Canva Slashes 1,271 Jobs as AI Redraws the Design Biz

Canva is shrinking fast. The design platform is cutting 1,271 jobs, roughly 22% of its global workforce, with co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins announcing the overhaul on November 4. The company is reorganising as growth slows and AI-powered design tools upend the market it built its name in.

Perkins didn't sugarcoat it. She described the decision as the hardest moment in Canva's 13-year history. The company says it's restructuring around AI rather than fighting the shift, a squeeze now hitting design and creative software from every angle.

Not everyone counted in the 1,271 is packing up. Some employees will move into new roles inside the company, others may be asked to relocate, and some will choose to walk away on their own. Canva framed the process as a reshuffle as much as a cut.

For those who do leave, the exit package is a fat one. Departing staff get at least six months of pay, the option to keep their MacBooks, a year of LinkedIn Premium, career support, and cash grants of $10,000. That's a softer landing than most tech layoffs offer.

The move lands less than two weeks after the announcement, and it makes Canva the latest name in a long line of creative and productivity companies trimming headcount while talking up AI. For a company that spent years scaling a friendly, everyone-can-design pitch, the cut signals a harder reset.

What comes next for Canva's remaining workforce isn't laid out beyond the restructuring. For now, the number that matters is 1,271 — and a CEO calling it her toughest call yet.