Canva is Hiring a Creative Lead/Design Director (London, UK/Hybrid)
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.
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.
About the company
We're a global online visual communications platform on a mission to empower the world to design. Featuring a simple drag-and-drop user interface and a vast range of templates ranging from presentations, documents, websites, social media graphics, posters, apparel to videos, plus a huge library of fonts, stock photography, illustrations, video footage, and audio clips, anyone can take an idea and create something beautiful on Canva on any device, from anywhere in the world.
REQUIREMENTS
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.
RESPONSIBILITIES
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.
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.
BENEFITS + PERKS
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
