Zen Educate

Matching schools with qualified educators
Last updated:
January 6, 2026
Company details
HQ
London, UK
HEADCOUNT
100-499
ORG TYPE
Startup
SECTOR
Education & Learning
About the company
Zen Educate is an education staffing platform that matches schools with teachers and teaching assistants, aiming to reduce agency fees and speed up hiring for day-to-day cover and longer placements. Zen Educate also runs internal teams that support schools and candidates end-to-end, alongside product and ops functions that keep the marketplace running. The company operates in the UK and the US, and has expanded through funding and acquisition activity in recent years.
Locations and presence
Zen Educate is headquartered in London and lists multiple UK offices including Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Exeter, Cornwall and Wales. Zen Educate also operates in the US, with roles and school placements advertised in multiple states, and a mix of in-person and hybrid patterns depending on role.
Palpable Score
69.0
/ 100
Zen Educate offers credible early-career entry routes through a cohort-style graduate “Zen Educate Academy” intake for trainee recruitment consultants and a steady stream of graduate education placements like Graduate Teaching Assistant roles. Zen Educate also publishes several concrete learning and benefits signals (career frameworks, mentoring, and private health cover), which is not a given in this sector. The score is capped by uneven candidate experience signals (including ghosting reports) and limited published outcome metrics like cohort conversion, time-to-promotion, and early-career retention.
Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

15.5
/ 20
  • The company runs a graduate-focused Trainee Recruitment Consultant intake framed as a “Zen Educate Academy” cohort (January 2026) with no prior recruitment experience required.
  • Zen Educate lists Graduate Teaching Assistant opportunities on the school-jobs side of the platform, creating a practical “first step into education” route for graduates.
  • The company’s corporate job mix outside the academy route skews toward experienced commercial and operations roles, so early-career access exists but is not the dominant hiring volume.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

12.5
/ 20
  • The company sets out a structured selection journey for the academy route, including an Assessment Day with group and individual activities followed by an interview stage.
  • Zen Educate has a visible interview pattern in candidate logs (phone screen, one-on-one interviews, and skills tests appearing as common stages), which helps applicants anticipate preparation work.
  • The company has public candidate reports describing being told to expect a reply and then not hearing back, which is a direct negative signal on consistency and follow-through.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

14.5
/ 20
  • The company states on the careers page that Zen Educate provides clear career frameworks, regular training opportunities, mentoring, and dedicated learning time.
  • Zen Educate describes the academy training journey as a mix of mentoring, workshops, and hands-on experience teaching recruitment fundamentals and consultative sales.
  • The company has employee review themes that mention intensive onboarding training plus ongoing weekly training meetings, but Zen Educate does not publish a single onboarding standard that applies across every team and country.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

13.5
/ 20
  • The company publishes an employer-provided salary range for the graduate Trainee Recruitment Consultant academy route (£27,000–£31,800 per year) and also frames commission as part of the package for that pathway.
  • Zen Educate lists benefits on public channels including private health insurance (Vitality), life insurance, pension, share options, cycle-to-work and an electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme.
  • The company does not consistently publish salary ranges across all corporate roles and geographies, which limits pay predictability for early-career candidates comparing options.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

13.0
/ 20
  • The company has strong aggregate employee sentiment on a major review platform (overall rating and “recommend to a friend” are high), which is a positive signal for retention and day-to-day experience.
  • Zen Educate explicitly links the academy route to a clear career pathway with “rapid progression opportunities,” and the careers site frames progression using career frameworks rather than ad hoc promotion.
  • The company has expanded and attracted major investment, but Zen Educate does not publish early-career outcome metrics like academy completion and conversion rates, time-to-promotion bands, or retention by cohort.