Country Manager - South Africa

Canva
Johannesburg
Workplace: HybridFull timeFunction: People, HR & TalentSkills: ["Leadership","Communication","Strategic thinking","Partnership development","Growth mindset"]

Lead Canva's growth, brand and partnerships in South Africa as the local owner, blending founder mindset with team leadership to drive user growth (MAU) and revenue (ARR). Build expansion plans for frontier markets, localize product and pricing, forge strategic partnerships, and recruit a high-performing local team while aligning regional and global priorities. You’ll represent Canva publicly, manage education initiatives, and optimize the local ecosystem to scale Canva’s impact.

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FursaFursa
Canva
Canva
5 months ago

Country Manager - South Africa

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Job Summary

Lead Canva's growth, brand and partnerships in South Africa as the local owner, blending founder mindset with team leadership to drive user growth (MAU) and revenue (ARR). Build expansion plans for frontier markets, localize product and pricing, forge strategic partnerships, and recruit a high-performing local team while aligning regional and global priorities. You’ll represent Canva publicly, manage education initiatives, and optimize the local ecosystem to scale Canva’s impact.
Location: Johannesburg
Workplace: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: People, HR & Talent
Seniority: Manager level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Own market growth end-to-end; act as the founder of Canva South Africa, setting and delivering ambitious MAU and ARR growth targets.
  • •Lead expansion and partnerships; build and activate high-impact partnerships across education, government, enterprise, NGOs, creators and platforms.
  • •Localise the Canva experience; work with local and global teams to adapt product, content, pricing and packaging to local needs, cultures and use cases.
  • •Create and lead a high-performing local team; hire, inspire and coach A-players, collaborating with regional and global leads.
  • •Run the local operating cadence and budget; align regional/global workstreams, prioritize ruthlessly, move fast and maximise impact.

Key Requirements

  • •Proven market builder with experience launching, scaling or leading a market for a global tech or SaaS company, or as a founder / early leader.
  • •Deep partnerships experience with a track record of building and monetising strategic partnerships that drive distribution, adoption or revenue.
  • •Strong commercial instincts; comfortable owning numbers, setting targets and driving MAU and ARR growth.
  • •Founder-level ownership; bias to action, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to do and lead at the same time.
  • •User-obsessed with deep curiosity for local users, their motivators and barriers, and the discipline to turn insight into action.
Experience:SaaSTech
Skills:LeadershipCommunicationStrategic thinkingPartnership developmentGrowth mindset
Languages:English

Company Brief

Canva
Canva is an online visual communications platform that provides drag-and-drop design tools, templates, and media assets for creating presentations, social media graphics, videos, documents and more, serving individuals and large enterprises globally.
Industry: Enterprise Software
Company Size: Enterprise (1,001+ employees)
Revenue: USD 1B+
Growth: Scaleup
Valuation: Decacorn (USD 10B+)
Funding: Series E+
Headquarters: Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Founded: 2012
Glassdoor
Glassdoor: 3.9
WebsiteLinkedInGlassdoor