I-Lab Engineer
The Position:
I-Lab Engineer ... Teacher ... Student Project Facilitator … Tinkerer … Builder … Designer … Engineer …
Do you love to tinker and build? Does the latest issue of Make Magazine send you to your workbench? The internationally-known Nueva School is looking for you! Our kids love to invent and create. We're looking for someone with a similar mindset (and a lot more years of training) to help assist and guide our gifted middle school students. Working in our 3,500 square foot state-of-the-art Innovation Lab, designed by Stanford's d.school, you will have the opportunity to foster our students' curiosity, design skills, and ability to create working solutions for real world problems.
About the Innovation Lab:
In one day in the I-Lab, you might hear one group of students strategizing how to teach other teens to manage stress, help another student laser engrave a mirror for their own interpretation of Dante’s Inferno, see a student prototyping a better drill rack, and move through a crowded room as the robotics team teaches their new members how to commit their code to GitHub. As an I-Lab engineer you create and maintain the classes and spaces that make those experiences happen. The I-Lab was built on the realization that we do not know what specific skill will be most useful to someone graduating from high school in 2027, but that solving problems would never go out of style. In the I-Lab, students learn to embrace Design Thinking as a nonlinear process that provides mindsets and techniques to help solve open-ended problems. Through working with real problems and users, students develop their empathetic and questioning mindsets and learn how to brainstorm, prototype and iterate solutions.
Job Description:
- Job may include full-time or part-time work, including role(s) as: I-Lab Engineer (teacher), Associate Teacher, and/or Shop Manager, depending on skills and interests of the candidate.
- May include associate teacher training as part of Nueva’s Innovative Teacher Program, depending on skills and interests of the candidate.
- Includes great benefit package.
General Responsibilities:
- Develop and teach engineering classes in a variety of grades, elementary through high school
- Work with students on individual or small group projects
- Support open labs during lunch and other times
- Provide expertise to other teachers about projects they would like to offer and co-teach as needed
- Collaborate effectively with I-Lab team to develop engineering curriculum scope and sequence
- Help support our FIRST Robotics teams
- Work to keep I-Lab organized and well-stocked
- Create and maintain a culture of tidiness and respect for the workspace
- Maintain machine tools
- Source and help students source and purchase materials and tools
- Model flexibility in implementing best learning practices
- Support the wellbeing of all students
- Demonstrate interest and ability to serve as an advisor to students, lead student activities, serve as a club advisor, and contribute beyond the classroom to support school programs and activities
- Participate actively in other aspects of the student experience and school functioning: chaperoning trips and events, serving on committees, and developing new programs at the school
- Lead by example in your commitment to Nueva’s mission:
“Our school community inspires passion for lifelong learning, fosters social and emotional acuity, and develops the student’s imaginative mind.”
Position Qualifications
- Is high energy, hardworking, organized, and reliable with a steadfast focus on safety
- Is passionate about working with kids and able to relate to and connect with gifted students
- Is passionate about design, engineering, and making across multiple fabrication domains
- Is interested and able to support students social-emotional growth
- Would enjoy being part of an enthusiastic community of Design Thinkers, Designers, and Makers
- Is open to receiving constructive feedback
- Has teaching, coaching, or educational experience (not required, but a plus)
- Has B.S. and/or experience in design, engineering or a comparable degree (not required, but a plus)
- Has the ability to help guide a student from their initial idea to completion, while leaving locus of control in the students' hands
- Is Technologically savvy and can navigate (or learn to navigate) complex technological processes
- Has years of experience and confidence with multiple design and fabrication processes, including:
○ Common woodworking machinery and hand tools
○ CAD software, laser cutters, and 3D printers
○ Simple programming (i.e. Arduino, Scratch)
○ Electronics (simple DC circuits, breadboarding, Arduino sensors and motors, etc.)
○ Robotics and/or mechatronics (i.e. Lego Mindstorms)
- Is interested and caught up with new technologies as they emerge, and excited to make recommendations for new purchases to keep the I-Lab cutting edge.
- Is familiar with Design Thinking (not required, but a plus)
- Has a ‘fix-it’ mentality and can find solutions to most shop problems.
To Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume to ksaxe@nuevaschool.org and sswaaley@nuevaschool.org. Please be sure to note the position title in the subject of your email. Portfolios of design and engineering work are also encouraged as part of your submission.