Director of STEM Innovation & Partnerships

We have the scholars. We have the scores. We do not to date have the nation leading STEM program those scholars deserve — and that is the job.

SR1 College Preparatory & STEM Academy is hiring a Director of STEM Innovation & Partnerships. For the right leader, this role carries the Vice Provost (Principal) portfolio.

88% of our 3rd graders passed the Mississippi ELA reading assessment on their first attempt — more than 10 points above the state average on the educational institution first try. We did that in three years, in Canton, Mississippi. Now we need someone to build the K–5 STEM experience that matches those numbers, and then carry it out into the community.

This is a design job as much as a leadership job. We call it SR1 CPSA Imagineering.

What you'll build:

🤖 Robotics & computer science, K–5 — a vertical progression from ScratchJr and Bee-Bots to VEX, LEGO Education, and competitive teams. You'll spec the lab, buy the gear, and get our scholars on the competition floor.

🧠 AI & data literacy — age-appropriate for elementary: how machines learn, what data is, and how to think critically about what a machine tells you.

🌱 Agriculture, precision farming & outdoor STEM — school gardens, growing systems, sensors, drones, soil and water data, and field study across the Canton, Jackson, and Yazoo corridor.

🎓 College & career pathways starting in kindergarten — not one career day in April.

🤝 Industry & college partnerships — mentors, equipment, site visits, grants, and pathway agreements our families can actually use.

What we're looking for:

✅ Master's degree in education, educational leadership, a STEM discipline, or related (doctorate welcome)

✅ Mississippi Administrator License or eligibility — strongly preferred, required to carry the Vice Provost portfolio

✅ Deep command of educational standards — you can read a standard, design backward from it, and tell the difference between a fun activity and a lesson that moves a scholar

✅ Real STEM depth — you've actually built, coded, grown, engineered, or researched something. Our scholars can tell the difference.

✅ A partnership track record — you can walk into a company or a college and walk out with a commitment in writing

✅ Startup leadership — there is no department to inherit but a great start from our STEM Learning Designers. You are the department until you build one.

✅ Work with STEM Designers

Compensation: base $70,000 on a 12-month contract, with growth steps as the school expands and performance and partnership incentives — total compensation with details to finalist. We are 130 scholars today — this package is built to grow with what you build.

The honest part: this is a startup role in a startup school. No existing STEM department, no closet full of robots, no partner list to inherit. You will write the plan, source the funding when needed, train the teachers, run the first competition, and stand at the family night explaining all of it — sometimes in the same week. The heavy lifting is real.

So is the ownership. What you build here will outlast you and belong to children who have never been handed anything like it.

If you want a program to maintain, this is not the career move for you. If you want to author one, let's talk. Apply: email info@sr1cpsa.org with subject line "Director of STEM Innovation Application – [Your Name]." Include your résumé/CV, licensure documentation if obtained, and three references.

And one thing that matters more than the résumé: attach a one-page STEM vision. If you had one year, our K–5 scholars, and a blank page — what would you build first, and how would you know it worked?

www.sr1cpsa.org | 601.206.4544 | Canton, MS SR1 CPSA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Creating the Future as One with A Commitment to Excellence

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