---
title: 'Head of Academics and Learning Engineering at Outsmart'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-academics-and-learning-engineering-outsmart-lehi-q277v3x41z9b'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Head of Academics and Learning Engineering at Outsmart

- **Company:** Outsmart
- **Location:** Lehi, UT
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-03-31
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/outsmart/1087e741-7846-46e4-83c5-4184da6d9163

## Job description

Outsmart is a mission-driven, early-stage startup reimagining higher education for the age of AI by creating an entirely new collegiate experience that expands access and opportunity. Backed by $38M from top venture firms including Khosla Ventures, Forerunner, DST Global Partners, and Lightspeed, the company is led by former Duolingo executives and a founding team that also includes Emmy Award winners. With a strong culture centered around high-impact, detail-oriented team members, Outsmart is already seeing significant traction, generating 1–5 million weekly organic views on social media.

## About the role

The Head of Academics & Learning Engineering will lead the design and development of Outsmart’s undergraduate courses and programs, ensuring they are world-class and designed for the AI era, working closely with our Provost.

This role will report to the CEO, oversee our team of faculty and learning engineers, including instructors and learning designers, and will work to translate the institution’s educational vision into world-class curriculum, assessments, and learning experiences.

We’re looking for someone who combines the intellectual depth of a scholar with the energy and creativity of an entrepreneur — someone who deeply understands pedagogy, learning science, and assessment, but is equally fluent in technology and AI. You’ll help define Outsmart’s learning philosophy and lead the creation of the content, curriculum, assessments, and systems that power our programs.

This role is based in Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, or Lehi, UT.

Qualities We're Seeking

- Deep academic expertise in pedagogy and learning design
- Vision for how undergraduate learning should evolve in the AI era — combining rigor, efficacy, accessibility, and fun
- Demonstrated experience in the development and/or validation of standardized assessments
- Comfort operating at the intersection of education, technology, and entrepreneurship
- Ability to lead interdisciplinary teams of faculty and designers
- High-energy, accountable, resourceful, and mission-driven — thrives in an early-stage environment

## What you'll do

- Define and lead Outsmart’s academic philosophy and pedagogical approach
- Oversee undergraduate curriculum and assessment development across disciplines — ensuring rigor, alignment, and measurable learning outcomes
- Lead the Learning Team, including faculty and instructional designers, fostering excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement
- Work closely with our Provost to ensure accreditation and regulatory compliance and to develop and implement academic quality systems for curriculum review, learning outcomes tracking, and assessment validation
- Collaborate with product and engineering teams to design AI-enhanced, technology-enabled learning experiences
- Drive innovation in pedagogy, experimenting with adaptive and AI-supported instructional models

## Qualifications

- Advanced degree, preferably in Education, Learning Science, Instructional Design, Math, or related field
- 10+ years of experience in curriculum or academic leadership, ideally in higher education or edtech
- Demonstrated success managing interdisciplinary academic teams
- Proven record of designing programs that combine technology, pedagogy, and measurable learning outcomes
- Familiarity with accreditation and regulatory processes
- Strong understanding of AI and learning technologies

## Perks

- Competitive salary, equity, and benefits
- Healthcare for you and your dependents (medical, dental, and vision)
- Parental leave for any full-time employee (birthing, non-birthing, and adoptive parents)
- 15 PTO days per year, a winter break, and 12+ paid company holidays per year
- Remote work days
- Lunch provided in-office daily
- Working with super talented people who want to make a difference in the world

Outsmart is committed to building an equitable and inclusive workplace and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants for employment regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

## About Outsmart

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Outsmart is building the university of the future by reimagining higher education for the AI era, making it more affordable, accessible, and personalized.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage, raised $26M+ in total)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA with additional offices in New York, New York and Lehi, Utah
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Jorge Mazal (CEO), Daniel Falabella (CPO), Gina Gotthilf (CMO)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Education Technology (EdTech) / Higher Education
- **Target Customers**: B2C – students and lifelong learners seeking an alternative to traditional, debt-heavy college education
- **Mission / Purpose**: To dramatically increase access to higher education in a way that is unprecedented and can change the world. The founders aim to make college-level education a basic, universal human right.

