Business Development Representative

About the Role

As a Business Development Representative at Canva focused on Higher Education, you'll play a key role in helping 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 a launchpad role — you’ll build foundational sales skills, gain exposure to the full customer lifecycle, and develop expertise in one of Canva’s fastest-growing segments. You’ll partner closely with Account Executives and Customer Success Managers to grow adoption across institutions and make a real impact in education.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate closely with Sales teams to identify and pursue strategic opportunities within Higher Education institutions (universities, colleges, and academic systems).
• Build pipeline through outbound strategies like cold calling, emailing, and social selling — connecting with stakeholders such as faculty, marketing teams, and campus leadership.
• Learn how universities operate, including key priorities like student engagement, digital transformation, and accessibility, and align Canva’s solutions to those needs.
• Gain in-depth knowledge of Canva’s platform and how it empowers students, educators, and staff to design, collaborate, and communicate visually.
• Work cross-functionally with marketing, product, and customer success teams to support campaigns and initiatives tailored to the Public Sector.
• Learn and apply sales strategies that connect Canva’s solutions to real-world use cases on campus (presentations, coursework, branding, internal communications, and more).
• Utilize tools like Salesforce, Pocus, Outreach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, and Gong to build and manage pipeline.
• Deliver on weekly, monthly, and quarterly performance goals while continuously learning and improving.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Salesforce
• Pocus
• Outreach
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• ZoomInfo
• Gong

Qualifications

• You’re a recent graduate or early in your career, excited to break into tech, sales, or startups.
• You have a strong interest in education, technology, or helping organizations work more creatively and efficiently.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills — you’re comfortable talking to new people and building relationships.
• Organized with strong time management skills and attention to detail.
• Goal-oriented and motivated by hitting targets, learning quickly, and growing your career.
• Experience with cold outreach, internships, campus leadership, or customer-facing roles is a plus.
• Familiarity with tools like Salesforce or outreach platforms is helpful but not required — we’ll teach you.

For Recent Grads Especially, This Role Offers

• Hands-on training in sales, business development, and the SaaS industry.
• Clear career progression opportunities (many of our BDRs grow into Account Executive and leadership roles).
• The chance to work on meaningful projects that impact students and educators.