Senior Technical Program Manager

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 campus is in Sydney. We also have a campus in Melbourne and co-working spaces in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. But you have choice in where and how you work. That means if you want to do your thing in the office (if you’re near one), at home or a bit of both, it’s up to you. 

About the Technical Program Managers

At Canva, we’re all constantly striving towards our Crazy Big Goals! Since growing to a worldwide team of over 4,000 we need to work effectively together and improve our delivery ability as we scale, which is where our Technical Program Managers come in. 

As a Technical Program Manager, it is your mission to work closely with senior managers and product development teams to build a sustainable culture of positive urgency in delivery. You will lead complex, multi-disciplinary programs and be equally comfortable working with leadership to set strategic goals and clarify priorities, as you are with teams to communicate program status, escalate issues and manage dependencies as you are discussing technical trade-offs with an engineer.

About the Information Technology Group

The Information Technology group’s vision is to maximize the potential of every Canvanaut through redefining technology & service. We deliver value across the organization by making the lives of our employees simple and pleasant when leveraging technology to deliver against bigger and bigger goals.

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.

• Promote accountability towards sustainable program delivery
• Support engineering leads in maintaining and driving good delivery techniques during (& after) goal planning – including milestones shaping/scoping, prioritisation efforts, estimations, capacity planning.
• Ensuring clear visibility around all of the work teams are doing (or not doing) and when it will be done. (e.g. Helping build and align roadmap across the teams; collaborate with triads to optimise delivery reporting & tooling )
• Providing program or project management to support large cross team and/or cross continental initiatives – helping wrangle teams, tracking program status, capturing issues, mitigating risks, managing dependencies, facilitating timely decision making etc
• Ensure an appropriate degree of consistency in planning, documentation and core practices across teams to ensure meaningful velocity and promote our ability to scale how teams work across Canva
• Partner with Business groups such as IT, Finance, HR or Legal to understand their needs and challenges in order to deliver projects that will allow them to focus more on people and less on process
• Coach and influence delivery teams and business stakeholders on optimizing delivery processes and ways of working to deliver their Big Crazy Goals!
• Facilitate continual improvement rituals to build the effectiveness of business functions and engineering teams
• Passion for continuous improvement and always striving to make things work better
• Build a culture and environment to achieve excellence and innovation
• Build partnerships with cross-functional teams to influence decisions, drive alignment and prioritisation
• Partner with Group Leadership to facilitate the delivery of Canva’s highest priority, complex and multi-disciplinary initiatives

Experience you’ll need

• A minimum of 5 years of TPM, Project Manager, Agile Coach or Scrum Master experience at a SaaS company 
• Deep understanding of Agile product development processes
• Knowledgeable in technical concepts, systems and practices
• Experience working with Product Managers, Designers, Engineers and Marketers to deliver key company initiatives
• Comfortable with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities
• A natural communicator who leads through influence, not authority
• A love for navigating complexity and tackling ambiguous problems 
• Process-oriented but flexible in approach
• Motivated to provide an inclusive and psychologically safe environment for our diverse team to collaborate together, in a timely fashion, towards shared goals
• Introspective focus to continually improve the effectiveness of Canva’s teams
• Dedicated to personal growth and improving in your craft as a TPM 
• Leadership capability to ensure clarity, alignment and accountability to achieve our crazy big goals
• Ability to think strategically but also able to make crazy big goals happen. This role will be very hands-on!
• Experience uplifting delivery processes and optimising ways of working with non-engineering teams to deliver key company initiatives would really help!

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 stack 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.

Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.