SEO Lead

Job Description

About the Team

At Canva, we create tools that empower the world to design. Our mission is to democratize design and empower creativity for anyone and everyone, on every platform. Since launching in August 2013, Canva has grown exponentially — we're one of the world's fastest-growing startups, and the journey has only just begun.

International is becoming Canva's biggest growth driver in 2026 and beyond. To reach our foundational goal of having 1 in 5 internet users use Canva every month, we're shifting from translating English successes to implementing truly local strategies that resonate with and convert local audiences.

The SEO group spans the globe with keyword researchers, technical SEO specialists, content specialists, copywriters, engineers, data analysts, designers, and operations specialists. As the Arabic SEO Lead across key markets (Saudi Arabia, UAE, GCC, and Egypt), you'll be part of the Logged Out Experience (LOX) Group and International Supergroup, working in a dual alignment model — embedded in your region team locally while contributing to Central SEO globally.

About the Role

You’ll lead Canva’s SEO growth for Arabic across key markets (Saudi Arabia, UAE, GCC, and Egypt) — defining, executing, and scaling a strategy that reflects the unique realities of your market. This isn’t about following a global playbook; it’s about building one for your region.

You’ll own the end-to-end SEO strategy across technical, content, and authority-building pillars — verifying the opportunity, prioritising what matters, and delivering measurable growth in sessions, signups, and engagement.

Your goal is to help Canva reach 20% market penetration within the next 2–3 years, starting from our current 5%.

As the Arabic SEO Lead, you’ll operate at the intersection of local strategy and global systems. You’ll be embedded in your Country team as a strategic partner to your Region Manager, while also contributing to Canva’s centralised SEO engine within the Logged Out Experience (LOX) Group

You’ll be supported by a global network of experts — International SEO Leads, Technical SEOs, Product Managers, and Content Specialists — and have access to Canva’s proprietary SEO platforms and best-in-class third-party tools. You’ll also collaborate closely with your International SEO Strategist, who provides capability leadership, coaching, and alignment across markets.

Success in this role means running a high-performing, locally embedded SEO operation that:

• Achieves measurable impact and market penetration goals.

• Operates autonomously while aligned to Canva’s global systems and standards.

• Surfaces insights, innovations, and frameworks that help scale the Truly Local SEO model across 40+ markets.

You’ll thrive here if you’re both a strategist and an operator — equally comfortable running audits, leading discussions with your Region Manager, mentoring local SEOs, and proposing scalable solutions that improve how we grow internationally.
 

What you’ll do

Strategic SEO Leadership

• Lead the end-to-end SEO strategy for Saudi Arabia, UAE, GCC, and Egypt, spanning technical, content, and authority pillars.

• Translate market insights into a focused, high-impact roadmap aligned with Canva’s international growth goals.

• Continuously evaluate market performance, adapt to shifts in user behaviour, and prioritise the highest-ROI initiatives.

• Represent SEO as a strategic function — not an execution layer — in country planning discussions (your strategies align with your region’s strategies, and contribute to building our global SEO growth engine)

Team Building & Capability Development

• Build and lead a high-performing local SEO team (generalists, content specialists, outreach experts) as the market scales.

• Define clear goals, rituals, and development plans to grow your team’s autonomy and impact.

• Foster a culture of ownership, curiosity, open communication and experimentation within your team and across the country organisation.

Market Expertise & Competitive Intelligence

• Become Canva’s definitive expert on the Arabic search landscape — platforms, user intent, competitors, and trends.

• Continuously analyse search behaviour, market signals, and competitive activity to uncover new opportunities and influence the MENA roadmap.

• Validate local hypotheses through data and user insights, ensuring every initiative has measurable rationale.

Content & Localisation Strategy

• Partner with localisation and design teams to deliver high-quality, locally relevant content that resonates with your market’s culture and search behaviour.

• Prioritise and optimise high-impact categories, combining English-to-local localisation with bespoke content creation.

• Collaborate with central teams to leverage scalable systems (creator templates, internal linking, AI tools) while tailoring them for local impact.

Technical Excellence & Link Building

• Maintain strong technical foundations: site speed, indexation, structured data, hreflang implementation, and mobile optimisation.

• Partner with the i18n Technical SEO Specialist to identify and address localised technical needs.

• Define and oversee link-building goals and tactics, using outreach specialists and local partnerships to improve authority signals.

