Payroll Specialist, Zen Educate
CA$75-83k
3 days a week in office
Education recruitment platform
Be an early applicant
Education recruitment platform
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
CA$75-83k
3 days a week in office
201-500 employees
Company mission
To make a positive impact and bring about meaningful change within the education recruitment sector.
Role
Who you are
- We need someone who thrives on ownership, is great at building efficient systems, and can confidently navigate the financial requirements of a business growing at pace
- We want someone who has great attention to detail who is passionate about delivering the best experience to our educators
- You’re hands-on and love getting into the detail
- You’ve worked across jurisdictions, including US payroll and tax
- You seek to improve and automate, not just maintain
- You communicate clearly and confidently with stakeholders at all levels
- Adaptability and a tech-friendly mindset are more important
- Specific payroll system experience is not required, but experience using large scale payroll software is an asset
- A love of (and strong skills in) Excel is essential!
What the job involves
- We’re looking for a Payroll Specialist based in Vancouver who brings strong financial and payroll experience in both the US and Canada
- As we rapidly grow across the UK and US, finance is playing an increasingly strategic role
- Own payroll for our educators in the US and our internal team in US and Canada. WE pay c. 2100 educators each week
- Ensuring compliance; all payroll deductions, filings, and reporting are compliant with both US and Canadian labor laws and tax regulations
- Respond to educator inquiries regarding payroll-related issues, including pay discrepancies, deductions, and tax withholdings
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to support our educators
- Improve and streamline processes, from payroll to invoicing
Application process
- Initial chat – A quick screen to align expectations and answer questions
- Secondary chat - with Annie, our Head of Finance in the US
- Interview with Annie, our Head of Finance in the US and one other team member plus technical task (in person in our office in Vancouver) – A session to walk through your career to date, past challenges and how you’d approach real Zen scenarios
- Final values-based conversation – With a member of leadership to discuss mindset, alignment, and growth goals
Our take
With UK schools under immense financial pressure, Zen Educate is providing a smarter approach to education staffing. Recruitment in schools often relies on inefficient and expensive practices. Zen Educate is focused on tackling the pain points in the industry and providing a way to ensure schools get the best teachers possible.
It provides an online platform as an alternative to recruitment agencies, which is the only online platform accredited by the UK's Department of Education, helping schools fill staffing needs quickly and cost-effectively. Schools using the platform have reportedly saved 20-30% on supply cover costs.
On top of this, the company has also raised significant funding to support acquisitions in the UK and the US, plus the expansion of its operations and offering.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Aug 2025
$17.7m
SERIES B
May 2024
$37m
SERIES B
Total funding: $104.7m
Company benefits
- Macbook and tech equipment provided
- Regular "lunch 'n' learns" every month on a range of topics
- Investment in your professional development
- Regular socials
- Ownership in the company
- Pension scheme
Company values
- Commit to the mission- We commit to our mission, our customers, and our teams. We work hard because we care more
- Choose greatness over comfort- Greatness and comfort rarely coexist. We seek greatness. We understand success takes grit & determination so we seek colleagues that possess it
- Act like an owner- We all take responsibility for driving the company forward and making it a success. If we see something that could be better, we fix it. We offer stock options to all employees
- Help each other be better- Every person at Zen is someone we can respect and learn from
- A culture of trust- We hire people who are great at their jobs and we let them get on with it while being there to lend a hand when needed
- Challenge the status quo- We take action when we can see opportunities for improvement. We are in it to make our customers' lives better and to fix a broken system
- Embrace learning over perfection- We make decisions quickly and we don't hesitate. We may disagree with a decision, but we support the team and the mission by committing to it. We embrace making unknowable mistakes and learning from them
Company HQ
HQ, London
Articles
Leadership
Slava Kremerman
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously a member of the Leadership Team at Nutmeg a FS startup, they also worked at Barclays and Aon.
Oren Cohen
(Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer)Ran the UK office of Optimizely, a Silicon Valley tech company. Prior to this, they worked at G-STAT and Intel.
Salary benchmarks
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Zen Educate
- At Zen, we strive to build a culture of equity and inclusion, where everyone is respected, valued and appreciated for their unique traits, experiences and perspectives. We are committed to creating a safe, inclusive and equitable environment where our team can thrive, regardless of age, ethnicity, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, religion or beliefs. We value our differences and believe that practices of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion help us create a fairer, more compassionate environment for all
- We welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds and different experiences and perspectives — just like the staff who teach through Zen and the children at the schools we work with. We believe in hiring the best people from the widest pool and creating an inclusive culture where people’s voices are heard and all our team can look forward to coming to work
- We are committed to building a team that reflects the diversity of our community and promoting an equitable and inclusive environment for all. We seek out diverse opinions, beliefs, and experiences because they collectively make us stronger; we’ve had former teachers, pilots, fundraisers, engineers, lawyers, marketers, social media experts and more join our team
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