EMEA Talent Acquisition Lead (14 month FTC)

Canva; Tottenham; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Canva London is seeking a Talent Acquisition Lead for EMEA to partner with regional leaders and Country Managers, shaping hiring strategy across multiple markets.

You'll lead a 5-person regional TA team, drive cross-country talent plans, and influence growth through proactive workforce planning while balancing local nuance and global standards.

Qualifications

• Led Talent Acquisition across multiple EMEA markets.
• Strong people leadership with coaching and direction.
• Strategic partner capable of influencing senior leaders.
• Good commercial and market judgement balancing ambition with constraints.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and change, driving clarity.
• Ability to switch between strategy and hands-on execution.
• Experience in building and scaling talent in new markets.

Responsibilities

• Be a strategic thought partner to EMEA regional leadership and Country Managers on workforce priorities.
• Shape the EMEA talent acquisition operating model for scalable hiring in new markets.
• Lead and develop a high‑performing regional TA team and align capacity with priorities.
• Build talent strategies for new/evolving markets across multiple regions and teams.
• Coordinate with People, Total Rewards, Legal, and Contingent Workforce on local talent and compensation.
• Drive clear, pragmatic hiring decisions when priorities conflict; balance regional and global needs.

Skills

Talent Acquisition

EMEA experience

People leadership

Strategic partnership

Commercial judgement

Change management

Strategy execution

Job description

Job Description

This is a 14 month Fixed Term Contract role.

Job Description

This is a 14 month Fixed Term Contract role.

Join The Team Redefining How The World Experiences Design.

Kamusta, 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

This role is based in London with 2-3 days in the office. 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. You'll 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.

About The Role

As our Talent Acquisition Lead for EMEA, you’ll lead the regional Talent Acquisition team of 5 and be a strategic partner to leaders shaping Canva’s growth across a vastly expanding region as we enter new markets. This is a rare opportunity to have visible, hands‑on impact during a defining period for Canva in EMEA. You’ll lead a talented team while helping shape how we enter new countries, build local capability and scale sustainably across one of Canva’s fastest‑growing regions. The work will be varied, commercially meaningful and highly connected to the region’s growth agenda. EMEA is entering an exciting phase of expansion. As we grow in existing markets and establish Canva in new ones, you’ll help turn ambitious growth plans into clear, achievable talent strategies. You’ll partner closely with regional leaders and Country Managers to understand what capabilities they need, where we should hire, and the best ways to build those teams. This is a role for someone who is comfortable creating clarity in complexity. You’ll balance competing priorities across markets and specialties, connect regional needs with global teams, and help leaders make thoughtful decisions about where to focus our hiring efforts.

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.

At The Moment, This Role Is Focused On

• Being a strategic thought partner to EMEA regional leadership and Country Managers, bringing a strong talent perspective to workforce priorities, challenging assumptions and helping turn ambitious growth and market-entry plans into practical hiring strategies.
• Helping shape EMEA’s talent acquisition operating model as the region scales, establishing practical, repeatable approaches for new-market hiring while preserving the local nuance each country needs.
• Leading and developing a high-performing regional TA team, creating clarity on priorities, aligning capacity to the work that matters most and helping the team navigate a fast-moving hiring landscape.
• Building talent strategies for new and evolving markets, partnering across People, Total Rewards, Legal, Contingent Workforce and other teams to understand local talent, compensation and benefits, worker types and the practicalities of hiring in each country.
• Creating clarity when priorities compete, connecting regional leaders, Country Managers and global specialty stakeholders when needs aren't naturally aligned and helping the group reach clear, pragmatic decisions.
• Shaping the right workforce approach, considering permanent, fixed-term and contingent talent based on the market, business need and available hiring pathways.
• Leading hiring across a broad portfolio of specialties, with priorities spanning areas such as Growth, Marketing, SEO, Content and Customer Service, alongside leadership and other emerging roles.
• Using market insight to influence decisions, helping leaders understand talent availability, capacity, trade-offs and investment required to deliver against changing hiring priorities.

You're probably a match if

• You’ve led Talent Acquisition across multiple EMEA markets, ideally supporting international or new-market expansion in high growth environments.
• You’re a strong people leader who builds high-performing teams through clear direction, trust and coaching.
• You’re an experienced strategic partner who can influence senior leaders, challenge assumptions and navigate competing priorities.
• You Bring strong commercial and market judgement, balancing business ambition with talent availability, capacity and hiring realities.
• You’re comfortable with ambiguity and change, creating clarity and momentum when priorities shift.
• You can move easily between strategy and execution, staying close enough to the work to unblock challenges and drive outcomes.
• You’re excited by the opportunity to build, not just maintain, bringing structure to new-market expansion while keeping candidate experience and hiring quality high.

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. 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.