Commercial Counsel GTM

Canva; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health benefits

401(k)

Parental leave

Wellbeing allowance

Flexible leave

Job summary

Canva is seeking a commercial lawyer to embed with its GTM teams, reviewing and negotiating a high volume of commercial agreements across Enterprise, Public Sector, Higher Education, and strategic partnerships.

You will assess and mitigate legal risk, while keeping deals moving, and collaborate with Sales, Product, Finance, Security, and Privacy teams. The role requires US practice eligibility and 5+ years in-house SaaS experience.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience reviewing and negotiating a variety of contracts at a fast-paced technology company.
• 5+ years of in-house experience at a SaaS or fast-growth tech company.
• US bar admission or eligibility to practice in the US.
• Ability to collaborate with GTM teams and cross-functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Review, draft, and negotiate commercial agreements with customers, vendors, and partners.
• Support contracting for government and public sector customers, navigating procurement requirements.
• Assist with partner-led and channel transactions, negotiating flowdown terms with resellers.
• Respond promptly to legal questions from Sales, Finance and other teams.
• Stay current on data privacy, AI regulations, and emerging enterprise/government contracting rules.
• Develop and maintain contract templates, playbooks, and enablement materials for GTM teams.
• Improve contracting processes, workflows, and tools with a scalable mindset.

Skills

Contract negotiation

Legal drafting

Regulatory knowledge

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

AI in legal workflows

Tools

Ironclad

DocuSign

Job description

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 our hubs in San Francisco and Austin, 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.

Please note, while we offer a flexible working environment, we are only accepting applications from Austin and San Francisco, or candidates open to relocating to either of these locations.

About the team

Canva is on a mission to empower the world to design. With over 250 million users and a fast-growing Enterprise and Public Sector business, we’re scaling quickly and thoughtfully. We’re looking for a sharp, business-minded lawyer to join our Commercial Legal team and help us continue to close deals at pace, with precision and smart risk management.

In this role you will be embedded with our GTM teams, reviewing and negotiating a high volume of commercial agreements across Enterprise, Public Sector, Higher Education, and strategic partnerships. You will be required to bring expertise, good judgement, and a strong business sense to assess and mitigate legal risk while keeping deals moving.

What you’ll do:

• Review, draft, and negotiate commercial agreements with customers, vendors, and partners.
• Support and evolve our contracting approach for government and public sector customers, including navigating procurement requirements, regulatory obligations, and government-specific contracting frameworks.
• Support partner-led and channel transactions, including negotiating flowdown terms with resellers and other channel partners.
• Respond promptly to legal questions and requests from stakeholders across Sales, Finance, and other teams.
• Keep current on relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards, including data privacy, AI regulations, and other emerging requirements that affect enterprise and government contracts.
• Contribute to the development and upkeep of contract templates, playbooks, escalation guides, and other legal team resources; this includes designing and delivering enablement and training to equip GTM and cross-functional stakeholders to move faster and more independently on routine commercial matters.
• Identify and help develop and implement improvements to contracting processes, workflows, and tools with a scalable, future-focused mindset.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners in Sales, Product, Finance, Security, and Privacy Legal to deliver practical, solutions-oriented legal support.

What we are looking for:

• You have hands-on experience reviewing and negotiating a variety of contracts at a fast-paced technology company, including experience with government and public sector SaaS transactions
• You are excited to roll up your sleeves, learn the business and proactively identify and analyse opportunities and risks. You are genuinely curious: about the business, the industry, and the problems in front of you, and that curiosity drives better, more connected legal work.
• You deliver timely, practical advice that is calibrated to risk, deal structure, and internal policy, and you know how to frame guidance in a way that is actionable for non-legal stakeholders.
• You have excellent communication skills and can make complex communications simple.
• You are comfortable participating in cross-functional and internationally distributed teams.
• You are a collaborative team player with strong interpersonal skills and a collegial, solutions-driven attitude.
• You are energized by the role AI is playing in legal work and are ready to embrace AI tools and workflows to help you work smarter, faster, and more impactfully.
• You are familiar with, or willing to learn, the fundamentals of how GenAI works and apply that to contracting work and enablement
• You are comfortable getting on the phone with customers and vendors.
• You are able to prioritize and effectively set and balance expectations.
• You have the pragmatism and agility required to meet the needs of the business each day.
• Qualified to practice in the US
• 5+ years of in-house experience at a SaaS or fast-growth tech company.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge and understanding of Canva and/or SaaS offerings.
• Experience using contracting tools (e.g. Ironclad and DocuSign)
• Demonstrated interest or experience in using AI tools in a legal or operational setting
• Experience negotiating with federal, state, and local government customers and familiarity with public sector procurement processes.
• Experience supporting channel partner transactions, including reseller and systems integrator agreements.
• Familiarity with FedRAMP, NIST frameworks, or other government cybersecurity and compliance requirements.

What's in it for you?

At Canva we value fairness, and we strive to provide competitive, market-informed compensation whilst ensuring internal equity within the team in each region. We make hiring decisions based on your skills, experience and our overall assessment of what we observed and learnt in the hiring process. The target compensation for this is is between $190k - $280k. When calculating offers, we make salary decisions based on market data and candidates' skills and experience.

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 stack 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
• Health benefits plans to support you and your wellbeing
• 401(k) retirement plan with company contribution
• 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

Other stuff to know

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!