Deputy Chief Academic Officer of STEM

About Mastery:

Founded in 2001, Mastery Schools is a public charter network of 23 K-12 schools in Philadelphia and Camden, serving more than 14,000 students.


At Mastery, we're on a mission to provide all students with the academic and personal skills they need to succeed after graduation and pursue their dreams. Student achievement is not just a goal for our organization; it's the reason we exist, and every member of our team is dedicated to securing student success. We are also committed to pursuing equity, actively disrupting systemic racism, and addressing the disparities that limit our students' choices.


Our culture is built on respect, service, and the belief that the success of our students, their families, and the communities we serve will help us achieve our mission. We foster a positive, open, and inclusive environment where honesty, humor, and continuous improvement are celebrated.


Join us in creating a model urban school district that serves all students with excellence. Together, we can make a lasting impact.

Position Summary:

The Deputy Chief Academic Officer of STEM provides strategic leadership for Mastery's K-12 STEM vision, ensuring strong instructional quality, aligned curriculum implementation, and measurable student achievement outcomes across Mathematics, Science, Technology, and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). Reporting to the Chief Academic Officer, the Deputy CAO of STEM leads a team of Senior Directors, Directors, and cross-functional leaders responsible for STEM curriculum, instructional coaching, professional development, assessment strategy, digital learning systems, and network MTSS implementation. This role ensures that STEM strategy is coherently implemented across schools, aligned to Mastery's strategic priorities, and designed to accelerate student mastery, particularly for students requiring targeted academic support. The Deputy CAO of STEM plays a critical role in translating network strategy into clear instructional guidance, building scalable systems that support teachers and school leaders, and supporting the Senior Director of MTSS in ensuring that data-driven intervention systems and high-quality Tier 1 instruction work together to improve outcomes for all students.

Duties & Responsibilities

• In collaboration with the CAO, develop the vision, strategy, and goals of Mastery's K-12 STEM team, ensuring strong implementation of Mathematics, Science, Technology, and MTSS priorities aligned to the network's strategic plan and student achievement goals.
• Directly manages and develops a team of Senior Directors across Math, Science, Instructional Technology, and MTSS, building leadership capacity, aligning on best practices for coaching and support, and ensuring consistent, high-quality execution across teams.
• Leads STEM team in a way that nurtures an actively developed, highly engaged, high functioning team, poised to meet goals, embody NST standard operating procedures, deliver high quality support to schools, and ensure schools execute Mastery's program model.
• Oversee high-quality STEM curriculum implementation, ensuring strong instructional guidance, assessment, and classroom execution, while driving coherence and vertical alignment across content and academic intervention systems in service of students' postsecondary outcomes.
• Supports the Senior Director of MTSS in leading the academic design, implementation and scaling of Mastery's MTSS through partnerships with cross-functional teams (culture, special education, and content teams), ensuring strong Tier 1 instruction, systems for early student identification, aligned Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports, and coherent data-driven decision-making across content areas.

• Develop and lead a coherent professional learning strategy that builds teacher and school leader capacity in STEM instruction, data-driven decision making, and MTSS implementation and results in embedded STEM and MTSS practices into school leadership routines
• Leads the strategic use of instructional technology as a lever for Tier 1 rigor, data-driven instruction, and MTSS implementation across all content areas-not solely as a standalone discipline.
• Establish and monitor network performance metrics and dashboards to track student achievement, instructional quality, and intervention effectiveness.
• Balances system-level strategy with direct school support, including coaching school leaders (e.g. assistant principals, principal fellows, and/or principals), modeling strong instructional leadership, strengthening instructional rigor, and accelerating student achievement.
• Partner cross-functionally with academic, culture, special education, and school leadership teams to ensure coordinated implementation of STEM and MTSS initiatives across the network.
• Advise the Chief Academic Officer on network strategy, using performance data and school feedback to continuously strengthen STEM instruction and intervention systems.
• Design scalable academic systems and guidance that enable consistent, high-quality STEM and MTSS implementation across all schools.
• Cultivate strategic partnerships with external organizations, curriculum providers, and research partners to strengthen STEM programming and advance innovation across the network.
• Collaborate with the Chief Academic Officer (CAO) and other academic team members on an ongoing basis to improve Mastery's systems and model.
• Collaborate with a cross functional team of Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs, and Regional Schools Officers in service of overall network strategic goals.
• Participate as a member of Mastery's Executive Team, which steers the organization's strategy and execution.

Qualifications:

• Strategic thinker with strong analytical skills, able to prioritize and think in terms of systems and scale, and can determine key points, root cause, opportunities, and logic flaws.
• Proven ability in implementation and planning; can take complex problems and break them down to implementable steps.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-priority projects or responsibilities effectively
• Demonstrates strong organizational habits, attention to detail, and a commitment to high-quality outcomes
• Navigates obstacles and changing conditions with a solutions-oriented mindset and persistence
• Comfortable adapting to evolving organizational needs and priorities.
• Highly effective presenter and communicator
• Builds trust and credibility across roles and teams, and leads through influence rather than authority
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and apply instructional data to inform practice and strategy

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree strongly preferred
• Minimum 10+ years of experience in curricula and assessment, instruction, school programming, adult learning and development, and school leadership
• NJ or PA supervisory or school leader certification preferred
• Familiarity with approaches for adult learning, coaching, and professional development
• Demonstrated success supporting student achievement in historically under-resourced or equity-focused school communities
• Familiarity with Common Core Standards, New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Math and Science, Next Generation Science Standards, PA STEELS and ISTE standards.
• Familiarity with common national education programs and products
• A proven track record of achieving measurable results
• Experience leading high-performing teams to achieve organizational goals
• Deep commitment to educational equity and alignment with Mastery's mission and values
• Experience in the field of education technology preferred
• School leadership experience preferred

Other Requirements:

• Ability to physically perform the essential duties of the role as outlined above, and to work in the environmental conditions required, such as traveling to network campuses, monitoring and interacting with students, in-person facilitation of trainings, etc.;
• This role may require frequent travel between multiple locations. Reliable transportation is essential to fulfill job responsibilities.

Salary and Bonus Information:

• External candidates hired for this role are eligible for a $7,500 signing bonus as well as up to $5,000 for relocation expenses !
• The Deputy Chief Academic Officer of STEM at Mastery can expect a starting salary between $147,200 to $167,550, based on education and experience, with opportunities for growth as your career progresses.
• Each offer is made in alignment with Mastery's compensation philosophy and commitment to pay equity, ensuring fairness and consistency across our team.

Mastery's Benefits Package:

We offer a full benefits program and opportunities for professional growth. Some of our most popular benefits include our 403(b) retirement plan for PA employees (with a 5% match from Mastery for full-time employees), enrollment in the State of New Jersey Pension Plan for NJ employees, a robust Employee Assistance Program, mental health and counseling programs, an annual Professional Development Fund, and discounts and perks at a myriad of retailers, travel organizations, insurance providers, and so much more, as well as access to the HealthAdvocate Helpdesk to help you navigate various benefits-related topics. Please go here to see all of our Benefits offerings!

Annual Calendar:

As you plan to make Mastery your new work home, please feel free to review our calendar here We like to think our calendar is a benefit of working here too!

Why You Should Apply:

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they can perform every job description task. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may come from a less traditional background. Mastery may consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and experience to meet minimum qualifications. If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set for the role.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist Mastery's Talent Acquisition Team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.