CI/CD

Add a heading text box on the right half of the slide. Type: What I've Built
Below the right heading, add a body text box with these matching bullet points:

Production RAG pipeline at PepsiCo
Corrective RAG with LangGraph
FastAPI + Lambda APIs
Multi-step agentic automation
AWS + GitHub Actions CI/CD

Position the two columns so each left bullet aligns horizontally with its matching right bullet. Use Canva's purple alignment guides that appear when you drag elements to line them up.

Why a two-column 'match' layout?

Interviewers form a mental model of you in the first 60 seconds. A side-by-side layout does the mapping work for them. They don't have to connect the dots between your resume and the job description because the slide does it visually.

Columns not lining up?

Make sure both text boxes have the same width. Select both boxes (hold Shift and click each one), then check that Canva's alignment guides snap to the same horizontal center line.

Help me align my two-column text boxes in Canva so they look balanced.

Add speaker notes to both slides

Speaker notes give you a safety net during the interview. They appear only on your screen in Presenter View, so the interviewer never sees them.

Navigate to Slide 1 by scrolling up or clicking its thumbnail at the bottom of the editor.
Click Notes at the bottom of the editor to open the notes panel.
Type the following in the notes area: Quick intro, 15 seconds max. Let the slide breathe.
Navigate to Slide 2.
In the notes panel, type: Walk through each row left-to-right. Emphasize the 1:1 mapping.

Where do these notes show up?

Notes are only visible in Presenter View. When you screen-share during the interview, the audience sees the clean slide while your Presenter window shows your notes, a timer, and a preview of the upcoming slide.

Review both slides by scrolling through them. Slide 1 should show your name, positioning statement, and key identifiers. Slide 2 should show two balanced columns with a clear 1:1 mapping between Landair's needs and your experience.

Your opening pair is locked in. Next, you'll build the project deep-dive slides that prove each of those bullet points with real examples.

Create Project Deep-Dive Slides

Your first two slides set the stage. They tell Landair's co-founder who you are and why you're a match.

Now you need proof. In this step, you'll build three project deep-dive slides that showcase your most relevant AI engineering work with architecture diagrams and quantified business results.

In this step, get ready to:

Build Slide 3 with an LLC Ownership Resolver flow diagram.
Build Slide 4 with a Self-Healing RAG Pipeline architecture diagram.
Build Slide 5 showcasing PepsiCo production AI with quantified impact.

Create the LLC Ownership Resolver slide

This slide connects your work directly to Landair's real estate domain. It proves you've already solved problems in their industry.

In your Canva editor, scroll past Slide 2 and click the Add page button at the bottom of the last slide to create a new blank page.
Click on the template's title text box and replace it with LLC Ownership Resolver.
Click on the subtitle text area and type Real Estate Data × API Automation.
Add a text box for bullet points by clicking Text in the left sidebar, then selecting Add a text box.
Type these four bullet points in the text box:

Cross-references NYC property records with NY Secretary of State filings.
Automated via Socrata Open Data API.
Resolves opaque LLC ownership chains.
Direct relevance to Landair's real estate transaction domain.

Now you'll add a simple flow diagram below the bullets to visually show how data moves through the system.

Click Elements in the left sidebar.
Under Browse categories, select Shapes.
Click a rounded rectangle shape to add it to your slide.
Resize it to a small box and double-click it to type NYC Property Records inside.
Duplicate the shape three times by selecting it and pressing Cmd+D (macOS) or Ctrl+D (Windows).
Label the duplicated boxes Socrata API, LLC Resolution Engine, and Ownership Output.
Arrange all four boxes in a horizontal row from left to right.
To add connector arrows, press L on your keyboard to insert a line.
Drag the line's endpoint to the edge of the first box until it snaps, then drag the other end to the next box.
Repeat to connect all four boxes with arrows flowing left to right.

What is a flow diagram?

A flow diagram uses shapes and arrows to show how data or processes move through a system. On an interview slide, it instantly communicates that you think in systems, not just code snippets.

Snap lines for clean alignment

As you drag shapes, Canva shows purple alignment guides. Use these to keep your boxes perfectly centered and evenly spaced.

