Science Subject Matter Expert - Middle School

Job Overview:

We’re seeking a sharp, standards-driven Science Subject Matter Expert (SME) for grades 6–9 to serve as the educational backbone of our content development team. In this role, you will bridge the gap between science standards, engaging content, and hands-on kits, ensuring every lesson is both

rigorous and fun. This position is all about creative instructional design vision rather than script writing – we have curriculum writers for the detailed scripts. Instead, you’ll craft high-level blueprints for lessons (think essential questions, learning objectives, and a slide/session flow) and make sure everything from the initial concept to the student’s experience holds up to scrutiny. We need someone who can look at a lesson and say, “This is engaging, this is accurate, and this teaches exactly what it’s supposed to.”

As our Science SME, you will work collaboratively with curriculum writers, a kit engineer (our hands-on

activity designer), and media developers to shape each module. You’ll ensure our discovery-based

learning framework is embedded in every session, tying concepts across physical, life, earth, and

chemical sciences to real-world applications. You won’t be authoring scripts, but your pedagogical

expertise and creative vision will guide those who do. This is a highly collaborative and creative role

where you’ll validate and enhance curriculum modules before, during, and after they’re written –

maintaining academic accuracy, aligning to NGSS standards, and keeping the experience engaging and cross-disciplinary. If you’re excited about making science meaningful beyond the textbook and being part of an innovative, growing team, this role is for you.

Key Responsibilities

• Standards Alignment: Ensure all instructional content tightly aligns with national and state

science standards (especially NGSS) as well as internal learning goals. Maintain up-to-date

alignment documentation, including standards mapping, vocabulary lists, and learning goal

trackers for each product.

• Instructional Accuracy: Review and vet lesson scripts, storyboards, and slide decks for

conceptual clarity, correct pacing, and pedagogical soundness. Identify any gaps or

inaccuracies in content and propose improvements or stronger instructional techniques to

address them.

• Hands-On Kit Integration: Collaborate with our kit designer to evaluate and shape hands-on

activities and science kits for each module. Make sure each experiment or build directly

supports the lesson objectives and standards. Provide feedback on prototypes and suggest

refinements to improve student understanding, usability, and excitement.

• Curriculum Design Blueprint: Develop high-level instructional blueprints for lessons and

modules. Outline essential questions, learning objectives, and the session flow — for example,

mapping out a 30-slide lesson in a concise 5–7 slide framework that guides our scriptwriters.

Ensure the planned flow is logically sound and engaging from start to finish.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with curriculum writers, editors, and

media/content developers at every stage of development. Serve as a strategic partner during

planning meetings and content review sessions, ensuring the instructional intent is clear and

consistently carried through in the final product. (You’ll actively participate in creative

brainstorming and “rip-and-tear” sessions to help solve challenges and refine ideas in real

time.)

• Real-World Connection: Infuse real-world context and cross-curricular links into every

module. Help design activities and examples that connect science concepts to everyday life

and, where possible, to other subject areas (math, ELA, social studies), so that learning is

interdisciplinary and relevant.

• Quality Assurance: Lead the final academic quality checks on each curriculum module. Before

a lesson goes live, confirm that all content is scientifically accurate, terminology is correct and

age-appropriate, and the material meets our high standards for rigor and creativity. Ensure that

every student-facing experience delivers on its promise and aligns with our discovery-based

learning framework.

• Innovative Curriculum Development: Contribute to the broader curriculum strategy by

bringing new ideas and insights. You’ll be involved in evolving our curriculum beyond traditional

models – brainstorming new approaches, improving our methods, and ensuring we stay ahead

of the curve in science education. Your expertise will help shape the future direction of our

products in a meaningful way.

Workload & Process:

• Standards Review & Instructional QA (35%): Roughly one-third of your time will be spent

auditing existing content for standards alignment. You’ll identify whether standards are fully or

partially met, break down which components are addressed, evaluate the Depth of Knowledge

(DOK), and assess overall academic rigor. All findings will be documented in our standards

tracking system for future reference and decision-making.

• Script and Storyboard Collaboration (35%): Another third of your time will be dedicated to

working closely with content writers and editors to ensure new scripts and storyboards align

with standards. You’ll help determine the extent of alignment, clarify instructional intent, and

support the development of assessments that accurately measure student understanding.

• Kit Instructional Support (30%): The remainder of your time will focus on partnering with the kit

engineer to review and shape new hands-on activities. Your goal will be to evaluate how well

proposed activities meet educational standards and build out a bank of instructionally sound

experiences that can be deployed when new content demand arises.