At Instructure, we believe in the power of people to grow and succeed throughout their lives. Our goal is to amplify that power by creating intuitive products that simplify learning and personal development, facilitate meaningful relationships, and inspire people to go further in their education and careers.
We do this by giving smart, creative, passionate people opportunities to create awesome. And that's where you come in:
New Markets is a standalone division inside Instructure, built to generate new revenue with AI-built products. As a Pod Founder, you’ll start a company around a problem worth a business, prove customers will pay for the answer in weeks, and build and sell the product yourself. This is a player-coach who builds and sells. You’ll be paired with a Builder, backed by a supporting operating team, and given a token budget to build agentically. If you’ve ever wanted to be a founder but didn’t want to raise money and assemble distribution from scratch, this is that. The role reports to the President, New Markets.
What you will do
Find and validate the problem. Bring founder-level conviction about a specific problem worth building a business around. Get in front of real customers in the first weeks, score the problem and the solution honestly, and earn the gate to build. Bring your own thesis, or take one of ours.
Build the product. Author the specs, the product context, and the customer findings. Work hands-on with your Builder, and in the code yourself when it’s the fastest path. You set what gets built and why.
Sell it. Land the first pilot, prove customers will pay, and get to general availability and the first paying customers beyond the pilot. Revenue is the scoreboard.
Run the business. Own your pod’s profit and loss, hit the stage-gates, and make the call when the evidence says change course.
What you’ll need to know/have
A builder’s instinct and a commercial mind in the same person — a design and engineering sensibility paired with a feel for what customers will actually pay for.
Evidence you’ve shipped something real and put it in front of customers, ideally something you started or owned, not just contributed to.
The judgment to work across product, sales, marketing, and support without waiting for a function to do it for you.
A bias for the customer over the org chart.
The range to build and sell well enough that a two-person team is genuinely enough.
Prior startup or zero-to-one experience helps; a track record of finishing helps more.
What we expect
Speed over polish. You validate with real customers in weeks, not quarters. A working prototype in front of a customer beats a perfect plan every time.
Conviction you can defend. You can hold a strong point of view about a problem and still change it the moment a customer proves you wrong.
Comfort with the gates. The go/no-go gates are real, and your pod can be folded or consolidated at a checkpoint. You’ll run toward those checkpoints, not away from them, and treat a fold as information, not failure.
Ownership of outcomes, not hours. Nobody will hand you scope. You’ll define it, defend it at the board, and answer for the result.
Get in on all the awesome at Instructure!
We offer competitive, meaningful benefits in every country where we operate. While they vary by location, here's a general idea of what you can expect:
Competitive compensation, plus all full-time employees participate in our ownership program - because everyone should have a stake in our success.
Flexible work culture. Our remote, hybrid and in-office collaboration spaces vary by role, team and location.
Generous time off, including local holidays and our annual “Dim the Lights” period in late December, when teams are encouraged to step back and recharge based on departmental needs.
Comprehensive wellness programs and mental health support
Learning and development resources, including professional development tools and tuition reimbursement, to support your growth
The technology and tools you need to do your best work
Motivosity employee recognition program
A culture rooted in inclusivity, support, and meaningful connection
We believe in hiring great people and treating them right. The more diverse we are, the better our ideas and outcomes.
Instructure is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We comply with applicable employment and anti-discrimination laws in every country where we operate.
All employees must pass a background check as part of the hiring process. To help protect our teams and systems, we’ve implemented identity verification measures. Candidates may be asked to verify their legal name, current physical location, and provide a valid contact number and residential address, in accordance with local data privacy laws.
Any attempt to misrepresent personal or professional information will result in disqualification.
Skills Required
- Founder-level conviction about a specific customer problem and ability to validate it with real customers
- Ability to build product specs, work hands-on with engineers, and code when it's the fastest path
- Proven track record of shipping something real and putting it in front of customers (ideally something owned or started)
- Demonstrated ability to sell early pilots and convert to paying customers
- Capacity to run a small business: own P&L, hit stage-gates, and make go/no-go decisions
- Judgment to operate across product, sales, marketing, and support without relying on other functions
- Bias for customer needs over organizational structure
- Prior startup or zero-to-one experience
- Track record of finishing projects (delivering outcomes quickly)
Instructure Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Instructure and has not been reviewed or approved by Instructure.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered market-competitive for many engineering, product, and quota-carrying roles, especially when factoring base, variable, and equity. In these tracks, total rewards are often characterized as fair-to-strong for the role and location.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical, dental, vision, mental-health support, and HSA/FSA options. Employer contributions are often portrayed as strong, and core medical benefits receive consistently positive marks.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off offerings include flexible or “unlimited” PTO, paid holidays, and paid sick time, paired with widespread remote/hybrid flexibility. This breadth of time off and work flexibility is often viewed as a meaningful perk that enhances overall value.
Instructure Insights
What We Do
Instructure is helping people grow from the first day of school to the last day of work. More than 30 million people use its Canvas and Bridge platforms for learning management and employee development.
