Payroll Specialist

Zen Educate; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading educational technology firm in Vancouver is seeking a Payroll Specialist to handle compliance and payroll for educators across the US and Canada. The ideal candidate has strong financial expertise, is detail-oriented, and enjoys streamlining processes. This full-time role offers a hybrid work setup and opportunities for growth within a rapidly expanding company.

Qualifications

• Strong financial and payroll experience in both the US and Canada.
• Great attention to detail and passion for delivering the best experience.
• Hands-on approach to improve and automate payroll processes.

Responsibilities

• Own payroll for educators and internal teams in US and Canada.
• Ensure compliance with US and Canadian labor laws.
• Respond to educator inquiries regarding payroll-related issues.

Skills

Data Entry

Microsoft Excel

Accounting

Payroll

Tools

Xero

Paychex

QuickBooks

ADP

Job description

Location

Location: Hybrid (Remote and Vancouver Office)

Type

Type: Full-time

Compensation

Compensation: CAD dependent on experience.

About the Role

About the Role

Hi I’m Anna CFO at Zen Educate. 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. 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.

About Zen

Zen Educate is a technology company that matches schools with temporary educator staff. Our mission is to change the world of education recruitment. Schools spend over $9bn a year on temporary educators with over $2bn per year of that spent on fees that take money out of the education system. By leveraging the latest technology we purpose-built a platform that helps schools to pay less while educators earn more.

We want students to have access to the best education possible and we go the extra mile to find onboard, match and coach incredible educators that deeply care about their students. We wake up every day on a mission to care more. We care more about our schools. And we care more about our is your chance to make a difference and join a high-growth tech startup on the ground floor. We are a collaborative company and the career growth opportunities are endless if you are someone willing to dive in, be entrepreneurial and do whatever is needed to get the job done. We are passionate about learning and development and will invest in both your personal and professional growth.

We have recently raised our Series B funding of $37mil, the largest round in European EdTech this year. This is an exciting opportunity to make a difference and be part of a high-growth start-up that is expanding rapidly in the UK and US markets!

What Were Looking For

We want someone who has great attention to detail who is passionate about delivering the best experience to our educators. Some traits that define success in this role:

• You’re hands-on and love getting into the detail
• You’ve worked across jurisdictions, ideally including US payroll and tax
• You seek to improve and automate, not just maintain
• You communicate clearly and confidently with stakeholders at all levels.

What Youll Be Doing

1. Own payroll for our educators in the US and our internal team in US and Canada. We pay c. 1500 educators each week.
2. Ensuring compliance; all payroll deductions, filings and reporting are compliant with both US and Canadian labor laws and tax regulations
3. Respond to educator inquiries regarding payroll-related issues including pay discrepancies, deductions and tax withholdings
4. The face of finance to the Schools we support in the US. Dealing with invoice queries.
5. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to support our educators
6. Improve and streamline processes from payroll to invoicing

Tools & Systems

We use Xero as our accounting system. Familiarity with it is helpful but not required; adaptability and a tech-friendly mindset are more important.

A love of Excel is essential!

Growth & Career Path

We value impact over titles. The US business is growing fast and as the second permanent hire in the finance team in the US you will have plenty of opportunity to grow. We’ll support your development with honest feedback, flexibility and clear progression criteria.

Our Culture

• Our finance team is distributed across the UK, Europe and North America. Even though we are not all physically together, we are a tight knit team and work closely and collaboratively.
• We’re still building. You’ll help shape systems, not just maintain them.
• Diversity and inclusion matter and we’re still learning how to do better. If you’d be the first of something on our team we want to support you.

What the Team Say

One of the most rewarding parts of working in finance at Zen is how embedded we are in the business. It’s not just about numbers; it’s about partnering with teams to make the right decisions. Zen’s growth means we are constantly tackling new challenges which keeps work fresh and interesting. We are also a really close team who support each other in our day to day.

I genuinely enjoy my role at Zen; it challenges me, inspires growth and allows me to make a meaningful impact to our schools whilst working with a friendly and supportive team.

What genuinely resonates with me about working at Zen is the powerful combination of great people (especially in the finance team) and the profound impact our business has. We’re addressing critical issues. Zen has grown rapidly both organically and inorganically; this provides many opportunities to dive into something new and is a great pathway for personal and professional development.

Hiring Process

1. Initial chat. A quick screen to align expectations and answer questions.
2. Secondary chat - with Annie our Head of Finance in the US.
3. Interview with Annie our Head of Finance in the US and one other team member plus technical task (in person in our Vancouver office). A session to walk through your career to date, past challenges and how you’d approach real Zen scenarios.
4. Final values-based conversation with a member of leadership to discuss mindset alignment and growth goals.

Ready to Apply

If you’re a payroll professional in Canada with experience in US finance and you’re excited to be part of a finance team supporting real-world outcomes in education, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply now or reach out with questions.

Compensation: $60,000 - $80,000 a year

Required Experience: Unclear Seniority

Key Skills

Data Entry, Paychex, QuickBooks, Accounting, 10 Key Calculator, Paylocity, Microsoft Excel, Payroll, ADP, Administrative Experience, Human Resources, Bookkeeping

Employment Type

Employment Type: Full Time

Experience:

Vacancy:

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