The Role
Location: Nottingham
Salary: £35,000–£44,000 OTE
Type: Full-time/ 5 days on site
*Must possess a valid driver’s license and a reliable vehicle for travel to client sites.*
👋 Hi, I’m Sam, East Midlands Director at Zen Educate, and I’m hiring an Experienced Education Recruiter to take over and scale an established, high-performing desk.
This is not a cold start.
You’ll be stepping into a warm patch with strong school relationships, active bookings, and over 150 days already on the books. If you love growing revenue, deepening partnerships, and turning a solid foundation into something exceptional then this one’s for you.
🌍 What we’re building and why
Here’s the challenge: UK schools spend over £2 billion a year on temporary staff. But £600m of that goes straight into the pockets of recruitment agencies, money that should be going back into classrooms and teachers’ pay. So we’re doing things differently. Zen Educate is an online platform that gives schools instant access to fully vetted teachers and support staff. Since launching in 2017, we’ve already saved schools over £30 million, that’s gone straight back to where it matters most. We've just closed a $37m Series B (the biggest EdTech round in Europe last year!), and we’re scaling fast in the UK and the US 🚀. It’s an exciting time to join, have a huge impact, and grow alongside us.
💼 What this role looks like in practice
This role is all about taking something that already works and levelling it up.
You’ll inherit a live desk with active schools, regular bookings, and real demand, then focus on expanding usage, strengthening relationships, and increasing revenue across your patch.
What you’ll actually be doing:
- Owning and growing a portfolio of warm school accounts with existing spend and trust in Zen
- Building long-term partnerships with Headteachers, Business Managers and HR leads
- Increasing booking volume, fill rates and retention across your desk
- Proactively spotting opportunities: new roles, longer bookings, additional schools within MATs
- Using data and insight to plan your desk like a business - pipeline, forecast, growth
🙌 Who you are
You don’t have to tick every single box, but we think you’ll thrive here if you’re:
- Experienced in education recruitment (or similar relationship-led agency roles)
-Confident picking up the phone, handling objections, and building trust fast.
-Someone with a proven track record of hitting sales targets (or smashing similar KPIs).
-A team player who loves being part of a close-knit group.
-Passionate about having a positive social impact (bonus points if you care deeply about education).
-Someone with a growth mindset is always looking to learn and improve.
💡 What you might like or dislike
Every company has its tradeoffs, so here’s some real talk to help you decide if this is the right fit for you.
✅ You might love it if:
-You want to join a desk with momentum and clear upside.
-You want a role where your work has a tangible social impact.
-You like fast-paced environments where things are always evolving.
-You’re excited about the idea of working in a mission-driven startup that’s scaling rapidly.
🤔 You might find it tricky if:
-You prefer highly structured corporate environments with fixed processes.
-You don’t like ambiguity. Sometimes we’re building the plane while flying it.
-Picking up the phone and having conversations with decision-makers feels uncomfortable.
🎁 What’s in it for you?
-Meaningful work – this isn’t just another SaaS tool; you’re literally helping schools save money and pay teachers more.
-Competitive salary + ownership in the company.
-25 days holiday + all the usual UK public holidays.
-1-1 coaching to keep you growing personally and professionally.
-Life & Health Insurance, Cycle to Work Scheme, Electric Car Scheme.
🌱 How we hire
We like to hire fast and onboard well. Here’s what you can expect:
-Quick chat with our recruiter – to get to know you and cover the basics.
-Role-focused conversation – we’ll talk about how you approach account management, building relationships, and hitting targets.
-Commercial skills and culture interview with the team
We’re direct and transparent. If it’s a yes, great! If it’s a no, we’ll let you know quickly.
💜 Diversity & inclusion
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.
🚀 Ready to make a difference?
If you’ve read this far and you’re excited (maybe even a little nervous) about the opportunity, apply now! We’d love to chat.
This role is based full-time at our Nottingham office and requires onsite attendance five days per week so we encourage applications from candidates who live in or near the local area of this office, or plan on relocating.
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The Company
What We Do
At Zen our mission is to change the world of education recruitment. Schools spend over £2bn a year on agency staff, with over £600m per year of that spent on fees that go straight to recruitment agencies. So far, we've saved UK schools over £14m in supply teaching recruitment costs, and that number grows every day, allowing schools to invest further into children’s wellbeing and attainment. We're not just redefining recruitment; we’re upskilling our supply staff to provide the highest quality teachers and TAs to schools. Each supply staff member is Level 2 Safeguarding trained, guaranteeing the safety and wellbeing of children in your school. Using our online platform, schools can access hundreds of fully vetted high-quality teacher & TA profiles, who they can book instantly at the click of a button. We don't stop at just providing a platform – we have a dedicated school success team here to support you every step of the way. When you succeed, we succeed!
