Head of Data - Finance

Canva; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 274,000 - 417,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity packages

Health benefits plans

401(k) retirement plan

Inclusive parental leave

Vibe & Thrive allowance

Flexible leave options

Job summary

Canva is seeking a senior data leader to guide the Finance Data & Analytics function. You will oversee a distributed team embedded in Finance, drive the metric governance framework, and manage data models and pipelines powering FP&A and investor reporting.

You will partner with Accounting, Tax, and Investor Relations to improve data quality and automate reporting, shaping the data architecture and AI readiness for finance operations.

Qualifications

• Experience leading data teams inside a Finance function, with SOX/public company reporting exposure.
• You think in systems, managing data flows from source to model and report with governance at core.
• Ability to present the numbers story to CFOs and senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead a distributed team of data scientists and analytics engineers embedded in Finance.
• Own the metric governance framework and single source of truth for top-line metrics.
• Own data models, pipelines, and definitions powering FP&A forecasting and board reporting.
• Improve data quality with Accounting, Tax and Investor Relations for faster, automated reporting.
• Evolve Finance data architecture with modelling standards and DBT/Snowflake orchestration.
• Introduce AI/automation into Finance processes and partner on data foundations.

Skills

Distributed team leadership

Systems thinking

Communication with leadership

Forecasting & planning understanding

Tools

DBT

Snowflake

Anaplan

SQL

Job description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

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.

Job Description

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.

Data sits centrally within Canva's Engineering org, and we place senior data leaders inside the business groups that need us most. This role reports to the Global Head of Data Science, and places you inside Finance — partnering with FP&A, Accounting, Tax and Investor Relations — to lead the data science and analytics capability that Finance leadership, including our CFO, rely on to run the business.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Leading a team of data scientists and analytics engineers embedded in Finance, setting the technical bar and the priorities
• Owning the metric governance framework and single source of truth for Canva's top-line performance metrics, for both operational finance and investor reporting
• Owning the data models, pipelines and metric definitions that power FP&A's forecasting and planning, including the feeds into Anaplan and board-level reporting
• Partnering with Accounting, Tax and Investor Relations to improve data quality (accuracy / completeness) with these teams and to make financial reporting faster, more automated and less manual
• Leading the evolution of Finance's data architecture — modelling standards, layer design and orchestration patterns in DBT and Snowflake
• Bringing AI and automation into Finance's processes in ways that are genuinely useful, and strategically partnering with Finance on the right Data architecture / foundations to be AI/AI-agent ready
• Acting as the technical and analytical partner to Finance leadership, with regular exposure to the CFO and her leadership team

You're probably a match if

You've led distributed teams across timezones inside a Finance function before — somewhere that's been through the kind of scrutiny that comes with SOX compliance or public-company reporting

You think in systems: how data flows from source through pipelines and semantic layers to model and report, and you treat governance and controls as core engineering work, not overhead

You're equally comfortable writing code or building a model yourself, and presenting the story behind the numbers to a CFO

You set a high technical bar while staying genuinely curious about the business problem underneath the data

Financial modelling experience is a bonus but not required — what matters is understanding what forecasting and planning processes need from data, and making those inputs reliable and audit-ready

You're a strong communicator, equally comfortable balancing technical detail with engineering teams and also presenting to senior leadership

About the team

Data sits centrally within Canva's Engineering org, embedded in the business groups that need us most — Marketing, International, and now Finance. Our Finance Data & Analytics team owns the Finance Data Platform, self-serve reporting for the business, and the metric integrity that underpins everything from quarterly close to investor reporting.

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
• 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

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 $274,000 to $417,000. When calculating offers, we make salary decisions based on market data and candidates' skills and experience.

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.