Numeracy Curriculum & Pedagogy Lead

About Imagine Worldwide

All children have immense potential, but hundreds of millions don’t have access to the learning they need. Imagine Worldwide’s mission is to empower millions of children across Sub-Saharan Africa with the literacy and numeracy skills they need to reach their full potential. We provide an innovative education technology solution and implementation model to the global literacy/numeracy learning crisis using the onebillion application and various toolkits and systems to support implementation. Nine Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) across multiple countries and settings have shown dramatic learning gains, increased school attendance, and gender parity, all for less than $7 per child per year.

Imagine Worldwide partners with governments, organizations, and communities to provide child-directed, tablet-based learning that is accessible, effective, and affordable. We are a California-based (United States) nonprofit organization operating across seven Sub-Saharan African countries. Learn more on our website.

 

About the Role

Over the next five years, Imagine’s goal is to serve more than 4 million children annually in at least four countries, ultimately achieving three times the typical level of literacy and numeracy outcomes of national education systems in Africa (60% fluency by the age of 10, as opposed to 20%). This all while delivering the program at less than $7 per child per year. Being a product-driven organization is key to achieving this goal.

Imagine is seeking a Curriculum & Pedagogy Lead to guide the pedagogical approach and learning architecture for our tablet-based programme for children beginning with grades 1 - 4, and beyond over time.

This role sets the bar for what children learn, how they learn in a digital environment, and how we know it’s working—from first number sense to fluent mathematical operations. You will translate best-in-class foundational numeracy research and pedagogy into well-structured, culturally relevant, and engaging digital learning experiences that work offline, on low-cost tablets for first-time readers/tech users.

You will partner closely with Product (including the Principal Product Manager - Learning), Engineering, Design, Research, Country Teams, and other curriculum experts to ensure every learning moment is intentional, inclusive, and measurable. The role reports to the Principal Product Manager (Learning).

 

Key Responsibilities

Pedagogical & Curriculum Leadership

• Define the end-to-end learning models for foundational numeracy, with a view to expanding beyond foundational skills.
• Create the scope & sequence, progression maps, and mastery criteria in this domain, aligned to learning science and (where relevant) national curricula.
• Specify how pedagogy becomes digital pedagogy: scaffolding, feedback, error-handling, spaced practice, mastery checks, and motivational loops.
• Champion accessibility and inclusion (e.g., audio-first flows, dyslexia-aware choices, visual contrast, gender-equitable representation).

Content & Experience Design

• Oversee the team that translates learning objectives into activity design: activity types, asset banks, stories, scripts, assets, and assessment items.
• Define content authoring standards, QA rubrics, and acceptance criteria; set content quality gates before release.
• Make language model choices in global (e.g. English) and local (e.g Swahili) languages, story themes, and culturally relevant contexts.
• Advise on localisation/adaptation workflows and processes.

Assessment & Evidence

• Collaborate with our Research team to architect a measurement framework that can map learning objectives to measurable progress and outcomes.
• Specify the analytics needed to monitor learning outcomes.
• Partner with Research on field trials, user testing, A/B tests, and impact studies; use evidence to iterate scope/sequence and task design.

Data-Informed Adaptivity

• Co-design in-app diagnostics and reporting to inform adaptivity and implementation decisions.
• Define the pedagogical logic behind adaptive placement, progression, and remediation (e.g. rules, difficulty ladders, mastery logic).

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work hand-in-hand with Product/Engineering to ensure pedagogy informs feature design, technical constraints, and offline realities.
• Build relationships with ministries, NGOs, and academic partners for curriculum alignment and endorsement.

Requirements

The successful candidate will possess the following competencies, experiences, and qualities:

Core Qualifications

• 6+ years designing and delivering foundational numeracy programmes (e.g. for school systems, NGOs, or EdTech), with significant digital adaptation experience.
• Deep expertise in early numeracy pedagogy.
• Proven record of turning pedagogy into digital learning experiences at scale.
• Strong assessment skills: using or designing formative/summative measures; interpreting learning data to drive iteration.

Desired Experience

• Designing curricula for resource-constrained contexts.
• Familiarity with African languages and educational contexts.

Personal Attributes

• Mission-driven and passionate about educational equity.
• Empathetic toward first-time learners and educators.
• Visionary thinker able to turn that vision into practice.
• Cross-cultural sensitivity and willingness to spend time in the field.

 

Compensation & Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

 

Hours and Location

This role can be structured as part-time (3–4 days per week) or full-time, depending on the candidate’s experience, availability, and fit.

The role is fully remote, but must work regular hours that have at least 4 hours overlap with 9am-6pm in UK and African timezones. International travel to field sites may be required at least every quarter, or up to once a month during intense testing periods.

 

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Imagine Worldwide is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.