Now recruiting: Country Head
Build NIJIN Academy Philippines, and lead it as head and principal
We are looking for one person to start NIJIN Academy in the Philippines and lead it. You do not need to have been a teacher. If you have managed an organisation and built a team, would you take this on?
Apply for this roleThe Philippines in numbers
What NIJIN Academy is
NIJIN Academy is an alternative school in Japan for elementary and junior high school students who do not fit conventional school. Many of them had stopped going to school altogether. It opened in September 2023 and is run by NIJIN Inc., an education company founded by Tatsuro Hoshino. He taught at a public elementary school for seven years, then left to build what he calls another piece of educational infrastructure that stands alongside school.
The model is hybrid. Children attend from home through a metaverse campus, choose from about 100 live online classes a month, and can also go to physical classrooms across Japan. NIJIN describes the academy as one of the largest alternative schools in Japan, and it now runs through to high school age.
Figures are those published on NIJIN’s official websites. “Attendance recognition” means the child’s registered school counts learning at NIJIN Academy as school attendance.
See NIJIN Academy as it really is
CCThe video is in Japanese. To watch in English, turn on subtitles, then open Settings, choose Subtitles, Auto-translate and English.
The school’s motto is “Be HAPPY, Do HAPPY”: everyone has the power to be happy and the power to make others happy. The aim is that children come to like themselves, like learning, and like the society around them. The company’s working principle is just as short: don’t blame people, build systems. A child who stops attending is not the problem, and neither are the parents or the teachers. The system is what has to change. In 2026, according to NIJIN’s website, Hoshino was the only person from Japan named among JCI’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World.
Why the Philippines
The Philippines already recognises, in law and in policy, that learning does not happen only in a regular classroom. The Alternative Learning System was strengthened by Republic Act No. 11510, the ALS Act, in 2020. In 2022 the Department of Education issued revised policy guidelines on its Homeschooling Program (DepEd Order No. 001, s. 2022), under which the program may be offered by both public and private schools as an alternative delivery mode, with parents or guardians as the primary agents of the teaching and learning process.
At the same time, international data show how much is being asked of the system. The World Bank’s learning poverty brief for the Philippines reports that, on the latest data from before the pandemic school closures, 91 percent of children at late primary age were not proficient in reading. In the OECD’s PISA 2022 assessment, 16 percent of 15-year-old students in the Philippines reached at least Level 2 in mathematics, against an OECD average of 69 percent.
NIJIN Academy does not present itself as a cure for those numbers, and we make no promise about test results. What it has built in Japan is a school where children who had given up on school start to like themselves and to like learning again, using live online classes and physical classrooms together. In a country of many islands, where families already know alternative delivery modes by name, that kind of school may find a real place. Finding out exactly where is the work of the Country Head.
Sources:
- https://www.deped.gov.ph/2022/01/21/january-21-2022-do-001-s-2022-revised-policy-guidelines-on-home-schooling-program/
- https://www.deped.gov.ph/2022/02/10/deped-strengthens-homeschooling-program-implementation-regulation/
- https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2020/ra_11510_2020.html
- https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099000207152223103/pdf/IDU002b5536c0db4104ec3087d809906ec2eae56.pdf
- https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/pisa-2022-results-volume-i-and-ii-country-notes_ed6fbcc5-en/philippines_a0882a2d-en.html
The role: business head and principal
The Country Head holds two jobs that are usually split between two people. As business head, you are responsible for NIJIN Academy Philippines as an operation: finding the families it serves, hiring and leading the team, and growing its revenue. As principal, you are responsible for it as a school: what children experience each day, how parents are heard, and whether the place is safe and worth coming to.
In the Philippines, the principal side of the role means being the person families trust with their child. The business side means building something a Filipino family can actually afford and reach, wherever they live. A school that is loved but cannot sustain itself closes, and the children lose it. A school that earns but is not loved is not what NIJIN is. Holding both is the job.
You would work with NIJIN in Japan and draw on its experience, and you would decide how that experience should be adapted for Filipino children and parents.
