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Sep 19, 2023

Senior Creative Lead (Studio) - 12 month fixed term contract

  • Canva
  • Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Media-Journalism

Job Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

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

Our flagship campus is in Sydney. We also have a campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. But you have choice in where and how you work. That means if you want to do your thing in the office (if you're near one), at home or a bit of both, it's up to you. 


What you’d be doing in this role

As Canva scales change continues to be part of our DNA. But we like to think that's all part of the fun. So this will give you the flavour of the type of things you'll be working on when you start, but this will likely evolve.

About Visual Content

Canva’s in-house Visual Content team is on a mission to empower our users around the world by providing them with world-class, inspirational Templates and Elements that help them achieve their creative goals. 

We work from concept to creation on high quality, globally relevant, inclusive and trend-setting creative across Canva’s product ecosystem (Presentations, Docs, Whiteboards, Social Media, Websites, Print, to name but a few!), Brand Partnerships, Seasonal and Cultural Campaigns, Education, and Diversity Initiatives.

Visual Content is responsible for setting the overall Creative Strategy and Direction for the content that sits within Canva’s library, entrusted with holding our content and its creators to the highest of standards. Our job is to ensure that our library provides end-to-end content solutions that enable our users, whether they be Professionals, Educators, or first-time Designers, with the tools they need to create beautiful designs. 

Our team partners with many stakeholders across the Canva organization, including Product, Marketing, and Search & Recommendations to devise, design and deliver creative content that showcases the very best of Canva’s products and services.

About the Role
Note: This is a 12 month Full-Time Contract Role for a Parental Leave cover.

Sitting within the Visual Content group, the Senior Creative Lead for Studio presides over several small generalist design squads that bring flexibility and scale to the needs of Canva Content: moving quickly to triage, research, prototype and deliver Templates and Elements content for high priority projects and campaigns, new product research and development, and provide scale and support to other teams within Visual Content where resources demand.

This role will require a deep understanding of all aspects of Canva's content library, content & creative strategy, technical production requirements alongside craft expertise to provide direction across any matter of project that might be asked of them.

An ability to collaborate and ideate with leads across Visual Content, in addition to developing strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders across the business will be essential to ensure the Studio team can move with agility, navigate ambiguity and bring clarity to chaos, enabling Visual Content to produce content at speed and high quality to keep pace with the needs of Canva’s live content service.

We move fast here at Canva, and this role will certainly keep you on your toes. We are looking for someone who loves to get stuff done. You’re who we want to work with if you can balance rapid prioritization of business objectives alongside brilliant, values driven creative strategy and direction.

We believe in attracting and nurturing world-class talent with a focus on diversity, community, career development – and doing the best work of our lives.

What you'll do (responsibilities)

  • Provide coaching, leadership and creative direction to both our creatives and Creative Leads within our two Studio Squads.
  • Oversee the creative ideation, development and execution of creative briefs for the Canva platform, as needed by the business, driving creative production of both Templates and Elements.
  • Drive projects across key focus areas for Canva Content, including Worksuite, Education, Curation & Editorial, and Magic Design. 
  • Provide your team with expertise in creative principles and best practices across a variety of craft mediums, including graphic design, illustration, photography, and motion graphics. 
  • Work alongside Visual Content, Content Operations and our Content & Discovery leadership to develop creative strategies and solutions that help support our key business priorities and support ad-hoc briefs that come in outside our regular planning cycles, alongside supporting key business priorities.
  • Collaborate closely with Visual Content’s Strategic and Craft Leadership to ensure projects within Studio align to our broader group goals and design principles.
  • Work with stakeholders to lead retrospectives on recent projects to understand content impact, share key metrics and opportunities with leadership, and adopt those learnings into future Studio campaigns. 

What we're looking for

  • A highly experienced Creative Leader, having previously overseen multiple creative squads in an in-house or agency environment.
  • You have extensive previous experience in the creation, curation and advocacy of high-quality content in Digital Mediums.
  • A keen eye for what makes great design, and an ability to develop and curate content with a user-first mindset.
  • Adapt to and integrate new and emerging technologies, such as AI generation and Machine Learning, into their design and production workflows.
  • A leader who is comfortable communicating, engaging with, and managing expectations of Canva leadership, organizational stakeholders, and growing, coaching and mentoring a team of creatively minded individuals.
  • Can navigate ambiguity and oversee multiple concurrent projects across different teams and stakeholders.
  • An ability to interpret user trends and data, working collaboratively with our Content Strategy and Insights team to develop those insights into creative strategies that inform the Studio team’s creative output.
  • Ability to work autonomously in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.


What's in it for you?

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard - and we do - but you'll experience lots of moments of magic, connectivity and fun woven throughout life at Canva, too. We also offer a stack of benefits to set you up for every success in and outside of work.

Here's a taste of what's on offer:
• Equity packages - we want our success to be yours too
• Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support your wellbeing, social connection, office setup & more
• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge and supports you personally

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills and passion, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process.

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually. 
Canva
About Canva

Launched in 2013, Canva is an online visual communications platform on a huge and ambitious mission to empower the whole world to design and unlock their creativity. Join our team and be part of something big, where it's not just about Canva’s growth, it’s about yours.

Today, more than 55 million people across 190 countries use Canva to create everything from presentations to social media posts, t-shirts, videos, posters and a whole lot more. We’re committed to creating a diverse library of content that represents the unique and vibrant world around us through our Diverse creator fund.

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