Assistant Controller

Job Description

Join the team redefining how the world experiences design
Hey, g’day, mabuhay, kia ora, 你好, hallo, vítejte!
Thanks for stopping by. We know job hunting can be a little time-consuming and you’re probably keen to find out what’s on offer, so we’ll get straight to the point.
Where and how you can work
Our flagship office is in Sydney, Australia, but we’ve made our way from down under, to a hub in San Francisco, which is now home to our US operations. We offer flexibility in how and where you work. We trust our Canvanauts to choose the balance that empowers them and their team to achieve their goals.
What you’d be doing in this role
As Canva scales, change continues to be part of our DNA. But we like to think that’s all part of the fun. So this will give you the flavor of the type of things you’ll be working on when you start, but this will likely evolve.
As Assistant Controller, you will be the owner of our core accounting activities and will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of historical financials. This role will be integral to achieving a best-in-class future state quarterly close process, uplifting the accuracy and quality of our historical financials, supporting robust financial analysis, and a strong controls framework. As a key member of the Accounting leadership team, you will lead global teams across Revenue Accounting, Corporate Accounting (Including Regional), and Payroll.
At the moment, the role is focused on:

• Being the key owner of Canva’s historical financials ensuring their accuracy and completeness, overseeing core accounting and operational activities, month/quarter end close processes, general ledger controllership, variance & flux analysis, balance sheet reconciliations, and other relevant responsibilities.
• Ensuring compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Leading a team of 50+ Canvanauts across Revenue Accounting, Payroll, and Corporate Accounting (including Regional Accounting).
• Drive the strategy and journey of change within these teams, influencing the structure and processes to be best in class for a maturing Finance function.
• Partnering with the Reporting and Policy team on technical accounting issues and ensuring timely financial reporting.
• Create and implement plans to enhance and reduce the timeline of the quarterly close process, building net new future state processes and reporting.
• Champion automation and efficiency across the Accounting team to scale with Canva’s growth, bringing a fresh perspective on what best-in-class looks like.
• Continuing to evaluate, develop, implement, and maintain a system of robust internal control policies and procedures across the Accounting organization as well as its upstream dependencies.
• Partner closely with FP&A, Tax, and other Accounting Leads to ensure seamless collaboration on close activities and financial reporting.
• Coordinating with cross-functional teams to support business initiatives and achieve all Accounting, Finance, and Company-level goals.
• Support external audit teams to ensure timely completion, understand where improvements can be made, and incorporate these into an overall process improvement strategy.

You’re probably a match if you have:

• Extensive experience in Accounting, ideally as an Assistant Controller / Controller in a mid to large-cap US public tech company, enterprise SaaS experience a big plus.
• Proven success in accelerating quarter-end close timelines and evolving processes to meet best-in-class company requirements and a robust control environment.
• Exposure to global accounting operations and activities, finance ERPs such as Netsuite, and other associated finance systems.
• A collaborative leadership style, strong coaching and mentorship skills, fostering a culture of high performance and continuous improvement at all levels.
• Experience leading large global teams through change. Ability to roll up sleeves, not phased about getting into the details with teams where needed.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with and influence stakeholders, including senior and external.
• Pre and post-IPO experience is a strong plus, with a focus on uplifting processes and building net new activities, automation, and process improvement.
• Experience with developing and maintaining a robust control environment, in particular in line with the Sarbanes-Oxley framework.
• Strong understanding of US GAAP, with ASC 606 and IFRS experience preferred.
• Exposure to technical accounting, and SEC reporting to be able to partner closely with our Reporting and Accounting Policy team.

About the Finance Group
At Canva, our Finance team plays a pivotal role in driving Canva’s success by ensuring our financial systems, processes, and reporting are efficient and effective. As we continue our rapid growth, the Accounting group is key in providing accurate and timely financial information, supporting Canva’s mission to empower the world to design.
Our team is dedicated to scaling with Canva, driving automation, and improving processes to allow for sustainable growth while staying aligned with our company goals and operating as a mature and best-in-class function.
What’s in it for you?
Achieving our crazy big goals motivates us to work hard – and we do – but you’ll experience lots of moments of magic, connectivity, and fun woven throughout life at Canva, too. We also offer a range of benefits to set you up for every success in and outside of work.
Here’s a taste of what’s on offer:

• Equity packages – we want our success to be yours too
• Health benefits plan to support you and your wellbeing
• 401(k) retirement plan with company contribution
• Inclusive parental leave policy that supports all parents & carers
• An annual Vibe & Thrive allowance to support your wellbeing, social connection, office setup & more
• Flexible leave options that empower you to be a force for good, take time to recharge, and support you personally

Check out lifeatcanva.com for more info.
At Canva we value fairness, and we strive to provide competitive, market-informed compensation whilst ensuring internal equity within the team in each region. We make hiring decisions based on your skills, experience, and our overall assessment of what we observed and learned in the hiring process. The salary range for this position is $263,000 to $397,000. When calculating offers, we make salary decisions based on market data and candidates’ skills and experience.
Other stuff to know
We make hiring decisions based on your experience, skills, and passion, as well as how you can enhance Canva and our culture. When you apply, please tell us the pronouns you use and any reasonable adjustments you may need during the interview process.
We celebrate all types of skills and backgrounds at Canva so even if you don’t feel like your skills quite match what’s listed above – we still want to hear from you!
Please note that interviews are conducted virtually.
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