Dean of Academics

Who We Are

AoPS Institute is a new nonprofit creating a first-of-its-kind pathway for the most mathematically advanced students in the country. We give students who are ready for college-level math years before college somewhere serious to go: a multi-year sequence of rigorous math and computer science courses, delivered by Art of Problem Solving, together with access to research, competition, and applied programs, run by world-class partners, and a community of exceptional peers.

We're building this at a moment when the frontier itself is moving. AI is changing what mathematicians and scientists do, how research gets done, and what a student who is years ahead should spend time on. Our first cohort will finish college around 2035. We want them to arrive at the frontier with the judgment to decide what's worth proving, building, or asking.

We are a partial enrollment program that commits to working with students' schools to replace standard coursework and with top universities to ensure that the coursework is recognized.

The AoPS Institute is designed for the most exceptional students in the country and seeks to ensure that students have access to the program regardless of what zip code they reside in by being virtual-first, administering need-blind admissions, and offering significant financial support.

We are targeting a 2027 public launch with the first cohort beginning in the 2027-28 school year. The program is backed by AoPS and by committed philanthropic partners.

The founding team for the organization is a Dean of Academics and a Dean of Students & COO who together report to the Board, chaired by Richard Rusczyk (Founder and CEO of AoPS) and Josh Taylor (President at Carina Initiatives).

The Role

The Dean of Academics owns the academic identity, design, and credibility of the Institute. Art of Problem Solving builds and delivers the core mathematics and computer science courses. The Dean of Academics owns everything else that makes the program exceptional: what our students should be doing beyond those courses, whether the strongest university departments in the country recognize what they've done, and who is admitted to the Institute.

The hardest question we have to answer is what a student who is years ahead in mathematics should spend the rest of high school doing, and the answer is broader than mathematics. Some of our students will pursue mathematical research, but many may not, and they deserve a program just as serious: in computer science, in the sciences, in applied and professional settings, and in the seminars and electives that surround the core. The Dean of Academics designs that program, partnering first with the strongest organizations in the ecosystem and building only where no partner meets our bar.

The second half of the role is external. University recognition of our coursework will come from faculty who trust the program and advocate for it inside their own departments. The Dean of Academics personally carries those relationships.

We are looking for a visionary program leader. We're building something that doesn't exist yet, and the partners we'll work with are strong, established, and have their own ways of working. This Dean needs a clear view of what our students should be doing and what they're capable of, and the credibility to bring faculty, researchers, and partner programs along with it.

The Dean of Academics reports to the Board and works in close partnership with the Dean of Students & COO.

Responsibilities

• Design and own the academic program beyond the core courses: seminars, electives, research experiences, and applied programs across mathematics, computer science, and the sciences, for every Institute student. Partner first with the strongest existing programs in the ecosystem; build original programs only where partnership cannot meet our quality bar or no partner exists.
• Own the relationships with mathematics and computer science faculty at the most selective universities (MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Caltech, and their peers), both as academic partners and as the audiences who validate the rigor of our coursework and, in turn, its standing for placement and credit at those institutions.
• Set the admissions bar: define what "ready for this program" means and design a fair, rigorous readiness assessment that works for thousands of applicants who all have access to strong AI.
• Be the Institute's academic voice with AoPS on what universities need from the core courses: assessment design, instructor quality, and the enrollment, engagement, and assessment data the Institute needs to see.
• Set the arc toward research: what has to come first, when a student is ready, and what research means for high school students in an AI world.
• Develop corporate and professional partnerships with trading firms, technology companies, research labs, and others that give students substantive experiences beyond the classroom.
• Bring every partner program into alignment with the Institute's vision and philosophy for our students, hold partners to shared expectations on quality, data, and the student experience, and make the program-by-program calls about which experiences the Institute credits and which it merely helps students reach.
• Bring academic recommendations to the Board and own the quality bar across the whole program.

Skills and Experiences You'll Need to Bring

• Exceptional math or computer science achievement, including a PhD in mathematics or computer science
• At or near the research frontier, and fluent in how AI is changing it
• Experience working with mathematically extraordinary middle and high school students, and a clear vision of how to support them
• A strong communicator who can explain what our students should be doing, and what they're capable of, to a department chair, a research partner, an admissions office, and a family alike
• Breadth beyond mathematics: you've thought seriously about what exceptional students should do in computer science and the sciences, not only in mathematical research
• Ability to design rigorous, fair academic processes and programs, especially at scale; you've built or run admissions or assessments before
• Lived this gap yourself: a mathematically extraordinary student whose local school could not serve you, with firsthand knowledge for what it costs a family to assemble the right program from fragments
• Comfortable bringing prestigious external partners into alignment with our vision, and holding them to shared quality standards
• Senior leadership in an academic, research, or enrichment organization
• Experience teaching math and/or computer science to mathematically extraordinary high school students
• Startup or 0-to-1 experience preferred: you have built, or been part of building, an organization or program from nothing, and are comfortable operating without infrastructure that does not yet exist

Location: Remote, with regular travel for partner and board meetings

Salary: $200K–$250K

We value and encourage diversity and solicit applications from all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.