AI Research Lead - Generative AI

Summary

Join Canva's growing team and lead a team of research scientists focused on AI-powered features. As Research Lead, you will set strategic research direction, coach your team to deliver impactful scientific contributions, and ensure research translates into meaningful product capabilities. You will bridge foundational model innovation with real-world deployment across Canva's platform. This hands-on leadership role requires passion for cultivating talent, shaping a research vision, and partnering cross-functionally. The role involves coaching and mentoring a high-performing team, setting research strategy, guiding technical direction, partnering cross-functionally to ensure research translates into product impact, and representing Canva in the global AI community. The position offers flexibility in working location within Australia or New Zealand.

Requirements

• Lead research or applied science teams, with a strong track record of coaching and impact
• Possess expert knowledge and experience with GANs, Diffusion Models, VAEs, and Autoregressive Models
• Be deeply skilled in ML, AI, or foundational model development and training —and still enjoy being hands-on
• Excel at translating cutting-edge research into practical, scalable solutions
• Bring strategic thinking and scientific rigour to project direction and problem solving
• Thrive in collaborative environments and communicate clearly with technical and non-technical audiences
• Stay current with research trends and are energised by continuous learning

Responsibilities

• Coach and mentor a high-performing team of research scientists
• Set research strategy in alignment with Canva’s AI and product goals
• Guide technical direction across foundational model development, experimentation, and evaluation
• Partner cross-functionally to ensure research translates into product impact
• Represent Canva in the global AI community through publications, talks, or open-source contributions

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, home office setup & more
• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge and supports you personally