Performance Analytics & Reporting

• Develop country-specific KPIs aligned with both SEO and country business goals.

• Monitor and analyse performance across all key metrics — sessions, signups, returning users, and visibility.

• Communicate results and learnings transparently with stakeholders across Country, International SEO, and Central Growth teams.

• Surface insights proactively, highlighting what’s working, what’s not, and how you’ll pivot for improvement.

Navigating the Evolution of Search & Discovery

• Monitor AI search and discovery trends across your country—tracking how users find information through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews, and other emerging AI-powered platforms

• Assess channel viability in your market: Determine where traditional SEO still drives strong ROI versus where AI discovery, social search, or other channels should be prioritized

• Experiment with AI optimization strategies: test approaches for visibility in AI-generated answers, LLM citations, and next-generation discovery experiences

• Document learnings for the global SEO engine: Share what's working (or not working) with AI search optimization in your country to inform how Canva approaches these emerging channels globally

What we're looking for

MENA Market Expertise:

• Native Arabic speaker, with command of regional dialect differences, with business-level English

• Deep understanding of Arabic search behavior, cultural nuances, and internet user dynamics across key markets

• Ability to bridge local market insights with global business objectives

• Ideally based in Dubai, UAE, as a hybrid employee with some time in office expected

Strategic Thinking & Market Intelligence:

• Proven ability to assess markets, synthesize insights, and propose bespoke strategies (not just replicate playbooks)

• Experience verifying channel opportunities and knowing when to invest vs. pivot

• Capability to identify what will work in YOUR market based on data and local understanding

Proven SEO Leadership:

• Demonstrated track record leading successful SEO projects on large websites (500+ pages)

• Comprehensive understanding of all three SEO pillars (content, technical, link building) and how they integrate

• Experience with comprehensive SEO and analytics toolset (Google Analytics, Search Console, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, Deepcrawl, Mode, Looker, Dragon Metrics)

Relationship Builder & Embedded Partner:

• Outstanding communicator who brings clarity to diverse stakeholders and makes collaboration easy

• Proven ability to build trust-based partnerships and influence without authority

• Experience working cross-functionally and embedding with non-SEO teams

• Track record of translating technical SEO work into business impact that resonates with leadership

Ownership Mindset:

• You act like it's your business, not just your job

• You proactively propose strategies rather than waiting for direction

• You solve problems resourcefully and escalate strategically

• You're comfortable with autonomy and accountability

Data-Driven Decision Maker:

• Excellent analytical skills for data-driven decision making

• Ability to develop reporting frameworks and KPIs that align with both SEO and business goals

• Transparent about what's working, what's not, and why—using data to make the case for priorities

Team Builder (as you scale):

• Ability to recruit, develop, and retain high-performing teams

• Experience leading through rapid growth and scaling challenges

• Focus on building team culture where trust, support, and personal growth thrive

Future-Oriented & Adaptable Mindset

• Curiosity about emerging channels: You're actively learning about AI search, LLMs, and how discovery is evolving—not waiting for playbooks to be written

• Comfort with ambiguity: You can experiment with AI optimization strategies (structured data for LLMs, content formatting for AI answers) even when best practices are still being established

• Channel-agnostic thinking: You understand that "SEO" increasingly means "discoverability"—whether that's traditional search engines, AI tools, social platforms, or channels we haven't imagined yet

• Data-driven adaptability: You can objectively assess when to double down on traditional SEO versus when to pivot resources to AI discovery (or anything else more suited)

• Early adopter energy: You're the person who's already testing how Canva appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews—bringing insights rather than waiting for direction

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience developing and executing multi-year market expansion strategies

• Mobile-first optimization expertise (critical for mobile-dominant markets)

• Experience working in hyper-growth startup environments

• Familiarity with multi-platform ecosystems (Google + local search engines/social platforms)

What You'll Learn and How You'll Develop

• Operate as the strategic SEO leader for one of Canva’s highest-priority international markets.

• Learn how to build and scale SEO operations that combine local autonomy with global consistency.

• Develop deep cross-functional influence — partnering across Product, Templates, Engineering, and Data.

• Contribute to the global SEO transformation that’s redefining how Canva grows internationally.

• Strengthen leadership capabilities in people development, systems design, and international strategy.

Qualifications

Additional Information