Canva Cuts or Reshuffles 1,271 People Under AI Pressure

Canva will reshuffle or lay off 1,271 people, equal to 22% of its workforce, as it reorganizes under mounting pressure from artificial intelligence (AI).

The decision, announced Tuesday, puts a measurable scale on the design platform’s response to intensifying competition. Rival tools are jostling for market share, AI costs continue to surge, and Canva’s backers have marked down its valuation (the value investors assign to it) in a series of downgrades this year.

The wider software industry is also operating in rocky macroeconomic conditions (the health of the wider economy), adding uncertainty as Canva changes nearly one-quarter of its workforce.

The executive at the center of that decision, CEO Melanie Perkins, described the shakeup in a blog post as “the hardest moment” in the company’s 13-year history. Her words carry the weight of a change reaching nearly one-quarter of staff. This is not a routine management tidy-up.

What changes inside Canva?

Canva will:

• Consolidate its product, growth and platform teams under one division.
• Cut certain specialist positions.
• Adopt a flatter management structure (fewer management layers).

The first change brings three functions into one division. That could reduce coordination gaps, although the announcement does not set out how the new operating model will work.

The other two changes carry more immediate consequences for employees. Cutting specialist positions and flattening management remove roles and management layers while changing reporting relationships across the company.

How does AI raise the stakes?

AI is both Canva’s biggest strategic bet and its biggest competitive threat, and the reorganization puts those forces in the same strategic picture. That tension is unusually blunt: the technology on which the company is placing its bet can also equip rivals to take share. The pressure is not abstract.

The market signal is already difficult. Competitor tools are jostling for share, and Canva’s valuation has been marked down several times this year by its backers. The software industry more broadly is dealing with rocky macroeconomic conditions, which adds operating uncertainty to a company already changing 22% of its workforce.

Some experts argue that Canva could still have a competitive advantage despite the headwinds. Consolidation gives one division responsibility for product, growth and platform work, while flatter management and specialist job cuts reduce organizational complexity. The trade-off is equally clear: the company is putting more weight on fewer roles at a moment when market and financial pressure are rising.

What does this change for marketing leaders?

For marketing leaders, the practical answer is organizational rather than an announced change to pricing, features or customer campaigns. Canva is centralizing the functions that shape product delivery and growth, but reducing specialist capacity and management layers. Teams using the platform should watch for any effects on release priorities, sales alignment and customer support.

The strategic takeaway is to treat AI as both a capability and a competitive threat. Marketing teams should ask where it changes production costs, campaign workflows and reliance on a design platform. They should also separate the immediate staffing decision from the longer-term strategic bet, because the announcement offers no forecast for pricing, features or customer support.

Canva’s reorganization therefore matters beyond the headlines about job cuts. It tests whether a 13-year-old design platform can protect its position while artificial intelligence raises the cost of competing. The benchmark will be execution: whether the consolidated product, growth and platform teams can move faster under a flatter structure as rivals press for market share.