Senior Commercial Counsel

Canva Canva · Enterprise · London, United Kingdom · Legal

Canva is seeking a Senior Commercial Counsel in London to join their Commercial Legal team. The role involves reviewing and negotiating commercial agreements, supporting contracting approaches for various customer segments including government and regulated industries, and handling international transactions. The counsel will also provide legal support to GTM teams, stay updated on relevant laws like data privacy and AI regulations, and contribute to legal team resources and process improvements. The ideal candidate will have significant in-house experience at a fast-paced tech company, with expertise in SaaS transactions and AI terms, and a pragmatic, solutions-driven approach.

What you'd actually do

  1. Review, draft, and negotiate commercial agreements with customers, and channel partners.
  2. Support and evolve our contracting approach across a range of customer segments, including government, higher education institutions, and highly regulated industries. Support partner-led and channel transactions, including negotiating flowdown terms with resellers and other channel partners.
  3. Support international and cross-border transactions across Canva’s group companies, including working with customers and partners in multiple jurisdictions and navigating local legal and regulatory considerations.
  4. Respond promptly to legal questions and requests from stakeholders across Sales and Success, Finance, Deal Desk and other teams.
  5. Keep current on relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards, including data privacy, AI regulations, and other regulatory requirements relevant to enterprise and commercial contracts.

Skills

Required

  • Qualified to practice law in a relevant EMEA jurisdiction (e.g. UK or EU member state)
  • 8+ years of in-house experience, primarily at a SaaS or fast-growth tech company.
  • hands-on experience reviewing and negotiating a variety of contracts at a fast-paced technology company, including enterprise SaaS transactions, AI terms, and DPAs.
  • deliver timely, practical advice that is calibrated to risk, deal structure, and internal policy
  • excellent communication skills and can make complex communications simple.
  • comfortable participating in cross-functional and internationally distributed teams.
  • experience supporting international or cross-border transactions, ideally within EMEA or other multi-jurisdictional environments.
  • collaborative team player with strong interpersonal skills and a collegial, solutions-driven attitude.
  • comfortable getting on the phone with customers and vendors.
  • able to prioritise and effectively set and balance expectations.
  • pragmatism and agility required to meet the needs of the business each day.

Nice to have

  • Knowledge and understanding of Canva and/or SaaS offerings.
  • Experience using contracting tools (e.g. Ironclad and DocuSign).
  • Demonstrated interest or experience in using AI tools in a legal or operational setting.
  • Additional language skills (e.g. German and/or French) are highly valued
  • familiar with, or willing to learn, the fundamentals of how GenAI works in order to apply that knowledge in supporting sales contracts

What the JD emphasized

  • AI regulations
  • AI terms
  • GenAI