Senior Lead, Design Research
Canva
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Remote
Location: Remote • 🇦🇺 Australia
Visit company websiteJob Level
Senior
About the role
- Lead, mentor, and grow the Design Research team—building research capability, fostering psychological safety, and developing consistent standards of excellence across evaluative and generative methods
- Craft and lead a design research strategy that informs product vision, company goals, and long-term opportunities in an AI era
- Drive streams of work to find and fix user issues across Canva’s product surfaces
- Enable product teams to confidently conduct their own research through training, templates, and shared frameworks
- Evolve the Design Research sub specialty by strengthening methodologies, elevating craft standards, and integrating AI-assisted techniques that improve speed, quality, and scale
- Set and maintain a quality bar for design research - both via hands-on research, and coaching, training, processes, and oversight
- Define and measure research success metrics
- Define and manage the research tool ecosystem - including AI-enabled platforms that improve insight generation, collaboration, and organisational understanding
Requirements
- Seasoned leader with deep expertise across generative, evaluative, and mixed-methods research
- Motivated by shaping product strategy, elevating research craft, and integrating emerging AI capabilities into meaningful practice
- AI research native, consistently learning and evolving skills as fast as the technology is unlocking capabilities
- Skilled leader to ensure the team has the right strategy, quality bar, and delivery
- Passionate about using research to drive business and product strategy to delight our community, from the most high level strategy all the way to specific product details
- Strong stakeholder management and communications skills to partner with senior leaders and ICs across Product, Design, Engineering, and Data
- Force multiplier to amplify the impact of research by unlocking Product teams across Canva to conduct their own research
Benefits
- 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
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
design researchgenerative researchevaluative researchmixed-methods researchAI-assisted techniquesresearch strategyresearch success metricsresearch methodologiesinsight generationcollaboration frameworks
Soft skills
leadershipmentoringpsychological safetystakeholder managementcommunicationstrategic thinkingteam buildingquality assurancetrainingcoaching