Head of GTM Ecosystem and Partnerships

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 our 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.

What you’d be doing in this role

We’re seeking a seasoned leader to spearhead our Ecosystem GTM and Partnerships group. This role combines business development and developer engagement into a unified mandate: grow the value Canva delivers by integrating with the tools our users already rely on and bringing high-impact apps into the Canva experience.

You will lead a cross-functional team that includes Strategic Partner Managers, Developer Relations Engineers, and guide the work of Product Marketing Managers and Solutions Engineers. Together, you'll cultivate an ecosystem that supports key business workflows, unlocks innovation, and helps Canva grow as an AI innovator and offering for businesses.

This role is deeply collaborative and works closely with leaders across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, and Sales. You will shape the evolution of the Canva developer platform—including the Apps SDK, Connect API, and other extensibility surfaces—ensuring that it meets the needs of developers, partners, and end users. While we’ve already onboarded thousands of developers and launched hundreds of apps and integrations, we’re still in the early days of our platform growth and adoption. This is a unique opportunity to influence foundational architecture and go-to-market strategy at scale.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Shape Strategic Direction: Define and execute a high-impact partnership roadmap aligned with Canva’s broader goal to become the most pluggable design platform and a central part of daily user workflows.
• Build & Lead a Cross-Functional Team: Scale a highly aligned organization across partnerships, developer relations, and partner success to deliver seamless end-to-end partner experiences. You’ll foster a culture of collaboration, clear goal-setting, and ongoing mentorship.
• Build Partner Enablement Infrastructure: Develop scalable onboarding, documentation, and support programs to ensure developer and partner success from integration through adoption.
• Drive Partner and Developer Growth: Prioritize, secure, and grow high-value strategic partnerships and developer collaborations that expand Canva’s use cases across verticals like marketing, sales, and real estate.
• Negotiate High-Impact Deals: Lead and close strategic partnerships that deliver strong commercial value and ecosystem alignment, fueling platform adoption and business growth.
• Enable External Innovation: Champion and support the external developer community through enablement, awareness, and monetization strategies. You’ll scale developer outreach efforts—including events and content—and ensure their contributions align with Canva’s ecosystem goals.
• Integrate Advanced Technologies: Work closely with internal AI, data, and product teams to help partners build differentiated integrations that leverage Canva’s evolving capabilities in automation and intelligent design.
• Partner on Joint GTM Success: Collaborate with key partners on co-marketing, sales enablement, and pipeline generation strategies that amplify Canva’s reach and business impact across customer segments.
• Optimize Ecosystem Impact: Own key partner performance metrics, including integration adoption, active user growth, partner-driven revenue, and developer retention, to ensure scalable and sustainable impact.
• Scale Developer Marketing: Partner with product marketing and comms to elevate the visibility of Canva’s platform through storytelling, campaigns, and thought leadership across technical and business communities.
• Collaborate Across Canva: Partner with Ecosystem Product, Legal, Marketing, and Sales to scale ecosystem operations and position Canva for long-term growth across multiple surfaces. You will also be responsible for moving critical relationships forward, driving next steps. Your ability to influence cross-functional teams will be essential.

You're probably a match if you are:

• Ecosystem Strategist & Growth Leader: You’ve led platform ecosystems or developer programs with proven success in driving user engagement, enterprise adoption, and scalable business growth.
• Business Development Expert: A wealth of experience in partnerships or platform strategy with a track record of managing complex deals, market expansion initiatives, and long-term partner success.
• Technically Fluent: Strong grasp of APIs, developer tooling, and integration architecture—able to translate technical concepts into strategic opportunities.
• People-Centered Leader: Experienced in building, scaling, and inspiring cross-functional teams across business development, technical engagement, and partner support. Adept at mentoring, setting KPIs, and nurturing high-performance cultures.
• Developer Ecosystem Champion: Demonstrated success in engaging third-party developers, facilitating events and hackathons, and building thriving communities that deliver business value.
• Strategic Communicator & Network Builder: Exceptional negotiation and collaboration skills, with a broad and deep network in the tech, cloud, and SI ecosystems—and the ability to execute tactically while keeping long-term vision in sight.

About the team:

The Ecosystem Partner Development and Success team is at the heart of Canva’s mission to empower the world to design. As part of the Ecosystem Group, this team oversees the lifecycle of partnerships and developer relationships that bring external innovation into Canva and embed Canva into the tools and workflows our users rely on.

Our goal is to foster a thriving developer community and partner network that extends Canva’s capabilities across industries, enabling rich design experiences for individuals and enterprises alike.

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 plan to support you and your well-being
• 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 support 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 learned in the hiring process. The salary range for this position is $244,000 to $373,000. 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.

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