Head of Commercial Legal

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 office is in Sydney, Australia, but we've made our way from down under to a hub in San Francisco, which is now home to our US operations. We offer flexibility in how and where you work. We trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.

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.

We’re looking for a new Head of Commercial Legal to lead our incredible team. The Commercial Legal team is responsible for empowering Canva’s scalable growth through strategic legal and operational guidance. They structure, negotiate and manage Canva’s customer, partner and supplier agreements, supporting go-to-market efforts, new products and commercial initiatives. They’re trusted partners to the business, helping teams navigate deal-making at pace, with precision and smart risk management.
You’ll be joining a dynamic, collaborative team that is passionate about enabling Canva's mission to empower the world to design.

What you’ll do 

• Lead and coach a high-performing global Commercial Legal team.

• Set the vision and strategy for how Commercial Legal enables Canva’s growth while managing commercial risk.

• Provide strategic guidance to Canva leadership on material commercial, customer, partner and supplier matters.

• Partner closely with Sales, Procurement, Finance, Product and other teams to support launches, new business models and strategic initiatives.

• Design scalable commercial legal processes, playbooks, templates and ways of working that help Canva move quickly and consistently.

• Foster a high-performance, collaborative culture through thoughtful work distribution, growth and development, team wellbeing and headcount and resourcing decisions.

• Drive team connection and culture through team rituals, including all-hands, cross-specialty engagement and the annual global Legal Summit.

• Champion Canva’s AI Native ways of working, actively using and encouraging the use of AI tools to streamline workflows and improve the team’s impact.

• Manage Commercial Legal budgets and outside counsel engagement.

• Monitor market developments, emerging technologies and legal trends, translating these into clear, practical recommendations for Canva.

You're probably a match if

• Leadership & teamwork: This team operates with a high degree of autonomy and mutual trust. We’re looking for a leader who thrives in collaborative environments. Bonus if you’ve had experience managing a team across different timezones.

• Commercial breadth and judgment: You should bring strong experience advising on a broad range of commercial matters, including customer, partner, supplier and technology transactions. Deep expertise in one or more areas is valued, but the most important thing is the ability to navigate complex commercial issues, ask the right questions and make practical decisions.

• Strategic business partnering: You will be a trusted adviser to senior business leaders. You should be comfortable balancing legal risk with commercial opportunity, finding workable paths forward and communicating advice clearly to both legal and non-legal stakeholders.

• Industry context: You have experience advising technology companies, understand how legal considerations intersect with product development and go-to-market strategy and are comfortable operating amid ambiguity and change.

• Building for scale: You have experience improving legal processes, using technology effectively and building a function that can support a growing global company without creating unnecessary friction.

• Comfort with and fluency in AI tools: Canva Legal is on a mission to become an AI Native Legal Team. It’s important that you’re comfortable with using AI tools to help us drive AI adoption and integration into our practices.

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 range 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.

We celebrate all types of skills and backgrounds at Canva so even if you don’t feel like your skills quite match what’s listed above - we still want to hear from you!

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.