Create the Corrective RAG Graph slide

This slide showcases your most technically impressive project. The architecture diagram with a feedback loop demonstrates agentic AI thinking.

Click Add page at the bottom of Slide 3 to create Slide 4.
Replace the title text with Self-Healing RAG Pipeline.
Set the subtitle to LangGraph | Qdrant | DeepEval | Chainlit | Docker.

Now build the architecture diagram. This one includes a feedback loop, which visually proves the "self-healing" concept.

Click Elements in the left sidebar, then select a rounded rectangle from Shapes.
Add four boxes in a horizontal row and label them: User Query, Semantic Router, Qdrant Vector DB, and LLM Generation.
Press L to add connector lines between each box flowing left to right.
For the feedback loop, add another line from the LLM Generation box back to the Semantic Router box. Curve it below the main row so it arcs underneath.
Double-click the feedback loop line and add the label Query Reformulation (LangGraph).

Why include a feedback loop?

The feedback loop is what makes this a "corrective" RAG system. It shows the interviewer that your pipeline doesn't just retrieve and generate. It evaluates quality and self-corrects when results are poor.

Below the diagram, add a text box with these three bullet points:

Automated query reformulation via agentic graph.
Chainlit UI for conversational CoT visualization.
Dockerized for rapid deployment.

Create the PepsiCo Production AI slide

This slide proves you've shipped AI at enterprise scale. The quantified metrics (40% and 80%) make it impossible to dismiss as a hobby project.

Click Add page at the bottom of Slide 4 to create Slide 5.
Replace the title text with Production RAG + Agentic Workflows.
Set the subtitle to PepsiCo (Enterprise Scale).

This slide uses a two-section layout to cover both major workstreams.

Add a text box on the left side of the slide. Title it RAG Pipeline in bold.
Below the title, add these bullets:

LangChain + OpenAI.
Automated commercial policy discovery.
40% search latency reduction.

Add a second text box on the right side of the slide. Title it Agentic APIs in bold.
Below the title, add these bullets:

FastAPI + AWS Lambda.
Multi-step transaction validation.
80% operational overhead reduction.

Click the notepad icon at the bottom of the editor to open Notes.
Type this speaker note for Slide 5: Emphasize these are production systems, not hobby projects. Quantified business impact.

Why quantified metrics matter

Percentages like "40% latency reduction" and "80% overhead reduction" transform your slide from a feature list into a business case. Startup co-founders think in outcomes, not tools.

Review your five slides in the left panel. You should see Slides 1-2 from earlier, plus three new slides with titles, bullet points, and diagrams on Slides 3 and 4.

Shapes not lining up?

Make sure you're dragging shapes slowly enough for Canva's purple alignment guides to appear. If you need to reposition multiple boxes at once, hold Shift while clicking each box to select them all, then drag as a group.

Help me align my architecture diagram shapes in Canva.

Your project proof is in place. Next up, you'll add your supporting experience and a powerful closing slide that tells Landair exactly what you'd build for them.

Add Supporting Experience and Closing Slides

Your deep-dive slides prove you can do the technical work. Now you need to round out the story with breadth and vision.

In this step, you'll add three final slides: a supporting experience slide that shows engineering depth beyond AI, a forward-looking "What I'd Build" slide that demonstrates proactivity, and a clean closing slide for the Q&A portion of your interview.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a supporting experience slide with prior engineering roles.
Build a forward-looking slide showing what you'd build for Landair.
Add a minimal closing slide with your contact details.

Create Slide 6 with your supporting foundation

This slide communicates that your engineering depth goes beyond AI projects. It's a "yes, I also have production engineering experience" moment that builds credibility without taking time away from your core story.

Click the + button at the bottom of the slide panel to add a new page.
Click the title text box and type Production Engineering Foundation.
Create two brief sections on this slide using text boxes. For the first section, add a text box on the left side with the header Levi Strauss & Co. and these bullet points beneath it:

Low-latency ML prediction APIs
Scalable ETL/ELT in Databricks + Snowflake
CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Add a second text box on the right side with the header Nestlé Waters and these bullet points beneath it:

Python automation scripts - 95% latency reduction
Internal tool prototyping with Streamlit
Cross-functional requirements gathering

Use Canva's purple alignment guides (they appear when you drag elements) to align both sections evenly on the slide.

