Academic Lead

Upeducation; Auckland; On-site; NZD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Upeducation in Auckland CBD seeks an Academic Lead to combine teaching with academic and people leadership. You will lead your specialist subject area, support teaching staff, and ensure high-quality academic delivery while maintaining a reduced but active teaching load.

Reporting to the Principal - University Partnerships NZ/AU, you will play a key role in ensuring robust assessment practices, and a collaborative environment for staff and students, with ongoing curriculum and quality

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a discipline relevant to the subject area.
• Strong teaching experience within an educational environment.
• Experience in leadership, mentoring, coordination, or supporting other educators.
• Understanding of academic quality, assessment, and moderation practices.
• Familiarity with NZQA and Ministry of Education requirements and frameworks.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Commitment to academic quality, continuous improvement, and professional development.
• Collaborative approach and ability to build relationships across academic and operational teams.
• Postgraduate qualification and curriculum/assessment oversight experience advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead academic delivery and assessment quality across your specialist subject area.
• Manage, support, and develop teaching staff including onboarding and professional development.
• Ensure assessment, moderation, results, and academic processes meet programme and regulatory requirements.
• Support curriculum and course reviews with the Quality team.
• Maintain an active teaching load while modelling high-quality teaching practice.
• Support student matters and foster a positive, collaborative environment for staff and students.
• Work with senior academic leadership on departmental planning, resourcing, reporting, and continuity of operations.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Leadership experience

Mentoring

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in relevant discipline

Postgraduate qualification

Job description

Academic Lead

Location: Auckland CBD

Full-time | Permanent | UPIC Auckland CBD

About the role:

• English
• Arts and Communication
• Business
• Science
• Maths

This is a unique opportunity to combine your passion for teaching with academic and people leadership. Each Academic Lead will take responsibility for their specialist subject area, providing leadership to teaching staff while maintaining a reduced but active teaching load.

Reporting to the Principal - University Partnerships NZ/AU, you will play an important role in ensuring high-quality academic delivery, robust assessment practices, and a positive and collaborative environment for both staff and students.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Leading academic delivery and assessment quality across your specialist subject area.
• Managing, supporting, and developing teaching staff, including onboarding and professional development.
• Ensuring assessment, moderation, results, and academic processes meet programme and regulatory requirements.
• Supporting curriculum and course reviews in collaboration with the Quality team.
• Maintaining an active teaching load while modelling high-quality teaching practice and academic professionalism.
• Supporting student matters and fostering a positive, collaborative environment for staff and students.
• Working closely with senior academic leadership to support departmental planning, resourcing, reporting, and continuity of academic operations.

About you:

You are an experienced educator who is passionate about both excellent teaching and supporting others to succeed. You will be comfortable balancing academic leadership responsibilities with classroom delivery and will bring a collaborative, organised, and solutions-focused approach to your work.

To be successful in this role, you will ideally have:

• A minimum Bachelor's degree in a discipline relevant to your subject area.
• Strong teaching experience within an educational environment.
• Experience in leadership, mentoring, coordination, or supporting other educators.
• An understanding of academic quality, assessment, and moderation practices.
• Familiarity with NZQA and Ministry of Education requirements and frameworks.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• A commitment to academic quality, continuous improvement, and professional development.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to build strong relationships across academic and operational teams.
• A postgraduate qualification and previous experience with curriculum or assessment oversight would be advantageous. Teaching Council registration may be required depending on programme delivery obligations.

Why work with us

Join a leading pathway provider as part of our top-notch faculty. Our faculty is passionate about teaching and is committed to delivering an engaging, efficient, and effective curriculum.

Academically focused role

Rapidly growing and well-established school with 26 years of presence in the market

Help shape the future of the college!

Questions about your identity help us appreciate the diversity of individuals looking to work with us, ensuring we're attracting applications from people with identities and perspectives that are as diverse as our students.

We are an equal opportunity employer. As part of our commitment to equity, we work to ensure a fair and consistent interview process. We celebrate diversity and we are committed to an inclusive work environment.