Creative Director, Southeast Asia

Canva; Singapore; On-site; SGD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading design platform is seeking a creative leader to manage brand campaigns across Southeast Asia. This role requires extensive experience in agency environments, particularly understanding local markets like Indonesia. The candidate should have a strong background in creative leadership and the ability to inspire teams while developing impactful campaigns. The position offers flexibility, a collaborative environment, and competitive benefits.

Benefits

Equity packages

Inclusive parental leave policy

Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance

Flexible leave options

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in agency and in-house roles.
• Proven success in leading brand and performance campaigns.
• Deep understanding of Southeast Asian markets, especially Indonesia.

Responsibilities

• Set creative direction ensuring local relevance.
• Develop and execute campaigns focused on SEA markets.
• Lead and mentor a high-performing creative team.

Skills

Creative leadership

Strong communication

Collaboration

Understanding of Southeast Asian markets

Job description

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.

About This Role

Canva is a world-leading design platform that empowers millions of people to design anything and publish anywhere. Our mission is to empower the world to design—and we’re looking for a visionary creative leader to champion our brand across the SEA region.

Reporting to the Head of Marketing for Southeast Asia, you’ll lead the creative expression of Canva’s brand in SEA, with an initial focus on Indonesia and the Philippines. This role is a unique blend of strategic leadership and hands-on craft, where you’ll drive brand relevance in local markets while upholding Canva’s global brand vision.

You’ll lead a mix of in-house creatives and external partners to deliver world-class campaigns across brand, performance, and product marketing. You’ll partner deeply with regional and global teams, bringing local insights and cultural nuance to everything we create — from big brand campaigns to performance ads and community-led moments.

We’re looking for someone who thrives in fast-paced, multicultural environments, and who brings a deep understanding of Southeast Asian audiences and creative nuances. This role blends creative direction, design or copywriting craft, and strong leadership. We’re looking for someone who can inspire a team — and roll up their sleeves and get hands-on.

What You’d Be Doing In This Role

Creative Leadership

• Set the creative direction for Canva in Southeast Asia, ensuring we show up in ways that are both locally resonant and globally consistent.
• Partner closely with the Executive Creative Director and local teams to bring bold, culturally attuned brand ideas to life.
• Inspire creative excellence across every touchpoint: from TV and digital campaigns to performance, experiential, and community-led initiatives.
• Push the boundaries of storytelling, design, and content to grow brand love and awareness across Southeast Asia.
  
  
  

Brand and Advertising Execution

• Lead the development and execution of integrated campaigns across SEA, with a focus on Indonesia and the Philippines.
• Champion creative effectiveness by embedding insight-led testing, performance data, and cultural trends into the creative process.
• Explore and evolve new messaging, creative territories, and brand expressions that deepen local relevance while staying true to Canva’s core identity.
  
  
  

Agency Management

• Oversee creative production in SEA, balancing in-house, agency, and freelance resources to deliver world-class creative efficiently.
• Manage and grow our agency partner network in the region, ensuring seamless collaboration and consistent creative quality.
• Partner with Canva’s central creative group to streamline workflows and scale creative across touchpoints and teams.
  
  
  

Team Leadership

• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing creative team.
• Foster a culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Provide clear direction, feedback, and growth opportunities to help your team thrive.
  
  
  

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Act as a key creative partner to marketing, growth, and product stakeholders across Southeast Asia and globally.
• Translate strategic objectives into bold, effective creative ideas that deliver business results and community impact.
• Collaborate across regions to share learnings, toolkits, and innovations — ensuring alignment while enabling local nuance.
  
  
  

You're probably a match if

• 10+ years of experience across agency and in-house roles, ideally in high-growth or consumer tech environments.
• Proven success leading both brand and performance campaigns for direct-to-consumer brands, including high-volume and global production efforts.
• Deep understanding of Southeast Asian markets — especially Indonesia — and a track record of using local insights to craft highly impactful creative.
• Hands-on experience with integrated campaigns across channels, social platform best practices, and user acquisition KPIs.
• Strong creative craft in design, with a portfolio that demonstrates both performance and brand excellence.
• Excellent communication skills: you can simplify the complex and bring ideas to life visually and verbally.
• Experience leading and scaling creative teams, and building a strong creative culture.
• Ability to bring clarity to chaos, solve complex problems, and maintain optimism in fast-paced environments.
• A natural collaborator and energy-giver: you lead with empathy, lift others up, and build strong cross-functional relationships.
  
  
  

About The Team

Marketing’s mission at Canva is for Canva to become “the most loved brand in the world”. Canva’s International Marketing Group is a diverse and distributed group of marketers who take this mission forward to drive user growth, brand awareness, and affinity in our priority international markets.

As part of the International Marketing Group, our SEA Marketing team for driving market-specific growth goals and comprehensive market strategies across SEA across a variety of functions - performance marketing, brand, events, partnerships, social, community engagement and other growth channels.

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.