Canva Is Hiring a Language Manager in Africa (12-Month Contract)

The Canva Language Manager Africa role is now open, offering language and localisation professionals a unique opportunity to shape how millions of users across Africa experience design. This 12-month contract position is focused on Johannesburg, South Africa, with flexible remote work options, making it ideal for candidates passionate about languages, culture, and global products.

As Canva continues to expand across Africa, this role plays a critical part in ensuring that users across the continent enjoy a culturally relevant and high-quality product experience.

About Canva

Canva is a global design platform redefining how people create, communicate, and collaborate visually. With users spanning nearly every country, Canva’s mission is to empower everyone to design—regardless of language, location, or background.

Moreover, Canva places strong emphasis on localisation, ensuring its platform feels natural and accessible to users worldwide. As a result, the company invests heavily in language quality, cultural relevance, and inclusive design experiences.

Where and How You’ll Work

Although Canva’s headquarters is based in Sydney, Australia, its teams operate globally. For this role, Canva is focusing on Johannesburg, South Africa, to ensure close collaboration with its African team.

However, employees can work remotely, allowing for flexibility while maintaining strong communication and workflow across teams. Contractor-accreditation interviews are conducted virtually, making the application process accessible from anywhere.

About the Language Manager Africa Role

As a Language Manager, Africa, you will act as the creative and linguistic hub for Canva’s African language content. In this role, you’ll bring deep cultural and linguistic expertise to Canva’s localisation strategy, ensuring consistency, clarity, and authenticity across the product.

In addition, you will support Canva’s branding and voice across 19 African languages, helping the platform resonate with users in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and beyond.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, you will:

• Work with the Localisation Lead to define Canva’s voice across African languages
• Translate key product and marketing content
• Manage relationships with localisation vendors
• Develop and update style guides and glossaries
• Review, evaluate, and improve translations
• Provide cultural insights and localisation guidance
• Identify opportunities for localisation improvements
• Review vendor translations and assess quality
• Source and evaluate new Language Service Providers (LSPs)
• Answer linguistic queries across teams
• Triage and assess scripted testing results

After six months, you will have established strong relationships with stakeholders across marketing, subscriptions, content, and localisation. Consequently, you’ll also create internal processes for content requests, copywriting, and translation best practices.

What Canva Is Looking For

Canva is seeking someone who is passionate about languages and cultures and understands how localisation affects user experience.

Core Requirements

• Strong understanding of African languages and cultures
• Familiarity with user needs in South Africa, Kenya, and/or Nigeria
• Fluency in South African languages and Swahili (preferred, not mandatory)
• Entrepreneurial mindset with strong ownership and initiative
• Ability to thrive in a small, fast-growing regional team

Rather than focusing strictly on years of experience, Canva values energy, adaptability, and a bias toward action.

Nice-to-Have Skills

Although not required, the following will be considered an advantage:

• Copywriting experience or maintaining a blog
• SaaS product localisation experience
• Expertise in CAT tools (Smartling preferred)
• Familiarity with tools like Braze, WordPress, and Canva
• Knowledge of SEO and organic growth
• Design experience or familiarity with design tools
• Tertiary education in linguistics, literature, or localisation

Why Work at Canva?

Working at Canva means joining a company that values creativity, diversity, and impact. Furthermore, you’ll contribute directly to making design more inclusive across Africa.

This role offers:

• Exposure to a global product used by millions
• The opportunity to shape African language localisation at scale
• Flexible, remote-friendly working conditions
• Collaboration with international teams

How to Apply

Interested candidates can apply directly through Canva’s official recruitment platform.

👉 Apply here

Applicants are encouraged to include their preferred pronouns and any reasonable adjustments needed during the contractor-accreditation process.