NIJIN Academy US: Country Head (Business Head and Principal)

Now recruiting: Country Head

Found NIJIN Academy US. Run the business. Be the principal.

We are looking for one person to launch and lead NIJIN Academy in the United States. No teaching background is required. If you have run an organisation, hired a team, and want to build something for kids school is not working for, are you in?

Apply for this role

The United States in numbers

5.2%of students aged 5 to 17 learning at home in 2022–23, up from 3.7% in 2018–19National Center for Education Statistics

28%chronic absenteeism in 2022–23, after about 31% in 2021–22U.S. Department of Education

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.

900+children enrolled since opening in September 2023 (cumulative)

97%attendance recognition among families who applied for it

400students who have graduated or returned to school

48physical classrooms across Japan

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.

Watch · Live homeroom

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.

More live homerooms Principal Tatsuro’s channel

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 United States

American families are already moving. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in the 2022–23 school year, 5.2 percent of students aged 5 to 17 received their academic instruction at home, either homeschooled or enrolled full time in virtual education. That is up from 3.7 percent in 2018–19. Homeschooled students alone made up 3.4 percent.

Far more students are still enrolled but often not there. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the national rate of chronic absenteeism, meaning missing 10 percent or more of the school year, reached about 31 percent in 2021–22 and stood at 28 percent in 2022–23.

Japan knows a version of this. NIJIN Academy was built for children who had stopped attending school, on the belief that the child is not the problem. It offers a school a child can enter from home through a metaverse campus, with live classes, a homeroom, classmates and physical classrooms to visit. The United States has no shortage of online programs and homeschool resources. What NIJIN may add is a school community designed from the start for the child who did not fit, with happiness and belonging treated as the foundation and not as an extra. Whether and how that fits American families, state by state, is the first question for the Country Head.

Sources:

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 US 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 United States this looks a lot like a founder’s job. Education is governed largely at the state level, families have many options to compare, and a new school has to earn attention before it earns trust. You would pick the starting point, build the first team, and be the face parents see when they decide whether to enrol their child.

You would work with NIJIN in Japan and draw on three years of operating experience there. The judgment about what fits American children and families would be yours.

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. English is enough. Japanese is welcome but not required.

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 US, we picture an operator with a founder’s temperament: someone who has led a school, a network, a company or a division, hired the people in it, and owned a budget. You may come from education, or from somewhere else entirely and care about kids who are missing school. Either way, you are comfortable being accountable for both the mission and the margin.

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 United States 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 have never taught. Can I be the principal?

Yes. NIJIN does not require teaching experience for this role. We look for leadership, management, business ability and the skills of a principal. What the school itself will need in a given state is something we work through together.

Which state will NIJIN Academy US start in?

That is not fixed. Location is among the details discussed in the interview, and your view on where to start is something we want to hear.

Why is compensation quoted in yen and not dollars?

NIJIN is a Japanese company and states the formula in Japanese yen: 10% of revenue, up to JPY 50 million. We do not publish dollar 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?

Japanese is not required. In most countries we hope for three languages: the official language of the country, English and Japanese. In the United States, English alone is enough to apply and to start.

Will you found NIJIN Academy US?

If you have built teams and want to build a school for kids who do not fit school, apply, and let’s talk.