Head of VCE English

Contour Education; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid flexibility

Extra leave

EAP access

Lifestyle perks

Job summary

Contour Education is hiring to redesign and own the VCE English program from first principles, expanding to English Language and later Literature. You will design weekly experiences, feedback, and practice, and run the program with ownership of people and results.

This senior role sits on the Academics leadership team and targets 1,000–2,000 students. The role blends strategic design with hands-on teaching, coaching leaders, and scaling operations, with a salary of AUD 160,000–190,000 plus super

Qualifications

• Ability to redesign a program from first principles.
• Experience leading a senior team of teachers/mentors.
• Strong knowledge of VCE English and/or English Language.

Responsibilities

• Design and rebuild the English program from first principles.
• Lead and grow the VCE English program to 1,000–2,000 students.
• Set up systems for timetables, marking and feedback workflows.
• Teach at least one class to stay close to students.
• Lead and coach team leaders as the faculty grows.

Skills

Program design

Leadership

AI tools proficiency

Numerical sense

People leadership

Tools

AI tools

Job description

Rebuild how VCE English is taught.

Most English programs, in schools and in tutoring, are taught much the same way: a weekly class, some essays, feedback that arrives late and says too little, and practice exams in the final weeks. Students work hard and still aren't sure how to get better. We think English can be taught significantly better than that, and we're hiring the person who will show how.

This role is for someone who looks at how English is taught now and wants to redesign it completely, not improve it a little. You'll decide what a student should experience each week, how writing is taught, how feedback is given and how students practise, and then build that program and run it. You'll start with English, take on English Language alongside it, and later help us decide on and launch Literature.

This is a senior role on our Academics leadership team, with much broader responsibility than any English role we've had before. We want to grow VCE English to 1,000 to 2,000 students and beyond, and getting there needs a new model, not small changes to what we already run. Nothing in the current program is kept just because it's how things have always been done. You'll own the program, the people who deliver it and the results it gets.

The remuneration reflects how big this role is. The salary is $160,000 to $190,000 plus super, and on top of that you can earn bonuses.

Who We Are

Contour was founded in 2020 by students who saw that the quality of your education was basically a lottery. Teachers stretched thin by the system, learning materials that varied from school to school, and support that stopped the moment you left the classroom.

We began with 5 students in a room. Today 20,000+ students have trusted Contour as their academic partners, and we've grown to 500+ team members across 10 campuses in Australia. In 2025 we ranked #8 on the AFR Fast 100 of fastest-growing companies.

We've produced hundreds of 99+ ATARs, tutored the world-record UCAT scorer, and placed 850+ students into medical and dental schools across Australia.

Contour is made up of three brands:

• Contour Education → academic performance in high school

• Contour MedPrep → entry into medical and dental schools

• Contour TestPrep → entry into selective and scholarship schools

Contour is built by students, for students.

What You'll Do

• Program design: Rebuild English, then English Language, from first principles, including classes, workshops, essay feedback, practice exams and resources.

• Rollout: Pilot the new model, move current students across without disrupting their year, and scale it once it's working.

• Operations: Set up and run the systems behind the program, such as timetables, marking and feedback workflows, quality checks and weekly tracking, so it runs reliably as VCE English grows past 1,000 students.

• Quality: Set the standard for feedback and resources, and make sure every student gets the same quality whichever English Tutor they have.

• Resources: Write and review resources yourself in the first months while we build the team, then hand this work to the people you hire.

• Leading leaders: Lead and coach Team Leaders and, as the faculty grows, Subject Leads, as well as the English Tutors they look after. You'll hire into the roles the faculty needs.

• Growth: Own enrolments, retention and results across VCE English, and make the case for Literature when the time is right.

• Teaching: Teach at least one class yourself, so you stay close to students and to the program you're building.

What You'll Bring

• A clear, original view of how senior English should be taught, built from first principles rather than copied from other providers, and the reasoning and evidence to back it up.

• Experience redesigning a program, course or way of teaching, not only running one that already existed.

• You get things done. We want someone who does the work themselves, not someone who can only say what should happen in theory.

• A track record of rolling out a program or system from start to finish, tracking it yourself, testing it with real students and keeping it running without needing to be chased.

• Strong knowledge of VCE English and/or English Language, or equivalent senior English, with the ability to write resources and give precise feedback on student writing.

• Experience leading people, including leading other leaders, and the confidence to hold them to a high standard, directly and respectfully.

• Proficiency with AI tools in your own work, and the judgement to tell genuinely useful AI output from generic, low-quality output, and to set that standard for others.

• Comfort with numbers: you notice capacity and cost problems early and make sensible trade-offs.

• Energy for working with a young team. Our English Tutors are recent high school graduates, so you’ll need to enjoy working with and leading young people, and fit well with that culture.

• Comfort with a fast pace and real ambiguity. A lot is changing at the same time and many things haven't been decided yet, so you’ll need to work things out yourself and keep everything moving without waiting for instructions.

Why You'll Love It

• Ownership: VCE English is yours to redesign, run and grow. You decide what the program becomes.

• Impact: The program you build shapes how hundreds of students learn English now, and thousands as it grows.

• Growth: The role grows with the faculty, into Literature, more states and a larger team.

• Culture: Join a founder-led group that's grown to 500+ team members and 20,000+ students since 2020.

• Benefits: $160,000 to $190,000 AUD + super, plus bonuses. You also get hybrid flexibility, extra leave, EAP access, and lifestyle perks.