Creative Lead / Design Director

Job Description

Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hello, hey, g'day, mabuhay, kia ora, 你好, hallo, vítejte!

Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time consuming and you're probably keen to find out what's on offer, so we'll get straight to the point.

Where and how you can work

The buzzing Canva London campus features several buildings around beautiful leafy Hoxton Square in Shoreditch. While our global headquarters is in Sydney, Australia, London is our HQ for Europe, with all kinds of teams based here, plus event spaces to gather our team and communities. You’ll experience a warm welcome from our Vibe team at front of house, amazing home cooked food from our Head Chef and a variety of workspaces to hang out with your team mates or get solo work done. That said, we trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals and so you have choice in where and how you work.

What you’d be doing in this role

As Canva scales, change continues to be part of our DNA—and that’s all part of the fun. This role gives you a flavour of the type of things you’ll be working on, but it will likely evolve.

As Creative Lead, you'll shape the creative direction for content in your market, ensuring it reflects local culture, resonates with users, and drives growth. You’ll lead the development of impactful content across the Canva platform which includes templates and design elements, partnering with Country Leads, Marketing, SEO, Community, and Creators.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Creative Direction & Strategy. Define and lead the creative vision for your market—turning local insights and Canva’s broader goals into content strategies that inspire. You’ll drive innovation, shape high-impact campaigns, and ensure our creative output stays fresh, competitive, and aligned with market needs.

• Content Creation & Curation. Oversee the full content lifecycle—from ideation and briefing to production and QA. You’ll develop templates, design kits, and campaigns, while also curating assets for seasonal moments, marketing initiatives, and local showcases.

• Local market & Cultural Insights. Bring deep knowledge of your country’s culture, trends, and creative landscape. You’ll champion hyperlocal storytelling, inform editorial direction, and help shape a content library that feels authentic, inclusive, and resonant to your audience.

• Stakeholder & Partnership collaboration. Work closely with Marketing, SEO, Country Leads, and Community to align creative goals and lead content rollouts. You’ll also guide the creative strategy for partnerships, ensuring everything we publish meets both brand and local expectations.

• Performance monitoring & creative insights: Use data, content audits, and local insights to refine strategy and identify opportunities. You’ll translate learnings into action—boosting content performance, discoverability, and user engagement in your market.

You're probably a match if:

• You have experience in creative leadership within UK market

• You bring strong visual design skills and a portfolio that demonstrates cultural depth

• You thrive on crafting content that feels made for the market—not just translated

• You collaborate well across diverse stakeholders and adapt quickly to change

• You have a deep understanding of content trends, user needs, and cultural nuance

• You’re excited by Canva’s mission to make design accessible to everyone, everywhere

• You have experience managing freelancers, shape editorial strategy, and guide content innovation

• You have a portfolio of your work that showcases your creative direction and culturally relevant design – please include a link in your application.

• Nice-to-have: You have experience mentoring or managing creatives, and enjoy building a culture of quality and innovation.

About the team

You’ll be joining the International Content Team, whose mission is to build the most valuable content library in the world. We work within the International Supergroup and collaborate closely with Content & Discovery and Marketing to unlock content-driven growth through high-quality, market-relevant templates and elements such as graphics, photos, and videos.

We are focused on delivering content that is Truly Local — ensuring everything we publish meets our standards of design craft, cultural resonance, and user value.

About the role

As Country Creative Lead, you will lead the charge in shaping the creative direction for content that reflects the cultural nuances and preferences of the UK. Your role will be instrumental in driving user engagement and revenue growth through content, as you collaborate closely with the Country Lead and local stakeholders across Growth, Marketing, SEO, and Community.

You will direct a team of local creatives to, curate, and elevate impactful, truly local content across both elements — such as graphics, photos, and videos — and templates spanning social media, presentations, websites, and print products. By fostering a culture of excellence and innovation, you’ll play a vital role in achieving Canva’s mission of delivering a world-class, truly local design experience.

What's in it for you?

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard—but you'll experience lots of moments of magic, connection, and fun woven throughout life at Canva, too. We also offer a range of benefits to support your success inside and outside work:

• Equity packages – we want our success to be yours too
• Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers
• Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support wellbeing, social connection, office setup & more
• Flexible leave options that let you recharge or take time to give back

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

Qualifications