## Products & Services
- **Outsmart Platform (In Development)**: A mobile-first, AI-powered learning experience that aims to replace or supplement traditional college. Details are still under wraps (stealth mode), but it involves content generation at scale, gamification, benchmarking, multi-modal behavior classification, and psychometrically valid assessments. The offering is expected to be a more affordable, personalized, and engaging alternative to lectures and student debt.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of **$26M+** (Seed rounds in 2024 and 2025)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Khosla Ventures (lead), DST Global (lead), Forerunner (lead), Lightspeed Venture Partners, Latitud, Abstract Ventures, Reach Capital, Karman Ventures, 20VC, and angel investors including Lenny Rachitsky (ex-Airbnb).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **+190% YoY** to 23 employees (as of mid-2025); has 21+ active job postings; monthly web traffic growing.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Founding Team Moat**: Led by three former Duolingo executives (CPO, CMO, and CEO) who were instrumental in scaling that platform to hundreds of millions of users. They bring deep expertise in gamification, growth, and product-led learning.
- **Strong Financial Backing**: $26M+ raised from top-tier venture capital firms in a short period, signaling high confidence in the team and vision.
- **AI-Native DNA**: The product is being built from the ground up for the age of AI, focusing on personalized, adaptive learning at scale.
- **Mission-Driven Focus**: Targeting the massive, broken $1.6 trillion US student loan market with a clear, compelling value proposition: high-quality, affordable higher education.

## Strategic Focus
- **Product Development**: Building and launching the core AI-powered learning platform and mobile apps (iOS/Android).
- **Hiring**: Aggressively scaling the team, particularly in Engineering (Senior Applied AI, Senior Mobile, Full-stack), Product (Principal PM), Learning Design (Senior Learning Designers, Faculty Leads), and Academics (Head of Academics, Lead Assessment Developers).
- **Content & Curriculum**: Developing high-quality, science-based learning content and valid assessment systems to ensure academic credibility.
- **Market Entry**: Moving from stealth mode to a public launch, targeting students frustrated with the cost and format of traditional higher education.

## Why Work Here
- **High-Caliber Team**: Join a tight-knit, ambitious team of former Duolingo, Amazon, Meta, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Spotify engineers, product managers, and designers.
- **Big Mission**: The opportunity to work on a world-changing problem—reimagining higher education and solving the student debt crisis.
- **Ownership & Impact**: Early-stage company where employees are given real ownership over key features and products (0→1).
- **Culture**: Described as having "big mission energy," "AI in our DNA," and a "ship, a lot" mentality. Focus on craft and solving complex problems.
- **Work Policy**: On-site / office-first. Employees work from physical offices in San Francisco, New York, or Lehi, Utah.
- **Benefits**: Great benefits and perks, though specific details are not publicly listed. The company values real ownership and the chance to create something that truly matters.
- **Tech Stack**: Python, React, React Native, Swift, UIKit, GraphQL, Rive, Unity, and various ML/MLOps tools.

## Sources
1. [joinoutsmart.com (Company Website)](https://joinoutsmart.com/)
2. [LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/outsmart-college)
3. [TechCrunch - Ex-Duolingo execs raise $13M](https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/18/ex-duolingo-execs-raise-13m-to-launch-startup-democratize-access-to-college-education/)
4. [Built In - Outsmart Careers](https://builtin.com/company/outsmart)
5. [Abstract Ventures - Jobs at Outsmart](https://jobs.abstractvc.com/jobs/outsmart)

## Other roles at Outsmart

- [Principal Product Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-product-designer-outsmart-lehi-49dqsw1p937v) — Lehi, UT
- [Senior Learning Designer, Science](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-learning-designer-science-outsmart-lehi-tq3er826bfht) — Lehi, UT
- [Lead Assessment Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-assessment-developer-outsmart-lehi-ag8ppkzt25k6) — Lehi, UT
- [Senior Applied AI Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-applied-ai-engineer-outsmart-lehi-tcw7kp2baj6p) — Lehi, UT
- [Faculty Lead & Learning Engineer - Sciences](https://feeny.ai/job/faculty-lead-learning-engineer-sciences-outsmart-lehi-xyz6a0rv5kqp) — Lehi, UT