Why keep this slide concise?

This isn't a deep-dive slide. Its job is to signal breadth and production experience in a few seconds. The interviewer's eyes should scan it quickly and think "okay, solid engineering background too" before you move to the closing slides.

Create Slide 7 with what you'd build for Landair

This is your closer. A "What I'd Build for You" slide demonstrates proactivity and shows you've already thought about how your skills apply to their product.

Click the + button at the bottom of the slide panel to add a new page.
Click the title text box and type What I'd Build for You.
Add a text box below the title and type these 4 forward-looking bullet points that connect your skills to Landair's product:

Voice AI pipeline: real-time transcription → intent routing → CRM action
RAG system over transaction documents for agent Q&A
Agentic workflow for automated deal lifecycle notifications
Internal tooling dashboard for operations visibility

Click the notepad icon at the bottom of the editor to open Notes.
Add a speaker note: "Tailor these bullets based on any additional research you do about Landair's current product."

Research Landair before interview day

These bullet points are a starting framework. Before your interview, check Landair Advisors' website for specifics on their voice AI and workflow automation. Update these bullets with language that mirrors what they've published about their product.

Create Slide 8 as your closing slide

Your final slide stays on screen while you answer questions. It should be clean with just your contact details and a confident one-liner.

Click the + button at the bottom of the slide panel to add a new page.
Add a text box in the center of the slide with your full name in a large font size (36-44pt).
Below your name, add your email address.
Add your GitHub URL on the next line.
Add your LinkedIn URL on the next line.
Add a one-liner at the bottom of the slide. Use something confident like Let's build. or Ready to ship.
Remove any leftover template placeholder text or images from this slide. Keep it minimal.

Why keep the closing slide so sparse?

This slide will be on screen for the longest time during your interview. While you answer questions, the interviewer's eyes will drift back to whatever is displayed. A cluttered slide competes with your words. A clean one reinforces your brand without distracting.

Verify that your slide panel on the left now shows 8 slides total. Scroll through all of them to make sure each has content and nothing is blank.

Your deck now has all 8 slides filled with content. Next up, you'll polish the visual styling, add transitions, and test Presenter View so you're ready to screen-share with confidence.

Polish and Prepare for Screen-Share

Your deck is fully built with content, diagrams, and speaker notes across all 8 slides.

A presentation with great content can still fall flat if the formatting is inconsistent or you fumble the screen-share mechanics. In this final step, you'll polish the visual details and rehearse the delivery so everything looks seamless on camera.

In this step, get ready to:

Apply consistent font sizes, colors, and alignment across all 8 slides.
Add subtle page transitions for smooth slide changes.
Test Presenter View to confirm your notes display correctly during screen-share.

Apply consistent styling across all slides

Small inconsistencies in font size, color, or alignment are distracting during a screen-share. A quick pass through all 8 slides ensures your deck looks intentional and polished.

Click on Slide 1 in the page thumbnails at the bottom of the editor.
Check that your title text is between 36-44pt and your body text is between 18-24pt.
To check font size, click on a text element and look at the font size number in the toolbar above the editor.
Adjust any text that falls outside these ranges by selecting it and changing the size in the toolbar.
Verify that all text colors match your template's dark palette throughout. Select text and use the color picker in the toolbar to confirm consistency.
Drag elements to align them cleanly. Canva shows purple alignment guides when elements line up with each other or the page center.
Repeat this check for all 8 slides, clicking through each thumbnail one by one.
Remove any leftover template placeholder text or images you haven't replaced with your own content.

Speed up your review

Start with Slide 1 and work sequentially. Focus on one thing per pass: font sizes first, then colors, then alignment. This prevents you from fixing the same slide three times.

Elements won't move or align?

If an element resists dragging, it might be locked or part of a group. Right-click the element and select Unlock or Ungroup from the menu, then try again.

help me fix an element that won't move in Canva

Add page transitions

Smooth transitions between slides prevent jarring cuts during your screen-share. A subtle fade or slide animation keeps the audience focused on your content, not the mechanics of changing pages.

