Program Manager - AI Product Ops

Location: Team Operations

Team: Country Sydney / Australia

About the Role

Join Canva's User Help Experience group within the User Voice organization, one of our most advanced AI product teams redefining agentic, AI-powered support like the Canva Help Assistant. As a Program Manager - AI Product Ops in our Operations team, you'll own and evolve our group-wide JIRA ecosystem, streamline delivery across 50+ cross-functional specialists in Engineering, Product, and Design, and scale operational excellence. Partnering with leadership, Technical Program Managers, and Data teams, you'll bring structure to complexity, connecting bold strategies to seamless execution in a fast-moving, innovative environment that thrives on collaboration and design-thinking. In this newly created role, you'll proactively orchestrate team rhythms—facilitating agile retrospectives, crafting discovery templates, and ensuring crystal-clear communication—to keep AI initiatives accelerating. Dive into data-driven reporting with Looker/Streamlit for forecasts and cost modeling, surface risks with actionable recommendations, and pilot AI automations that free creative minds for high-impact work. As the 'Chief Wrangler,' you'll align diverse teams, unblock hurdles, and champion transparency, embodying Canva's culture of empathy, boldness, and fun while helping leaders focus on visionary priorities. Thriving here means embracing our design-focused, collaborative spirit where change fuels excitement. With 5+ years in program management and deep JIRA/Agile expertise, you'll excel at the intersection of technology, data, and operations—visualizing insights, influencing stakeholders, and driving AI efficiency in a hybrid Sydney/Melbourne role. At Canva, you'll shape the future of user support at scale, surrounded by magic, connectivity, and equity in every breakthrough.

Key Responsibilities

• Scale operational excellence by orchestrating collaboration across engineering, product, design, and operations teams through clear communication, documentation in Confluence, discovery templates, agile retrospectives, and early issue escalation
• Action improvements from retrospectives and continuously evolve best practices to keep AI initiatives on track
• Partner with group leads to translate strategic goals into clear, actionable plans during planning cycles and support delivery across teams
• Own smaller initiatives or milestones to build scalable processes, documents, and presentations for diverse stakeholders
• Deliver regular data-driven reports and forecasts using Looker/Streamlit to inform leadership decisions on AI projects
• Set up experiment tracking, analysis, and reporting for key projects, including AI cost modeling and usage forecasts
• Surface delivery risks and recommend course-corrections, while identifying strategic opportunities to improve long-term metrics
• Act as the 'Chief Wrangler' to align teams, provide visibility, anticipate unblocks, and ensure invisible operational work gets done
• Identify and pilot AI-driven automation opportunities to reduce manual effort, enhance visibility, and free teams for high-impact work
• Facilitate cross-team project support to streamline JIRA ecosystem and boost delivery speed in AI product operations

Required Qualifications

• 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, and hands-on experience with Agile methodologies such as sprint planning and backlog management
• 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
• Advanced Excel analytics and familiarity with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Looker) to transform insights into actionable reports and projections

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in consulting or investment banking
• Curiosity or hands-on experience leveraging AI to drive automation and operational efficiency
• Experience optimizing delivery velocity in fast-paced product teams

Required Skills

• JIRA administration and optimization
• Confluence for documentation and knowledge sharing
• OKR and goal framework implementation
• Agile methodologies including sprint planning and retrospectives
• Cross-functional team coordination
• Stakeholder engagement and influence across engineering, product, design, and leadership
• Data reporting and forecasting with Looker/Streamlit
• Advanced Excel analytics
• Data visualization (Tableau, Looker)
• AI automation opportunity identification
• Clear communication and presentation skills
• Visualizing complex ideas for diverse audiences
• Proactive issue escalation and risk management
• Strategic scenario modeling for AI costs and usage
• Experiment tracking and analysis

Benefits

• Equity packages to share in Canva's success
• Inclusive parental leave policy supporting all parents and carers
• Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance for wellbeing, social connection, office setup, and more
• Flexible leave options to recharge and support personal needs
• Hybrid work model in Sydney or Melbourne with a preference for Sydney
• Collaborative culture in a design-focused, innovative environment
• Opportunities to work on cutting-edge AI-powered products like the Canva Help Assistant
• Access to world-class tools and resources in a high-growth tech company

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.