Senior Technical Program Manager - Generative AI

Job Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hiya, 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

The buzzing Canva London campus features several buildings around beautiful leafy Hoxton Square in Shoreditch. While our global headquarters is in Sydney, Australia, London is our HQ for Europe, with all kinds of teams based here, plus event spaces to gather our team and communities. You'll experience a warm welcome from our Vibe team at front of house, amazing home cooked food from our Head Chef, Shay, and a variety of workspaces to hang out with your team mates or get solo work done. That said, we trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals and so you have choice in where and how you work.

This role is open to candidates remotely across Austria, Czechia, Germany, and the UK.

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.

At the moment, this role is focused on:

• Monitor delivery status across teams and projects.
• Promote accountability for sustainable program delivery.
• Support engineering leads with delivery practices during and after goal planning (sprint planning, estimations, capacity planning, etc.).
• Coordinate across research and product groups and prioritize opportunities.
• Facilitate AI Research by helping product leaders integrate promising experiments.
• Manage program risks, open issues, and dependencies.
• Ensure consistency in planning, documentation, and practices across teams.
• Facilitate effective decision-making and continual improvement rituals.
• Foster a culture of excellence, innovation, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Partner with Group Leadership to deliver high-priority, complex initiatives.

You're probably a match if

• You have 5+ years of TPM experience in a SaaS company.
• You have experience in Generative AI/ML; working with research teams to productionize experiments is a plus.
• You have a strong understanding of Agile methodologies and technical systems.
• You have experience collaborating with Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers on key initiatives.
• You are comfortable with ambiguity and shifting priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• You are an excellent communicator who leads through influence, not authority.
• You are skilled at navigating complexity and solving ambiguous problems.
• You are process-oriented but adaptable in your approach.
• You are committed to fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and psychologically safe environment.
• You have a focus on continuous improvement for teams and personal growth.
• You have demonstrated leadership in driving clarity, alignment, and accountability toward ambitious goals.
• You are a strategic thinker who can also execute hands-on to deliver big outcomes.

About the team

The mission of the AI Research group is to build and deliver world-leading generative AI technology to empower Canva’s users to be even more creative and productive. Leveraging first party and third party models, we explore the AI frontier to find new ways to empower Canva’s customers to design.

This is an exciting and emerging problem space with weekly innovations. Our close-knit team collaborates with engineers to prototype and develop new experiences, works with researchers to explore uncharted territories, and tackles some of today's biggest challenges. We continuously improve our current offerings to create better ways for people to achieve their design dreams. Our goal is to create magical, emotionally engaging AI experiences that charm, simplify complex tasks, and foster meaningful connections.

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.