We report a detailed study of the molecular beam epitaxy of MnAs/ZnSe heterostructures on GaAs (100) substrates under varying growth conditions. As with the MnAs/GaAs system, these MnAs/ZnSe epilayers show ferromagnetism at room temperature, although with different structural and magnetic characteristics. We study the impact of parameters such as the As/Mn beam equivalent pressure ratio, substrate temperature, templating. and substrate misorientation on the MnAs/ZnSe heterostructures utilizing in situ reflectance high energy electron diffraction, as well as ex situ x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. This structural information is correlated with magnetic properties obtained from magneto-optical Kerr effect and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry. Finally, we discuss preliminary studies on the properties of MnAs/ZnSe/MnAs trilayers for spin-valve type applications.