Growth Partnerships Manager, Startups (12 Month Fixed Term Contract)

Canva; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Canva in San Francisco is seeking a senior partnerships generalist to own a broad startup program and to close deals across Banks & Fintechs, Telcos and OEMs. You’ll inherit real partnerships and pipeline, then figure out the rest as you go.

This role requires scrappy, cross‑functional leadership—building from 0→1, designing program mechanics, and hosting founder events and demo days to accelerate activation and revenue.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in partnerships, business development, growth, or ecosystem roles within startups or tech.
• Deep understanding of the startup ecosystem and experience with VCs, accelerators, and accelerator programs.
• Proven ability to source opportunities, build strategy, negotiate terms, and close deals.

Responsibilities

• Run Canva for Startups end to end across the startup ecosystem with accelerators and VCs.
• Own program mechanics from sign‑up to activation including offers, verification, onboarding and partner experiences.
• Track performance across the lifecycle and use data to guide where to invest next.
• Host founder events and workshops, and build relationships with VC and accelerator teams.
• Source and launch distribution partnerships balancing near‑term revenue and long‑term opportunities.
• Own channel outcomes with targets and cadence, tied to MAU and revenue.
• Ship partner launches by coordinating with Product, Marketing, Legal, Finance, Growth and Strategy.

Skills

Partnerships

Business development

Growth

Startup ecosystem

Deal ownership

Cross-functional

Program management

Negotiation

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.

Where and how you can work

Our flagship office is in Sydney, Australia, but we've made our way from down under, to a hub in San Francisco, 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.This is a hybrid role in San Francisco, so you must be able to commute to our office 1-2 times a week.

About the Team

Growth Partnerships is one of the newest pillars in Canva's GTM Partnerships org, driving MAU and revenue growth. We work across four verticals (Startup Ecosystem, Banks & Fintechs, Telcos and OEMs), to reach consumers, founders, and small businesses right when they're deciding which tools to build with.

We're on the ground floor, with real momentum and plenty left to build.

About the Role

This role owns one of the broadest portfolios in the Partnerships org, running a startup program on one side and active deal making across Banks & Fintechs, Telcos and OEMs on the other. You'll inherit real partnerships and real pipeline, then figure out the rest as you go.

That means you're a generalist who can lead a program in the morning and close a deal in the afternoon—and scrappy enough to build the process yourself when one doesn't exist yet.

What you'll do

• Run Canva for Startups end to end across the startup ecosystem,working with accelerators and VCs
• Own the program mechanics that get startups from sign-up to activation fast, including tiered offers, coupon administration, startup verification, cohort onboarding and partner-specific experiences
• Track program performance across the startup lifecycle, from portfolio penetration and offer redemption through to activation and conversion, usingthe data to decide where we invest next
• Be a visible ambassador for Canva in the startup ecosystem, hosting founder events and workshops, showing up at demo days and accelerator cohorts, and building relationships with VC and Accelerator teams
• Source, structure, negotiate, and launch distribution partnerships across Banks & Fintechs, Telcos and OEMs, balancing near‑term revenue with longer‑term distribution opportunities
• Own channel outcomes with clear targets, tracking and an operating cadence tied to MAU and revenue
• Ship partner launches by working cross‑functionallywith Product, Marketing, Legal, Finance, Growth and Strategy teams

What we're looking for

We're looking for a builder and true generalist—someone who can create and scale a program, but is equally comfortable getting hands‑on and personally driving a partnership or deal from idea through close. This person won't be stepping into a mature playbook; they'll help build it.

• 5+ years in partnerships, business development, growth, or ecosystem roles within a startup or consumer/B2B tech environment.
• Deep understanding of the startup ecosystem—you know how founders operate and have experience working with VCs, accelerators, startup communities, and other ecosystem partners.
• Proven deal ownership. You've sourced opportunities, built the partnership strategy and business case, negotiated terms, and driven distribution or strategic deals through close—not just managed established relationships.
• Strong cross‑functional operator who can bring Product, Marketing, Legal, Finance, and other teams together to move partnerships forward and make decisions.
• Able to build and run programs at scale. You can set clear goals, establish an operating cadence, measure results, and manage a broad portfolio while still knowing when to jump in personally.
• Comfortable building from 0→1. You're scrappy, self‑directed, and able to move quickly without perfect information, established processes, or someone telling you what to do next.
• Bonus: You've been a founder, worked at a VC or accelerator, built a startup/ecosystem program from scratch, or closed consumer/SMB distribution partnerships.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills, merit and business needs, in compliance with applicable local laws.

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!

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

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 salary range for this position is $185,000 to $245,000 USD. When calculating offers, we make salary decisions based on market data and candidates' skills and experience.