Senior Learning Engineer [Lab Schools Focus]

ABOUT PLAYLAB

Playlab is a tech non-profit dedicated to helping educators and students become critical consumers and creators of AI.

We believe that an open-source, community-driven approach is key to harnessing the potential of AI in education. We equip communities with AI tools and hands-on professional development that empowers educators and students to build custom AI apps for their unique context. Over 40,000 educators have published apps on Playlab, and the impact is growing every day.

At Playlab, we believe that AI is a new design material, one that should be shaped by many to bring their ideas about learning to life. If you're passionate about building creative, equitable futures for students and teachers, we hope you'll join us.

THE ROLE

Playlab seeks a Senior Learning Engineer to anchor our work across the AI Lab Schools cohort: a 13-school, 24-month partnership where teachers and leaders are redesigning teaching and learning around AI.

The cohort is among the most ambitious endeavor Playlab has ever taken on. Each of the 13 schools is launching or pivoting a learning model where AI is a core design material. They need a Playlab partner who can hold the technical craft bar across the full arc: discovery, prototype, classroom pilot, scale, and the open-source playbook that ships at month 24 for the rest of the field to learn from.

As a senior thought partner to lab school founding teams, you will hold deep, trusted relationships with four to five schools, lead build sessions and coaching, and partner closely with the Head of Lab Schools and the Head of Learning Engineering on the shape of the cohort. You will be the steady technical presence schools rely on, the person who shows up with care, listens before suggesting, and brings craft into every conversation about what to build.

This work spans embedded coaching, hands-on building, mentorship of other LEs, and shaping the open-source playbook that opens to the field at month 24. Whether a school is launching a brand new model or pivoting an existing program toward AI, you will help them through that work with tools that fit their pedagogy and a partnership that fits their pace.

While the lab schools cohort is the anchor of this role, Playlab is a small, fast-moving team, and we expect this person to flex into adjacent work as opportunities and needs emerge. That might look like supporting a high-priority partnership outside the cohort, contributing to a cross-team product or research initiative, helping shape Playlab's broader Learning Engineering practice, or jumping in on something none of us see coming yet. We're looking for someone who treats the lab schools work as their through-line and is energized, not thrown, by the other shapes the work might take.

You'll also bring insights from the field back to our team, shaping how we improve the platform, learning materials, and partnership models.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Anchor 4 to 5 Lab Schools. Hold the relationship with each school's founding team across the 24-month partnership, with monthly leader coaching, weekly build sessions, and on-call support through launch.

Co-Steward the Cohort With the Lab Schools Learning Partner. Partner on programming design, convening shape, phase-by-phase expectations, and the open-source playbook that ships at month 24.

Build Bespoke AI Tools alongside teachers and leaders, including custom assessment tools, knowledge-graphed lesson planners, student-facing builders, and family communication apps tuned to each school's pedagogy.

Mentor Embedded Regional LEs anchored in NYC, Memphis, Austin, the DMV, and Tempe, sharpening their craft and helping them grow into senior practitioners.

Hold the Rubric for Lab Schools Builds. Define what good looks like across the cohort, run build reviews, and make sure apps shipped through 2027 are open-sourceable from day one.

Run High-Trust Coaching through drop-in sessions, async build support, and 1:1 video coaching with the most advanced builders and leaders across the network.

Co-Facilitate Quarterly Convenings. Three days every quarter for 24 months, leading build sessions and hosting office hours alongside the Head of LE and Lab Schools Learning Partner.

Contribute Beyond the Cohort as Needs Arise. Step into adjacent partnerships, cross-team initiatives, or new bets that benefit from senior LE craft. We'll set expectations together so the lab schools work always stays the anchor, while leaving room for the kind of flexibility a small, ambitious team requires.

Bring Field Insights Back to Playlab's product, engineering, and research teams to shape platform features and shared playbooks.

YOU MIGHT BE A FIT IF YOU...

- Have 5+ years of classroom, instructional leadership, or school leadership experience and a deep respect for how hard the work of teaching is.

- Have a senior builder's track record of shipping ambitious AI tools using advanced patterns (multi-step flows, evaluator loops, knowledge grounding, agentic design).

- Have experience mentoring or coaching educators with patience and high standards in equal measure.

- Have strong async and remote-first instincts, and can build trust over video and shared docs.

- Are confident with prompting and AI app design, and understand how teachers and students actually use AI in real classrooms.

- Have strong curation and documentation craft (build logs, playbooks, walkthroughs, recorded sessions) that genuinely helps others learn.

- Are comfortable holding a primary anchor (the lab schools cohort) while flexing into adjacent work as the team's priorities evolve.

- Care for equity and access at the center of the work.

- Are willing to commit to the full 24-month cohort cadence, including four quarterly three-day convenings.

BONUS POINTS FOR...

- Experience leading large-scale instructional technology or PD initiatives across multiple schools

- Familiarity with knowledge-graph-grounded AI tools or agentic design patterns

- Experience supporting both student- and adult-facing AI initiatives

- A network across school-design organizations, lab schools, or AI-in-education nonprofits

WHY JOIN US?

Real Impact: Your work directly shapes how 13 lab schools use AI to redesign teaching and learning, and what the field learns from them.

Senior Craft: Hold the rubric for lab school builds and shape the open-source playbook that opens to the field at month 24.

Mission-Aligned Team: Join a small, passionate group committed to equity, creativity, and joyful learning, backed by the Gates Foundation, Google, CZI, and the Schwab Foundation.

Flexible Work: Remote-first with autonomy and a strong culture of collaboration.

Competitive Pay & Benefits: Includes salary, healthcare, retirement, generous time off, and opportunities for professional growth.