Lead Commercial Counsel, GTM

Company Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design.

Hello, 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 a campus in Austin, Texas which is now home to our US operations. You have choice in where and how 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

Canva is on a mission to empower the world to design. With over 230 million users and a rapidly growing Enterprise business, we’re scaling quickly and thoughtfully. We’re looking for a senior contracting leader who can set the tempo, shape strategy, and continue to evolve a contracting function that supports sustainable growth. This is a high-visibility role embedded with our GTM teams, supporting our fastest-growing customer segments: Enterprise, Public Sector, and Higher Education.

In this role, you will lead a talented team that delivers speed, precision, and practical solutions in a high-volume SaaS sales environment. You will build on the team’s strengths to enhance processes, refine tools, and anticipate the needs of an expanding global business. You will serve as both a player and a coach, managing some of our most complex, high-value negotiations yourself while developing your team’s ability to operate at increasing scale. Working closely with sales leadership and cross-functional partners, you will help ensure deals continue to move efficiently, consistently, and with the right balance between commercial opportunity and smart risk management.

What you’ll do:

• Lead negotiations for complex SaaS agreements with strategic enterprise, government, and public sector customers worldwide.
• Manage and mentor a high-performing contracting team supporting sales globally.
• Partner with sales leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to align on contracting strategies that unlock revenue while managing risk.
• Support and evolve our contracting approach for public sector and government customers, including compliance with procurement requirements and regulatory obligations.
• Partner with GTM teams to develop and refine contracting frameworks for our channel partner program.
• Create and continuously improve templates, playbooks, escalation paths, and guidance for the legal and sales teams.
• Advise on regulatory issues that impact sales contracts in different jurisdictions, including data privacy, AI regulations, and other emerging requirements.
• Collaborate with partners in Sales, Product, Finance, Security, Trust and Safety, and Privacy Legal to deliver contracting support and strategy for enterprise, public sector, and channel sales initiatives.
   

More about you:

• You are excited to roll up your sleeves, learn the business, and proactively identify opportunities and risks.
• You have experience navigating government contracting processes and requirements, and are familiar with channel partner sales models.
• You have a track record as a closer, enabling deals to get done quickly without unnecessary delays while managing risk effectively.
• You have excellent communication skills and can make complex concepts simple for diverse audiences.
• You are comfortable working with cross-functional and internationally distributed teams.
• You are pragmatic and business-minded, with the judgment to balance opportunity and protection.
• You are risk-aware, not risk-averse, and know how to make informed trade-offs in the moment.
• You are a collaborative team player with strong interpersonal skills and a collegial attitude.
• You can prioritize effectively and set clear expectations for stakeholders at all levels.

Minimum Required Skills:

• Law degree and admission to at least one state bar
• 10+ years of legal experience supporting technology companies, with 5 years in-house experience supporting enterprise SaaS sales.
• Leadership experience managing and coaching a contracts or legal team that supports a high-volume sales organisation.
• Direct experience with government contracting processes, procurement rules, and compliance requirements.
• Familiarity with channel partner contracting and related sales models.

What's in it for you?

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 learnt in the hiring process. The target salary range for this position is $226,000-$346,000. When calculating offers, we make salary decisions based on market data and candidates' skills and experience.

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
• Health benefits plans to support you and your wellbeing
• 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 supports you personally

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.

Other stuff to know

We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills, merit and business needs, in compliance with applicable local laws.

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!

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.

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.