In the page thumbnails at the bottom of the editor, hover your mouse between two page thumbnails.
Click Add transition when it appears between the thumbnails.
Hover over the available transitions to preview them.
Select a subtle transition like Fade or Slide.
Use the Duration slider to set the transition length to 0.5 seconds or less.
Repeat this for every page gap so all 8 slides use the same transition style and duration.

Why keep transitions under 0.5 seconds?

In an interview setting, long transitions waste precious seconds and make your presentation feel sluggish. A quick fade (0.3-0.5s) signals polish without slowing your pace.

Match transitions across all slides

Use the same transition style (e.g. Fade) on every page gap. Mixing different transition styles looks unintentional and distracts from your content.

Test Presenter View for screen-share

Presenter View is how you'll deliver this deck during your interview. It splits your screen into two windows so you can see your speaker notes while the interviewer sees only the clean slides.

Click Present in the top-right corner of the editor.
Select Presenter view from the dropdown menu.
Two windows open: the Audience window (what you'll screen-share) and the Presenter window (showing your page notes and upcoming slides).
Practice navigating through your slides using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.
Confirm that your speaker notes appear in the Presenter window for each slide as you navigate.
On Mac, hide your browser bookmarks bar before screen-sharing by pressing Cmd+Shift+B.
Press ESC to exit the presentation when you're done testing.

What should I see in Presenter View?

The Audience window shows your slides in full-screen standard view. This is the window you share with the interviewer via screen-share.

The Presenter window shows your current slide's notes plus a preview of the upcoming slide. Only you see this window on your own screen.

Screen-share the right window

During your actual interview, share only the Audience window (not your entire screen). This keeps your speaker notes and upcoming slides private.

Only seeing one window?

Make sure you selected Presenter view specifically, not Present full screen. The full-screen mode only shows the audience view without speaker notes.

Also check that your browser allows pop-ups from Canva. The Presenter window opens in a separate browser window.

help me get Canva Presenter View working with both windows

Secret mission

Design a "What I'd Build for Landair" Architecture Diagram

Your Slide 7 has bullet points. That's good. But a startup co-founder wants to see systems thinking. Turn those bullets into a full architecture diagram that shows exactly how you'd design Landair's AI infrastructure.

Clean Up Your Resources

This project runs entirely in Canva's free tier, so there are no ongoing costs or running processes to worry about.

Decide whether to keep your presentation in Canva, download a backup copy, or delete it entirely.

Resources you used:

Your 8-slide interview portfolio presentation (stored in your Canva account).
Your free Canva account.

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you're still refining your deck before the interview.

Your presentation stays in your Canva account and counts toward your free 5GB cloud storage.
You can access and edit it anytime by signing back into Canva.
There are no charges for keeping it stored.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Download a local copy so you have a backup outside of Canva.

Open your presentation in Canva.
Click Share in the top-right corner of the editor.
Click Download.
Select PDF Standard or Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx) as the file type.
Click Download to save a copy to your computer.

Your presentation remains in Canva at no cost. The local copy is your safety net.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove your presentation from Canva entirely.

Go to canva.com and sign in.
Find your interview portfolio presentation on the homepage under your recent designs.
Click the three-dot menu (...) on the presentation thumbnail.
Select Move to trash.

Your Canva account remains active since it is free and incurs no charges. If you want to delete your Canva account entirely, visit your account settings page within Canva.

That's a Wrap!

You just built something most candidates never think to create. While others will ramble through a "tell me about yourself" answer, you'll pull up a polished visual deck that directly maps your experience to what Landair is building.

You've learned how to:

Build a professional 8-slide portfolio presentation in Canva with architecture diagrams that visually communicate complex AI systems.
Structure a narrative arc (Hook → Match → Proof → Vision) that maps your experience directly to an employer’s needs.
Configure Presenter View for professional screen-share delivery with speaker notes to keep you on track during the interview.
Design a forward-looking system architecture diagram showing how you'd build Landair's AI infrastructure, demonstrating systems thinking to a startup co-founder.

Ready to quiz yourself?