Creative Lead Design Director (UK)

Canva; Greater London; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading design platform is seeking a Creative Lead in Greater London to shape the creative direction for content that resonates with local culture and drives engagement. You will oversee the content lifecycle, collaborate with marketing teams, and apply your knowledge of local trends. Ideal candidates will have strong visual design skills and a portfolio demonstrating their cultural depth, with a passion for making design accessible to everyone. This role offers exciting challenges in a vibrant workplace.

Benefits

Equity packages

Inclusive parental leave policy

Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance

Flexible leave options

Qualifications

• Experience in creative leadership within the UK market.
• Strong visual design skills and a diverse portfolio.
• Ability to create market-specific content, not just translated.
• Experience managing freelancers and shaping editorial strategy.

Responsibilities

• Shape the creative direction for content in the UK market.
• Oversee full content lifecycle from ideation to production.
• Use data to refine strategies and improve content performance.

Skills

Creative leadership

Visual design skills

Cultural understanding

Content trends

Collaboration

Job description

Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hello hey gday mabuhay kia ora 你好 hallo vítejte!

Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time consuming and youre probably keen to find out whats on offer so well get straight to the point.

Where and how you can work

The buzzing Canva London campus features several buildings around beautiful leafy Hoxton Square in Shoreditch. While our global headquarters is in Sydney Australia London is our HQ for Europe with all kinds of teams based here plus event spaces to gather our team and communities. Youll experience a warm welcome from our Vibe team at front of house amazing home cooked food from our Head Chef and a variety of workspaces to hang out with your team mates or get solo work done. That said we trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals and so you have choice in where and how you work.

What youd be doing in this role

As Canva scales change continues to be part of our DNAand thats all part of the fun. This role gives you a flavour of the type of things youll be working on but it will likely evolve.

As Creative Lead youll shape the creative direction for content in your market ensuring it reflects local culture resonates with users and drives growth. Youll 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.

At the moment this role is focused on :

• Creative Direction & Strategy: Define and lead the creative vision for your market turning local insights and Canvas broader goals into content strategies that inspire. Youll 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. Youll 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. Youll champion hyper‑local 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. Youll 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. Youll translate learnings into action, boosting content performance, discoverability and user engagement in your market.

Youre probably a match if :

• You have experience in creative leadership within the 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.
• Youre excited by Canva's mission to make design accessible to everyone everywhere.
• You have experience managing freelancers, shaping editorial strategy and guiding 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.

About the team

Youll 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.

About the role

As Country Creative Lead you will lead the charge in shaping the creative direction for content that reflects the cultural nuances and preferences of the UK. Your role will be instrumental in driving user engagement and revenue growth through content as you collaborate closely with the Country Lead and local stakeholders across Growth Marketing, SEO and Community.

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.

Whats in it for you

Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard but you’ll experience lots of moments of magic, connection and fun woven throughout life at Canva too. We also offer a range of benefits to support your success inside and outside work:

• 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.

Check out for more info.

Additional Information :

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 dont feel like your skills quite match whats listed above — we still want to hear from you!

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.

Key Skills

• Administrative Skills
• Facilities Management
• Biotechnology
• Creative Production
• Design And Estimation
• Architecture