NIJIN Academy New Zealand: Country Head (Business Head and Principal)

Now recruiting: Country Head

Kia ora!

Build NIJIN Academy New Zealand, and lead it as head and principal

We are looking for one person to start NIJIN Academy in New Zealand 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 role

Compensation at a glance

You run a business. And part of it is yours.

10%of revenue (excluding tax) is yours, as a guide

JPY50Mcap on your 10%, reached at JPY 500 million in revenue

20%of the shares are yours if you start as a co-owner. NIJIN holds 80%. Investment is optional.

A guide, not a fixed pay scale. As the founder leading the company, you shape your own pay as it grows.See how it works →

New Zealand in numbers

50.3%of students attended school regularly in Term 3 of 2025. The government target is 80%.New Zealand Government Targets, Ministry of Education

22%of 15-year-olds feel like an outsider at school. The OECD average is 17%.OECD PISA 2022

Homeschooling and alternative education in New Zealand: a school for the children in between

Families in New Zealand search for homeschooling, for alternative education and for alternative schools, in Auckland and beyond. If you have thought about building a school for children who do not fit the usual one, this is a route that does not begin from zero.

NIJIN Academy is not a franchise. You can lead it as a co-owner of a local company, with 20% of the shares, or start on a service contract, even as a side job. What NIJIN brings is a working model of an alternative school, online and in person, built with more than 1,000 children in Japan. What has to be worked out locally, including New Zealand’s rules for schools and home education, we work out with you.

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.

1,000+children enrolled since opening in September 2023 (cumulative)

97%attendance recognition among families who applied for it

400+students who have graduated or returned to school

50+physical 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 New Zealand

Regular attendance is one of the government’s own targets. In Term 3 of 2025, 50.3 percent of students attended school regularly, meaning they were present for more than 90 percent of the term, against a target of 80 percent. The provisional figure for Term 4 was 57.3 percent.

In the OECD’s PISA 2022 assessment, 68 percent of 15-year-olds in New Zealand said they felt that they belong at school, against an OECD average of 75 percent, and 22 percent felt like an outsider or left out of things at school.

NIJIN Academy does not present itself as a cure for those numbers, and we make no promise about results. What it has built in Japan is a school where children who had stopped going to school, or who were struggling to keep going, start to like themselves and to like learning again, using live online classes and physical classrooms together. For children who are often away from school, or who do not feel they belong there, that kind of school may matter. Finding out how it can work in New Zealand is the work of 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 New Zealand 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 New Zealand, the principal side of the role means being the person families trust with their child. The business side means building something a New Zealand family can actually afford and reach, in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch and in the regions. 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 New Zealand 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 can start in the way that suits you. One way is to set up a local company for NIJIN Academy in your country together, with you as a shareholder: for example, you hold 20% of the shares and NIJIN holds 80%. If you invest, the guide is JPY 1 to 2 million from you and JPY 4 to 8 million from NIJIN, and we decide the amounts with you. Investment is one option, not a requirement. You can also start on a service contract, even as a side job alongside your current work, and decide later whether to become a co-owner. Either way, the compensation guide is the same: 10% of revenue. In Japan, NIJIN already works with people in many forms, including group companies led by the people who started them. The 10% formula is a guide, not a fixed pay scale. As the person leading the work, you shape 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 New Zealand, we picture someone who has run a team here and hired for it: perhaps in a school, an education or tutoring business, a youth service, 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 New Zealand 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

Would NIJIN Academy New Zealand be a homeschooling programme or a school?

Neither label fits exactly. NIJIN Academy is a school, with homerooms, a community of children and a principal. In Japan it combines a metaverse campus, live online classes and physical classrooms. Whether it is set up in New Zealand as a school, an online programme or something else, and under which rules, is not decided on this page. Working that out is part of the Country Head’s role, and we discuss it in the interview.

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 New Zealand be online, face to face, or both?

In Japan the academy combines a metaverse campus with physical classrooms. What form fits New Zealand 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 New Zealand dollars?

No. The formula is stated in Japanese yen: 10% of revenue, up to JPY 50 million. We do not publish New Zealand 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. You do not have to invest. You can start on a service contract, even as a side job, or as a co-owner of a local company. Either way, the compensation guide is the same: 10% of revenue. If you choose to invest, the guide is JPY 1 to 2 million from you and JPY 4 to 8 million from NIJIN, with 20% of the shares for you and 80% for NIJIN.

Which languages do I need? Do I need Japanese?

Ideally three: the official language of your country, English and Japanese. In New Zealand, te reo Māori alongside English would be a strength, with Japanese. But Japanese is not required. English alone is enough to apply and to start.

Will you start NIJIN Academy New Zealand?

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.