‘Sad and devastated’: Canva cuts hit staff and Australian tech overall

November 4, 2026 — 4:11pm

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Dunja Popovs woke up on Wednesday to the news that she was one of the 22 per cent of design software maker Canva’s workers losing their job.

“Truthfully, I am sad and devastated, but I’m also extremely grateful that I ever had the opportunity in the first place,” Popovs, who led a team of content designers at Canva, wrote on LinkedIn.

Her plan for now is “a whole lot of gardening”, then to start hunting for a new job.

Canva chief executive Melanie Perkins told staff on Wednesday that 1271 people would be affected by a restructuring, aimed at resetting the business after growth started to slow this year.

Some will lose their jobs. Others will be asked to relocate or will find their roles rewritten. The timing was brutal: the news arrived a day after the Reserve Bank lifted rates to an 18-year-high. Anyone who has tried to get hired in tech knows not much happens between now and Australia Day.

The news took me back to April, when I saw Canva close its biggest product launch ever in a Los Angeles football stadium with engineers in gold plastic crowns playing Ode to Joy on........

© The Sydney Morning Herald