Program Manager - AI Help Experience at Canva

Where and how you can work Our flagship campus is in Sydney, with a growing presence in Melbourne. This will be a hybrid role either in Sydney or Melbourne, with a preference for Sydney. About the Group You’ll be joining AI Help Experience, part of Canva’s User Voice org, and is one of our most advanced AI product teams. The group designs and builds the next generation of agentic, AI-powered support experiences such as the Canva Help Assistant that help users instantly find answers and solve problems on their own. The group is home to 50+ cross-functional specialists across Engineering, Product, and Design, all working together to redefine what AI-first support looks like at scale. About the Role This newly created role will own and evolve our group-wide JIRA ecosystem, streamline delivery across teams, and scale operational excellence across Engineering, Product, and Design, and proactively identify AI-driven automation opportunities within the group. You’ll partner closely with AI Help Experience Leadership team, Technical Program Managers, Operation Business Partners, and Data teams to bring structure to complexity connecting strategy to execution and helping teams move faster, smarter, and with greater impact. We’re looking for a Program Manager who thrives at the intersection of technology, data, and operations, bringing rhythm and clarity to fast-moving, AI-powered teams. You’ll play a key role in how the User Help Experience group operates, freeing leaders to focus on strategic priorities while improving transparency, alignment, and delivery speed across AI-driven initiatives. What you’d be doing in this role • Scale operational excellence: Proactively orchestrate collaboration across engineering, product, design and operations specialties — such as facilitating clear communication for delivery updates, clear documentation in confluence, discovery templates for discovery, facilitate agile retrospectives, and escalate early issue escalation to keep initiatives on track. Action improvements from retrospectives and continuously improve best practices across teams. • Cross-team project & delivery support: Partner with group leads to translate scope of goal candidates into clear, actionable plans and goals during planning — while working with teams to see through their delivery across teams. This role may also own smaller initiatives or milestones to build out scalable processes, documents and presentations for diverse stakeholders. • Data reporting, projections & strategic opportunities: Deliver regular data‑driven reports and forecasts in Looker/Streamlit to inform group leadership decisions. For this they will help setup experiment tracking, analysis, and reporting of key projects across the group (e.g. costs modelling for AI impact). This role will surface delivery and scoping risks to recommend course‑corrections to teams, as well as strategic opportunities that improve our metrics in the long-term, such as building various scenario models to forecast AI cost and usage. • Generalist with can-do-attitude: Acts as the “Chief Wrangler”, aligning teams and providing visibility. They jump where needed to anticipate and unblock initiatives, while selflessly making sure the invisible work gets done. • Identify and pilot AI-driven automation opportunities that reduce manual effort, improve visibility, and free teams to focus on high-impact work. You're probably a match if you have 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. • 5+ years in program or project management, product operations, Chief of Staff or strategy roles — ideally within Big Tech, high-growth SaaS, or startup environments. • Deep expertise in JIRA, Confluence, OKR/goal frameworks, Hands-on experience with Agile methodologies such as sprint planning, and backlog management to optimise delivery velocity in working with product teams is a plus. • Proven track record of coordinating cross-functional teams and initiatives, driving operational cadences, and delivering strategic projects on time and within scope. • Experience working closely with Product, Engineering, and Design teams, bringing alignment across disciplines to deliver shared outcomes. • Strong communicator: able to visualize complex ideas, create data visualizations, and present clear recommendations to stakeholder audiences. • Skilled in stakeholder engagement and influence, building rapport quickly across engineering, product, design, and leadership levels. • Hands on experience leveraging AI to drive automation and operational efficiency, exploring new ways to streamline workflows and improve delivery. • Advanced Excel analytics and familiarity with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Looker) to transform insights into backable reports and projections that will inform our strategy. Background in consulting or investment banking is a plus. 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 range 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. 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! Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.