Senior Employment Counsel, Apac

Canva Canva · Enterprise · Melbourne, VIC, Australia · Legal

This is a Senior Employment Counsel role for the APAC region at Canva. The role involves providing strategic and practical advice on employment law matters, partnering with People teams and business leaders, and supporting workforce initiatives. It requires 6+ years of experience as a practicing employment lawyer, strong communication skills, and the ability to navigate ambiguity.

What you'd actually do

  1. Provide strategic, commercially pragmatic advice on employment law matters in Australia and across APAC more broadly
  2. Advise on day-to-day employment matters across Canva’s employee and contingent workforce, including performance management, exits, investigations, and regulatory issues
  3. Partner closely with People, Total Rewards, Finance and other key stakeholders to support Canva’s growth and evolving workforce model
  4. Contribute to the development, implementation and review of workplace policies, processes, guidance and templates
  5. Support and deliver training on employment-related topics

Skills

Required

  • Admitted to practice in Australia
  • 6+ years’ experience as a practising employment lawyer (in-house experience in a multinational environment is highly regarded)
  • Strong experience advising HR/People teams and business leaders on a broad range of employment matters
  • Confidence navigating ambiguity and balancing legal risk with commercial pragmatism
  • Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate complex legal concepts into practical solutions
  • High level of integrity, professionalism, intellectual curiosity and willingness to grow

Nice to have

  • in-house experience in a multinational environment

What the JD emphasized

  • 6+ years’ experience as a practising employment lawyer