Compensation: 10% of revenue, as a guide
The compensation for this role is one formula, stated openly. As a guide, the Country Head receives 10% of revenue, up to a cap of JPY 50 million.
| Revenue (excluding tax) | Country Head’s compensation (10%) |
|---|---|
| JPY 100 million | JPY 10 million |
| JPY 200 million | JPY 20 million |
| JPY 500 million or more | JPY 50 million (cap) |
| No revenue | None under this formula |
Please read this part carefully. The rows above show how the formula works. They are not a forecast and not a promise of income. Compensation is tied to revenue: when there is no revenue, this formula pays nothing. Amounts are stated in Japanese yen only. Revenue here means sales excluding consumption tax (VAT or sales tax). Every other term is discussed in the interview.
If you hand part of the job to someone else. This 10% is the compensation for everything the role requires of a business head and a principal. If you ask someone else to do part of that work, or to supply an ability the role requires, that person is paid out of your 10%.
You build this as a founder, with shares. The plan is to set up a local company for NIJIN Academy in your country together. You hold 20% of the shares and NIJIN holds 80%. As a guide, you invest JPY 1 to 2 million of the starting capital and NIJIN invests JPY 4 to 8 million. We decide the exact amounts with you. That makes the 10% formula a guide, not a fixed pay scale. As the person leading that company, you decide your own compensation as it grows. The details are discussed in the interview.
Who we are looking for
This is a role for a founder. We are looking for someone who wants to start a company in their own country and who wants to solve a problem in education. If both of those are true for you, read on.
Four abilities matter in this role, along with languages:
- Leadership. You can set a direction when nothing has been built yet, and people choose to follow it.
- Management. You can turn that direction into a team, a rhythm of work, and results.
- Business ability. You can run an operation that earns more than it spends, because that is what keeps a school open for its children.
- The skills of a principal. You can earn the trust of children, parents and teachers, and you take responsibility for what happens in the school.
- Languages. Ideally you work in three: the official language of your country, English and Japanese. English alone is fine.
Teaching experience is not required. What carries over directly is experience of managing an organisation and experience of hiring people. If you have built a team, chosen who joins it, and answered for its results, you already know a large part of this job.
For the Philippines, we picture someone who has run a team here and hired for it: perhaps in a school, a training or learning company, a service operation, or a community organisation. Someone warm enough that parents open up, and firm enough to make the numbers work. Someone who sees children who have drifted away from school and thinks about what could be built for them.
How it works
- Apply. Use the button on this page.
- Online interview. We talk about you, about NIJIN, and about what an academy in the Philippines could be.
- Details in the interview. Form of engagement, location, timing, costs and every other term are not set out on this page. We go through them together in the interview.
Questions and answers
I am not a licensed teacher. Can I apply?
Yes. NIJIN does not require teaching experience for the Country Head. We look for leadership, management, business ability and the skills of a principal. What the school itself will need locally is something we work through together.
Will NIJIN Academy Philippines be online, face to face, or both?
In Japan the academy combines a metaverse campus with physical classrooms. What form fits the Philippines is not decided on this page. It is a question for the interview, and one the Country Head will help answer.
Is the compensation stated in pesos?
No. The formula is stated in Japanese yen: 10% of revenue, up to JPY 50 million. We do not publish peso equivalents. Payment details are discussed in the interview.
Is any income guaranteed?
No. As a guide, compensation for this role is 10% of revenue, capped at JPY 50 million. If there is no revenue, the formula pays nothing. The examples on this page (JPY 100 million of revenue gives JPY 10 million; JPY 200 million gives JPY 20 million) only illustrate the calculation.
What about contract type, location, start date and start-up costs?
Contract type, location and start date are not set out on this page. We go through them in the interview. On start-up costs, the guide is that you invest JPY 1 to 2 million and NIJIN invests JPY 4 to 8 million in the local company. You hold 20% of its shares and NIJIN holds 80%.
Which languages do I need? Do I need Japanese?
Ideally three: the official language of your country, English and Japanese. In Taiwan, for example, that would be Mandarin, English and Japanese. But Japanese is not required. English alone is enough to apply and to start.
Will you start NIJIN Academy Philippines?
If you want to build a school for children who do not fit school, and you have the experience of leading and hiring a team, apply, and let’s talk.
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