Canva’s Commitment and Mission

At Canva, we celebrate diversity. We deeply believe that bringing together diversity of thoughts, perspectives and expression is key to building the best product, team and company. We mean it when we say we want to create a diverse and inclusive workplace where we value all different types of experiences and want to create a space and culture where you feel like you belong.

We know it can be a tricky time applying for roles, wondering if the role is right for you and if you and your experience are right for the role too. Many people won’t apply for roles unless they feel that they tick every single box. At Canva we look for many different skills and abilities and we’re always looking for how new team members can add to Canva and our culture. So if you don’t think you quite meet all of the skills listed, we’d still love to hear from you! 

Our mission at Canva is to empower the world to design and since launching in 2013, we have grown exponentially, amassing over 80 million monthly active users across 190 different countries and a team of over 2,800 people… and the best bit is that we’ve only achieved 1% of what we know we’re capable of. 

Be a Force for Good

We’re driven by our values, with our ‘Be a Force for Good’ value supporting everything that we do. Through your work on our product or team, and our community initiatives and sustainability programs, you’re given the opportunity to come to Canva and make a tangible difference to the lives of others in your day-to-day life. In addition to our Founder’s 30% Pledge, Canva is committed to Pledge 1% and actively encourage our team to participate in many ways, including taking paid volunteer leave.

Your journey with Canva could take you to places that you might not even imagined yet. There’s opportunity around every corner and the support to help you achieve your goals.

Join us and design your future. 

Location: West Coast with a preference for Los Angeles or San Francisco. We are also open to candidates globally who are open to relocation to the US or Australia.

Our Content & Discovery Team 

Content & Discovery is Canva’s fastest-growing group, with over 600+ staff including product managers, engineers, product designers, visual designers, data scientists, creative contractors and more; it traces its lineage to Canva’s very first team! (“Marketplace”). We own Canva’s content strategy across supply and demand.

Canva wouldn’t be the same without its library of content and the ability to discover it to kickstart creativity.

The Role

As the Head of Search & Recommendations, you will be a visionary, defining the future vision of how search and recommendation works in the Canva product and library. You will build and lead our rapidly growing product and engineering team through strategy, development and the implementation of S&R technologies for the best possible user experience. We are not looking to make small step changes. We are striving for significant growth in this space and are looking to invest heavily with the right leader at the helm.

A bit about the person we're looking for:

• A holistic, natural leader. Build great teams of experts in their craft including technologists beyond the product specialty.
• Strategic thinker and problem solver. Identify strengths and gaps, with an ability to bring chaos to and align goals across the business for a cohesive product experience. 
• Have a growth mindset. Understand growth for scalability with the ability to accelerate and motivate others at pace.
• A product expert with a technical mindset. You’ll have the perfect marriage of product and technical skills to place ideas at the forefront of S&R capabilities.
• A visionary. Identify a clear future roadmap to be able to build this space from the ground up.

The experience you'll bring to the role:

• Deep experience in search and recommendations, we are looking for a world-class leader to accelerate our success
• Be a T-shaped technologist with the ability to connect dots across Canva
• A strong product lens and comprehensive understanding of product features and Canva’s capabilities
• Management and strong strategic leadership experience
• Ability to drive people, teams, projects and goals
• An in-depth understanding of the technologies to power search
• Experience working with different stakeholders
• Proactively resolve strategic issues and unblock others with a solution-focused approach
• Goal-driven. Able to manage multiple, complex projects, with differing deadlines - keep people on track and informed, and ensure the goals are clear and met
• Experience working with different stakeholders, collaborative mindset, and communicating clearly (whether that's to your team, training and up-leveling others, or presenting to the business)

What you'll achieve

• You'll help set crazy big goals, and empower teams to achieve them. You’ll find ways to help our global library surface content for scale to millions, if not billions of diverse users.

Some early goals will include

• Understand our current processes to identify key opportunities and pain points for improvement
• Build and drive the S&R vision and strategy using a data and user-centric approach, identifying measures for success
• Apply your deep expertise to Canva context

Other achievements as this role develops:

• Play an active role in shaping a world class team
• Align stakeholders and rally others to deliver on our roadmap, accelerating Canva, and your team for growth
• Make the grand vision a reality

One of our core values at Canva, “Being a force for good” means we are actively working towards a world that isn't just good for a small few, but one that’s good for everyone. We believe deeply that bringing together diversity of thoughts, perspectives and expression is key for building the best product for our equally diverse community. To achieve this, we need to constantly work towards making Canva the best place to work, for everyone.

Working at Canva 

Our culture is unlike anywhere else and together we design your #CanvaLife experience to empower you to do the best work of your life.  

Whether you’re in the office, working from home or choosing your own adventure, we recognize that every single person is unique and our Canvanaut benefits aim to ensure we cater for all.  

Our benefits for permanent Canvanauts include: 

• Competitive health benefits plans to support you and your wellbeing 

• Equity packages truly be a part of the Canva journey 

• 401(k) retirement plan with company contribution to support you, with your future Hybrid work model (in-office & from home) coming together for 8 days a year. The rest, you choose where you work best. 

• Flexible leave so you can recharge, give back, support others or focus on your own professional development.

• Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents and carers throughout their parenting and caring journey.

• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance. This is for you to spend on whatever will support your wellbeing and development. It could be anything, from a Masterclass subscription to an electronic stand-up desk, a pilates membership, or dinner out with a teammate. Because you know what you need to Vibe and Thrive, better than anyone.

• Virtual and in-office wellness benefits including Canva University, Employee Assistant Programs and other benefits to support your physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

• Canva For Good program matching your not-for-profit donations and a range of sustainability and ethical initiatives to get involved in.

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion. Please note that interviews are conducted virtually. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process.