SEO Country Lead - Poland (12 month contract)

Location: Team Marketing

Team: Country Warsaw / Poland

About the Role

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design. Hello, hey, g'day! At Canva, we're empowering everyone in Poland to unleash their creative potential through intuitive design tools. As our SEO Country Lead - Poland (12-month contract), you'll spearhead a tailored SEO strategy to drive explosive growth, targeting 8-10% market penetration in the next 2-3 years. Embedded in our Warsaw-based Country team, you'll partner strategically with the Country Manager while contributing to Canva's global SEO engine via the Logged Out Experience (LOX) Group. This hybrid role blends strategic vision with hands-on execution in a collaborative, innovative culture where design meets data-driven growth. You'll own the full SEO funnel—technical foundations, culturally resonant content, and authority-building—leveraging Canva's proprietary platforms, top-tier tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, and a global support network of Regional SEO Leads, Technical SEOs, Product Managers, and Content Specialists. Build and scale a local SEO team of generalists, creators, and outreach experts, fostering ownership, curiosity, and open collaboration. Dive deep into Poland's search behaviors, platforms, and competitors to craft high-impact roadmaps, optimise for emerging AI discovery channels like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, and deliver measurable results in sessions, signups, and engagement. We're seeking a native Polish speaker with business-level English, proven SEO leadership across large projects, and a strategist-operator mindset. Thrive in Canva's fast-paced, design-focused environment by turning local insights into global wins, influencing cross-functionally, and experimenting boldly. If you're passionate about empowering creators through smarter discoverability, join us to shape Canva's international future—one beautifully optimised search result at a time.

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end SEO strategy for Poland across technical, content, and authority-building pillars
• Develop and execute a market-specific roadmap to achieve 8-10% market penetration in 2-3 years
• Build, hire, and lead a local SEO team including generalists, content creators, and outreach experts
• Conduct competitive analysis and user insights to identify high-ROI SEO opportunities
• Partner with localisation, design, and country teams to create culturally relevant, design-forward content
• Optimise technical SEO foundations like site speed, mobile, structured data, and hreflang
• Drive link-building through strategic outreach, partnerships, and authority growth
• Define KPIs linking SEO performance to business outcomes (sessions, signups, engagement)
• Monitor, report, and adapt strategies based on performance data and search evolution
• Experiment with AI search optimisation and share learnings with global SEO teams
• Embed as a strategic partner with the Country Manager and LOX Group
• Foster a collaborative, curious team culture aligned with Canva's innovative spirit

Required Qualifications

• Native Polish speaker with business-level English proficiency
• Deep understanding of Poland's search habits, cultural context, and digital landscape
• Proven experience leading large-scale SEO projects (500+ pages) across technical, content, and link-building pillars
• Strong expertise with SEO tools including GA, GSC, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, Deepcrawl, and Looker
• Experience building and leading high-performing SEO or content teams
• Ability to translate local market insights into global business strategies
• Track record of driving measurable business impact through SEO in fast-paced environments
• Based in Warsaw/Poland with availability for hybrid in-office collaboration

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience scaling SEO in international or emerging markets
• Familiarity with AI-driven search trends (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews)
• Background in design, creative tools, or consumer-facing products
• Hands-on experience with localisation, hreflang, and i18n technical SEO
• Prior work influencing cross-functional teams without formal authority
• Knowledge of Canva's ecosystem or similar visual design platforms

Required Skills

• SEO strategy and execution (technical, content, off-page)
• Market research and competitive analysis
• Team leadership and talent development
• Data analysis and KPI framework building
• Google Analytics (GA), Google Search Console (GSC)
• SEMrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, Deepcrawl
• Localisation and i18n technical SEO
• Link-building and outreach strategies
• Cross-functional collaboration and influence
• Storytelling with data for business impact
• AI search trends and experimentation
• Cultural adaptation for content creation
• Strategic roadmap development
• Performance monitoring and optimisation
• Problem-solving in ambiguous, fast-paced settings
• Clear communication in Polish and English

Benefits

• Join a world-class team at one of the fastest-growing visual design platforms
• Hybrid work model in Warsaw with flexible in-office collaboration
• 12-month contract with potential for extension in a high-impact growth role
• Access to Canva's proprietary design tools, SEO platforms, and leading analytics suite
• Global network support from Regional SEO Leads, Technical SEOs, and Content Specialists
• Professional development through coaching, capability building, and cross-functional partnerships
• Inclusive culture empowering everyone to design and innovate
• Dynamic environment redefining how the world experiences design
• Competitive contract compensation tailored to Polish market expertise

Canva is an equal opportunity employer.