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

Now recruiting: Country Head

Found NIJIN Academy UK, as its business head and its principal

We are looking for one person to start and lead NIJIN Academy in the United Kingdom. You do not need to have taught. If you have managed an organisation and recruited a team, and you want a serious challenge, might this be you?

Apply for this role

England in numbers

126,000children in elective home education on census day in autumn 2025Department for Education

111,700a year earlierDepartment for 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 Kingdom

The clearest official picture comes from England, where the Department for Education publishes figures each term. On census day in autumn 2025, 126,000 children were in elective home education, up from 111,700 a year earlier. Across the 2024/25 academic year, 175,900 children were home educated at some point.

Among pupils who remain on a school roll, absence has not returned to where it was. In the autumn term of 2025/26, 18.10 percent of pupils in England were persistently absent, meaning they missed 10 percent or more of sessions, and 2.12 percent were severely absent, missing half or more. The Department notes that overall absence remains above pre-pandemic rates.

These figures cover England only. Education is devolved, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish their own. But the pattern they describe is one NIJIN knows from Japan: a growing number of children for whom school, as offered, is not working. NIJIN Academy was built for those children. It gives them a school they can enter from home through a metaverse campus, with live lessons, a form group, friends, and physical classrooms to go to when they are ready. We do not claim it is the answer for every family in the UK. We think it is worth finding out whom it could help, and that needs someone here to lead it.

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 UK 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 UK, parents who look beyond their child’s school are often doing so after a hard year or more. The principal side of this role means meeting them with patience and straight answers. The business side means building an organisation that is properly run and can stand on its own income, so that the children who join are not let down later.

You would work with NIJIN in Japan and draw on what the academy has learned since 2023. The judgment about what suits children and families here 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 UK, we picture someone who has run an organisation or a substantial part of one: a school or trust, a charity, a children’s service, or a business in another sector. Someone who has recruited carefully, managed people through difficulty, and can speak plainly with parents, staff and partners. A background in education is welcome but not needed. Conviction that these children deserve a better option is.

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 Kingdom 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

Do I need Qualified Teacher Status or headship experience?

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 here is something we work through together.

Will it cover all four nations?

That is not decided on this page. Where to begin is among the details discussed in the interview, and your view is part of what we want to hear.

Why is compensation quoted in yen and not pounds?

NIJIN is a Japanese company and states the formula in Japanese yen: 10% of revenue, up to JPY 50 million. We do not publish sterling 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 Kingdom, English alone is enough to apply and to start.

Will you lead NIJIN Academy UK?

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