Business Development Representative, Public Sector

Canva • Austin, TX

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

As a Business Development Representative at Canva focused on Higher Education, you’ll help universities unlock creativity across their campuses. You’ll introduce Canva to educators, students, and administrators, showing how it can simplify workflows, enhance learning experiences, and bring ideas to life. This is an early-career role offering foundational sales skills, exposure to the customer lifecycle, and the opportunity to develop expertise in a fast-growing segment. You’ll partner closely with Account Executives and Customer Success Managers to grow adoption across institutions.

The role works with Sales teams to identify and pursue opportunities at higher education institutions, build pipeline through outbound outreach, understand universities’ priorities, and align Canva’s solutions to their needs. It also involves collaborating with marketing, product, and customer success teams on Public Sector campaigns and initiatives, learning sales strategies, using sales tools, and delivering against performance goals.

The flagship office is in Sydney, Australia, with US operations based in Austin, Texas. The team works in the office Tuesday through Thursday, with the option to work remotely or in the office on Mondays and Fridays. Interviews are conducted virtually.

Requirements

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including comfort speaking with new people and building relationships.
• Organization, strong time management, and attention to detail.
• Goal orientation and motivation to meet targets, learn quickly, and grow professionally.
• Interest in education, technology, or helping organizations work more creatively and efficiently.

Nice To Haves

• Recent graduate or early-career candidate excited to enter tech, sales, or startups.
• Experience with cold outreach, internships, campus leadership, or customer-facing roles.
• Familiarity with Salesforce or outreach platforms; training will be provided.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Sales teams to identify and pursue strategic opportunities within universities, colleges, and academic systems.
• Build pipeline through cold calling, emailing, social selling, and other outbound strategies, connecting with faculty, marketing teams, and campus leadership.
• Learn how universities operate and align Canva’s solutions with priorities such as student engagement, digital transformation, and accessibility.
• Develop in-depth knowledge of Canva’s platform and how it supports design, collaboration, and visual communication for students, educators, and staff.
• Work cross-functionally with marketing, product, and customer success teams to support Public Sector campaigns and initiatives.
• Apply sales strategies to connect Canva’s solutions to campus use cases, including presentations, coursework, branding, and internal communications.
• Use sales tools to build and manage pipeline.
• Meet weekly, monthly, and quarterly performance goals while continuing to learn and improve.
• Partner with Account Executives and Customer Success Managers to grow adoption across institutions.

Benefits

• Equity packages.
• Health benefits plans.
• 401(k) retirement plan with company contribution.
• Inclusive parental leave policy for parents and carers.
• Annual Vibe & Thrive allowance for wellbeing, social connection, office setup, and more.
• Flexible leave options.
• Hands-on training in sales, business development, and the SaaS industry.
• Clear career progression opportunities.
• Opportunity to work on projects that impact students and educators.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed