Founders Associate, North America Reports to: Chris Berry, Managing Director, North America Location: Vancouver, Canada, Hybrid Compensation: CAD $70,000 to $110,000 base, plus equity, depending on experience Were up to something big.

Zens mission is to fully staff classrooms, so all children can thrive and educators avoid burnout.

We do this by combining a product that schools and educators love with a hard-working, education-obsessed team.

Since launching in North America, weve been growing 4x year over year.

That kind of growth creates hard, complex, urgent problems across the business.

Were now looking for a Founders Associate, North America to work closely with our leadership team as we scale.

This is a role for someone energized by these challenges.

Someone who can move quickly, create clarity from ambiguity, and turn rapid growth into better systems, sharper decisions, and stronger execution.

The right person will be able to operate at both altitude and ground level, shaping strategy, doing sharp analysis, and getting deep into frontline processes when that is what the business needs.

Why Zen There is a staffing crisis in education.

Too many teachers are leaving the profession, not enough are coming in, and school leaders are being forced to manage daily staffing gaps with limited budgets and limited visibility.

Thats why Zen exists.

Were building a better way for schools to find, vet, and manage temporary educators.

Our platform gives school leaders more control, more transparency, and better access to great educators, while helping reduce wasted spend in education.

Zen is now a 500+ person team operating across the UK, US, and Canada.

Were venture backed, well funded, and building toward a national rollout across North America.

Were also a certified B Corporation, which matters to us.

It reflects the company we are trying to build: one that grows quickly, performs exceptionally, and stays deeply accountable to schools, educators, children, and the communities we serve.

Were trying to do really well by doing good.

Why this role exists Were scaling fast, and the work is outrunning the org chart.

Youll work directly with the North American leadership team, owning the operating cadence, driving key cross-functional projects, and jumping on problems that do not yet have a clear owner.

It is a broad remit by design.





The business needs someone who can move fast across functions, bring structure to ambiguity, and make important work happen.

Youll report to Chris Berry, Managing Director, North America, who made a similar move from consulting into startup revenue and operations.

That means youll get close coaching from someone who understands the transition and will push you to grow quickly.

What youll do No two days will be the same.

You might be working on things like: - Partnering with leadership to refine strategy and priorities - Driving projects across Growth, Operations, Customer Success, Finance, and People - Supporting new market launches and commercial rollout plans - Building the operating cadence, dashboards, and decision-making systems we need to scale - Turning ambiguous problems into clear plans, owners, and outcomes - Jumping into urgent business problems when there is no obvious owner yet The pace will be high.

The work will be hands-on.

The ownership will be real.

What were looking for Were looking for someone early in their career with exceptional slope.

This is likely a fit for someone with 2 to 5 years of experience in consulting, investing, startups, strategy, operations, finance, marketplaces, revenue, or another demanding analytical or generalist environment.

This is an ideal role for someone looking to move from a generalist, high-performance environment into startup leadership.

We care less about the exact path you have taken than your slope, judgment, and evidence that you can ramp quickly, take ownership, and operate well in fast-moving environments.

You do not need to have done a role like this before, but you do need to have shown that you can take on hard problems, create clarity and momentum, and drive real outcomes.

Traits that usually correlate with success in this role: - Relentless drive to deliver outcomes - Endless curiosity - Strong analytical judgment - Clear, logical,



compelling communication - High ownership - Low ego - Comfort with ambiguity - Ability to influence senior stakeholders - Excitement to move between strategy and hands-on execution - Genuine care for the mission, not just the title No one at Zen is above the work, and that is especially true for the Founders Associate.

This is not a role for someone who wants a narrow lane.

It is a role for someone who wants to be trusted with some of the most important problems in the business and help solve them.

What you might like or dislike We move quickly.

Priorities can change.

Youll often be working with imperfect information, and the business will still need a decision.

We value ownership.

Youll be expected to notice what is broken, figure out what matters, bring structure to the work, and help get things done.

Youll get a lot of exposure to senior leaders, important decisions, and how the business really works.

That also means the expectations will be high.

For the right person, this will be quick, fun, and career-accelerating.

For the wrong person, it will feel too ambiguous, too broad, and too intense.

Growth and progression Choose your own adventure, then earn it.

Youll work across the organization and be well positioned to move into a more senior role over time.

That could be in operations, strategy, commercial, general management, or something else entirely.

But this is not a fixed ladder with a guaranteed next step.

The combination of business need and your ability to step into it will determine what comes next.

Compensation CAD $70,000 to $110,000 base, depending on experience, plus equity.

We reward people who take on more and deliver more.

Interested? Lets go.

If this sounds like the right level of exciting, apply or reach out.

And if youre not sure you tick every box, but this sounds like the kind of work youre built for, reach out anyway.

Lets build something that actually matters.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses.

These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment.

Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.

If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

📌 Founders Associate, North America (Vancouver)
🏢 Zen Educate
📍 Vancouver