Canva is restructuring operations affecting 1,271 employees, or 22% of its workforce, as the Australian design software company confronts its first growth slowdown in a decade amid intensifying competition from artificial intelligence tools.
The changes announced this week include layoffs, relocation requests and reassignment of responsibilities. Canva has not disclosed how many employees will lose their jobs, making the number affected by the restructuring distinct from the number being laid off.
Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins outlined the overhaul in a memo to employees, saying the company needed to reorganize to prepare for its next phase of growth. Canva is combining its Product, Growth and Platform teams into a single organization, eliminating management layers and broadening responsibilities across smaller teams.
“This has been our hardest year yet, and as we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade,” Perkins wrote in the memo, published by Business Insider.
The restructuring comes as Canva faces a changing market for creative software. Image generation and presentation tools from OpenAI, Google and other AI developers increasingly allow users to produce designs through natural-language instructions, creating new competition for specialized software platforms.
Canva has responded by introducing AI-powered design features and developing some of its own AI models to reduce dependence on third-party providers. But the economics remain challenging. The company lowered its 2026 revenue growth forecast to 20% from 30% amid rising AI costs, according to TechCrunch.
The company did not cite AI as the direct cause of the layoffs in its restructuring announcement.
Under the new structure, Canva will merge three divisions into one product organization and consolidate overlapping responsibilities. The company says the changes are intended to reduce handoffs between teams and give employees clearer accountability for projects.
Canva also plans to concentrate more product teams in Sydney, requiring some employees to consider relocation. Beginning in January, most employees on hybrid schedules will be expected to work from an office two or three days a week, depending on their roles and locations.