DataCamp
Data science and AI learning platform, 19M+ learners. Pays remote instructors to build courses via content fees or royalties, avg ~$1K/month per course, top earners $150K+/yr. Founded 2013, NYC.
What is DataCamp?
DataCamp is an online learning platform for data science, analytics, and AI skills, built around interactive browser-based courses, hands-on projects, skill tracks, certifications, and live training. Its catalogue spans Python, R, SQL, Power BI, Tableau, and spreadsheets, and has expanded into AI and large language model topics. The company reports more than 19 million learners and 6,000 organisational customers, including 80 percent of the Fortune 1000. It was founded in 2013 by Jonathan Cornelissen, Martijn Theuwissen, and Dieter De Mesmaeker, has Belgian origins and is headquartered in New York, and employs roughly 441 people. It has raised about $32.6 million across eight rounds and, as of 2026, reports being cashflow positive and expecting to pass $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Co-founder Martijn Theuwissen is chief executive. Beyond conventional staff employment, DataCamp runs a paid instructor and content creator programme that is fully remote and explicitly open to people with no teaching background, which is the part most relevant to anyone looking for flexible expert work. One piece of company history belongs in an honest record, because it directly concerned that instructor community. In October 2017 an executive, later confirmed as co-founder and then-CEO Jonathan Cornelissen, danced inappropriately and made uninvited physical contact with an employee at an informal staff gathering. The company's initial response of sensitivity training and a warning was judged inadequate when the matter became public in April 2019, prompting an open letter from instructors, a boycott by some of their own courses, and organisations including RStudio cutting ties at least temporarily. Cornelissen stepped down as CEO on 30 April 2019, taking indefinite unpaid leave, and DataCamp went on to establish an Instructor Advisory Board and commission an independent audit of its culture and its handling of the incident.
Mission & values
Make data and AI skills accessible to everyone through interactive, hands-on learning in the browser.
Qualifications
There are two ways to work with DataCamp and they have very different shapes. Staff employment covers the usual functions of a mature edtech company: engineering, content and curriculum, product, design, data, marketing, sales, and customer success, based around its New York headquarters with remote and hybrid arrangements varying by role. The more distinctive route is its instructor and content creator programme, which is paid, remote, and open to people who have never taught before. You apply through a "Become a DataCamp Instructor" form describing your expertise and what you would like to teach, and DataCamp maintains an Instructor Course Wishlist showing exactly what content it currently wants built, which is a practical way to judge whether your specialism is in demand before applying. Selection is based on subject-matter expertise, coding proficiency, professional experience, and any teaching background, though the company states prior teaching experience is not necessary because its curriculum experts and content developers support creators from initial blueprint through to launch. Compensation runs on two models: content completion, meaning a fee for delivering the content, and revenue share, meaning ongoing royalties tied to how much your material is used. On DataCamp's own published figures, average earnings are around $1,000 per month per course while top instructors earn over $150,000 a year in royalties, and the company has stated it paid instructors more than $1 million in a single quarter. Because royalties depend on learner uptake, earnings vary widely and the average matters more than the ceiling. Opportunities extend beyond full courses to projects, blogs, and live training, and there is also a part-time contract online course instructor role. The work is cloud-based, so no specialist hardware is required.
Leadership
Martijn Theuwissen
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Co-founded DataCamp in 2013 and now leads it as CEO, having taken over following the 2019 departure of co-founder Jonathan Cornelissen. Oversees a platform serving 19M+ learners and 6,000 organisations.
Dieter De Mesmaeker
Co-Founder
Co-founded DataCamp in 2013 alongside Martijn Theuwissen and Jonathan Cornelissen, helping build its interactive browser-based approach to teaching data science.
Hiring process
-
1
Pick your route
Staff roles go through the standard careers site. Instructor and content creator work goes through the "Become a DataCamp Instructor" form at datacamp.com/learn/create.
-
2
Check the Instructor Course Wishlist
DataCamp publishes the content it currently wants built, so you can check demand for your specialism before applying rather than pitching blind.
-
3
Application review
Instructors are assessed on subject-matter expertise, coding proficiency, and professional experience. Prior teaching experience is explicitly not required.
About 10 days
-
4
Course blueprint and development
Selected creators work with DataCamp curriculum experts and content developers from blueprint through to launch, so the platform mechanics are supported rather than left to you.
About 30 days
-
5
Payment
Either a content completion fee or ongoing revenue-share royalties, agreed per project and depending on topic, responsibilities, and time commitment.
Funding
Awards & recognition
-
Serves 19M+ learners and 6,000 organisations, incl. 80% of the Fortune 1000 · 2026
DataCamp
-
Paid instructors over $1M in a single quarter · 2026
DataCamp
Company information
- Industry: EdTech / Data Science & AI Learning
- Location: New York, NY, USA (instructor and content work is remote)
- Founded: 2013
- Employees: 441
- Website: www.datacamp.com ↗
- LinkedIn: Company page ↗