Sub-Saharan Africa Content Strategy Lead (12 month contract)

Job description

Please note this is a 12 month contract and you will be paid a day rate. Join the team empowering the world to design Hey, g'day, mabuhay, kia ora, こんにちは, 你好, hallo, नमस्ते, 안녕하세요, hola, salut! At Canva, our mission is to empower the world to design—and we’re growing fast across the globe. With over 250 million monthly active users in over 190 countries, we’re on a mission to make Canva the most loved brand in the world. To support this ambition, we’re building a world-class marketing team that’s deeply local, highly creative, and relentlessly performance-focused. About the role Content moves Canva, and ensuring our content is a driver of growth is crucial. Just as we invest in strong business, marketing, sales, and product leaders in our priority markets, we need an equally strong voice in content. As the Sub-Saharan Africa Content Strategy Lead, you’ll partner closely with the Sub-Saharan Africa Country Manager to ensure Canva has the right strategic content from your country (or countries), owning content as a growth engine and adapting strategies to support MAU, retention, and revenue impact. You’ll work closely with the Sub-Saharan Design Lead to deliver content that drives business outcomes. You’ll also champion local relevance and trends that make international users feel Canva is for them, and work closely with country teams (SEO, Localisation, Creators, Product, Marketing) and regional stakeholders to ensure local content delivers high value and measurable impact. You’ll be coached and supported by a EMEA Content Strategy Lead, who will drive content strategy across the region. What you’ll do As a Content Strategy Lead, you bring expertise in strategy, content, business management, and cross-functional stakeholder management. In particular, you will: Content Strategy & Execution – Prioritise and execute country content strategy and growth levers, owning content health and production for your country to drive relevance, scale, and business impact. Content Quality & Relevance – Ensure that your country’s content meets Canva’s standards, resonates culturally, and supports strategic growth metrics. Feedback & Insights – Gather input from sales, partners, and local peers to refine content strategies and enhance Canva’s country impact. Discovery & Performance – Own your country’s content performance across discovery, editorial ensuring the right local content is surfaced through search, recommendations, and editorial, and optimised for engagement, activation, and retention. Editorial & Trends Leadership – Execute your country’s editorial strategy across surfaces (e.g. Showcases), identifying and activating cultural moments in partnership with Marketing, Social and PR. Cross-Functional Collaboration – Act as a strategic partner to Country Manager and country peers to align priorities, unblock execution, and drive content-led growth. Creator & Partner Engagement – In collaboration with your country community and partnerships managers, build relationships with local creators and partnerships to activate a thriving content ecosystem. What we're looking for We’re seeking a strategic thinker who thrives in fast-paced environments and can drive content impact within their market. They’ll take a pragmatic approach to content creation – working across multiple production streams (AIGC, creators, localisation, bespoke, and partnerships) to solve local content needs, improve efficiency, and scale what works. This role requires someone who can combine strong strategic thinking with a deep understanding of their local market — translating regional direction into actionable country-level plans, and working closely with Africa Design Leads to bring these to life. You should be someone who naturally gravitates toward solving problems, enjoys working with data to inform decisions, and can build strong relationships across cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate combines analytical rigour with cultural curiosity, demonstrating both the ability to shape country-level content strategy and to identify opportunities to scale what works through repeatable approaches, AI-supported workflows, and strong partnerships. 3-5+ years of experience in content strategy, regional business strategy and operations, partnerships, or similar roles within high-growth content, media or marketplace global technology companies. A deep understanding of content, trends, and aesthetics in your market (or markets), with a pulse on what resonates with local users. A proactive, solutions-driven approach, capable of balancing strategy with hands-on execution. Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to align cross-functional teams across regions. Experience working in fast-moving, dynamic environments, comfortable with ambiguity and change. Strong analytical skills to assess content performance and inform strategy adjustments. A track record of successfully managing production workflows, partnerships, and/ or supporting and activating local creators. Language skills and cultural knowledge relevant to your geographic market, with ability to work effectively across different time zones. What you’ll learn and how you’ll develop at Canva You'll gain deep exposure to all aspects of strategy and operations a high-growth technology company, from AI-powered content innovations to international expansion. Working closely with senior leadership across International and other supergroups, you'll develop advanced strategic thinking skills while learning how to scale operations and drive organisational change. You'll get hands-on experience with one of the most complex content ecosystems in tech, working on problems that don't have playbooks yet, and partnering with cross-functional groups across Canva to find solutions that impact millions of users. This is a role where your decision making and leadership will directly influence strategy, and you'll see your recommendations come to life in our product and shape the future of design. Through the Content Strategy speciality growth infrastructure and Canva’s professional development programs, you'll develop your sharp commercial instincts, data analysis proficiency, the ability to navigate ambiguity, and hands-on experience with emerging technologies. Most importantly, you'll work with people who are genuinely brilliant and kind, a rare combination that makes the hard problems worth solving, and sets you up for a career in strategy in the tech industry.