Creative Director, Southeast Asia

Overview

Join the Creative Director, Southeast Asia role at Canva.

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design. Canva is a world-leading design platform that empowers millions to design anything and publish anywhere. We’re looking for a visionary creative leader to champion our brand across the SEA region, with an initial focus on Indonesia and the Philippines.

Reporting to the Head of Marketing for Southeast Asia, you’ll lead the creative expression of Canva’s brand in SEA, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on craft to drive brand relevance in local markets while upholding Canva’s global brand vision.

You’ll lead a mix of in-house creatives and external partners to deliver world-class campaigns across brand, performance, and product marketing. You’ll partner with regional and global teams, bringing local insights and cultural nuance to campaigns from big brand initiatives to performance ads and community-led moments.

You’ll thrive in fast-paced, multicultural environments with a deep understanding of Southeast Asian audiences and creative nuances. This role blends creative direction, design or copywriting craft, and strong leadership — you should be able to inspire a team and also roll up your sleeves and get hands-on.

What You’d Be Doing In This Role

• Set the creative direction for Canva in Southeast Asia, ensuring local resonance while maintaining global consistency.
• Partner with the Executive Creative Director and local teams to bring bold, culturally attuned brand ideas to life.
• Inspire creative excellence across touchpoints: TV and digital campaigns, performance, experiential, and community-led initiatives.
• Push the boundaries of storytelling, design, and content to grow brand love and awareness in Southeast Asia.
• Lead the development and execution of integrated campaigns across SEA, with a focus on Indonesia and the Philippines.
• Embed insight-led testing, performance data, and cultural trends into the creative process.
• Explore and evolve messaging, creative territories, and brand expressions that deepen local relevance while staying true to Canva’s core identity.
• Oversee creative production in SEA, balancing in-house, agency, and freelance resources for efficient delivery.
• Manage and grow agency partner networks in the region, ensuring collaboration and consistent quality.
• Collaborate with Canva’s central creative group to streamline workflows and scale creative across touchpoints.
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing creative team; foster a culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Provide clear direction, feedback, and growth opportunities to help your team thrive.
• Act as a key creative partner to marketing, growth, and product stakeholders across Southeast Asia and globally.
• Translate strategic objectives into bold, effective creative ideas that deliver business results and community impact.
• Collaborate across regions to share learnings and toolkits while enabling local nuance.

You're probably a match if

• 10+ years of experience across agency and in-house roles, ideally in high-growth or consumer tech environments.
• Proven success leading both brand and performance campaigns for direct-to-consumer brands with high-volume and global production.
• Deep understanding of Southeast Asian markets — especially Indonesia — and a track record of using local insights to craft impactful creative.
• Hands-on experience with integrated campaigns across channels, social platform best practices, and user acquisition KPIs.
• Strong creative craft in design, with a portfolio showing performance and brand excellence.
• Excellent communication skills, able to simplify the complex and bring ideas to life visually and verbally.
• Experience leading and scaling creative teams, building a strong creative culture.
• Ability to bring clarity to chaos, solve complex problems, and remain optimistic in fast-paced environments.
• Natural collaborator and energy-giver who leads with empathy and builds cross-functional relationships.

About The Team

Marketing’s mission at Canva is to become “the most loved brand in the world.” Canva’s International Marketing Group is a diverse, distributed team driving user growth, brand awareness, and affinity in priority international markets. The SEA Marketing team drives market-specific growth across performance marketing, brand, events, partnerships, social, community engagement and other growth channels.

What’s in it for you?

We pursue ambitious goals with moments of magic, connectivity, and fun woven into life at Canva. A range of benefits helps you succeed 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 and carers
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance for wellbeing, social connection, office setup, and more
• Flexible leave options to recharge and support 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 skills and backgrounds, so even if you don’t feel your skills match what’s listed, we still want to hear from you. Interviews are conducted virtually.

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Design

Industries

• Software Development

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