Academic Head

Role: Academic Head

Experience: 20 Years

Location: Hyderabad & New Delhi

Mode of working: Work from Office

Compensation: As per Industry Standards

Contact Person: hr@wisewings.in

Company Profile:

• Develop and manage a high-performing team of functional managers centered around a culture of accountability, engagement, continuous improvement, and inclusion.
• Support and enable career growth and professional development, with succession planning in mind.
• Lead the academic vision for the development of high-quality, curriculum-aligned Teaching Learning Materials textbooks and teacher resources, supplementary materials for Classes 18 keeping in mind the level of schools we are catering to, have levelled content not only for students but teachers alike.
• Ensure alignment with national and/or international curriculum frameworks (e.g., NCF, CBSE, ICSE).
• Prepare the annual and multi-year academic content development roadmap.
• Supervise subject-wise teams for primary and upper primary levels.
• Ensure the content is age-appropriate, pedagogically sound, inclusive and contextual.
• Integrate 21st-century skills, foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) and multidisciplinary approaches as relevant.
• Review manuscript drafts for conceptual soundness before editorial review.
• Approve the final content drafts for submission to the editorial team.
• Facilitate peer reviews and engage subject experts where necessary.
• Recruit, mentor and manage academic teams (subject leads, writers, curriculum planners).
• Facilitate interdepartmental coordination, especially with the Chief Editor, Design and Digital teams, and client coordination team.
• Organize internal capacity building (e.g., pedagogy workshops, curriculum updates).
• Lead the development of scope and sequence charts, learning outcomes and assessment frameworks.
• Encourage integration of innovative pedagogical strategies (e.g., activity-based learning, storytelling, real-life applications).
• Interact with academic advisors, reviewers, school leaders and curriculum boards.
• Represent the academic wing during presentations to clients or education departments.
• Gather and analyse feedback from school trials, teacher trainings or user reviews.
• Maintain structured records of academic plans, review reports, feedback logs and approval documentation.
• Submit monthly and quarterly reports to the Managing Director on academic progress and issues.
• Ensure textbooks are adaptable to school-specific requirements, such as language preferences, examination/state board guidelines or cultural context.
• Collaborate with the digital and product teams to ensure textbooks have corresponding digital assets, such as interactive lessons, videos or assessments.
• Guide content adaptation for blended or hybrid learning environments.
• Ensure that academic content adheres to copyright regulations, and diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
• Assist in designing teacher support resources, orientation modules and capacity-building workshops tailored to textbook use.
• Participate in delivering training sessions, webinars or school-based academic consultations.
• Identify academic risks (e.g., curriculum and policy changes, or delays in content creation) and plan mitigation strategies.
• Ensure academic continuity in case of staff changes or external disruptions.
• Provide academic inputs for sales and marketing collaterals (e.g., sample books, presentations, product brochures).
• Brief sales teams on academic philosophy and textbook structure to ensure correct messaging to client schools.

Key Deliverables

• Annual textbook development plan for each grade and subject
• Curriculum mapping documents and learning outcome alignment charts
• Quality-assured manuscript submissions ready for pre-press
• Reports on user feedback and recommendations for improvements
• Orientation modules or support materials for teacher training (if needed)

Qualifications and Experience
Educational Qualifications

• Masters degree or higher in Education, Curriculum Studies, or a core school subject (e.g., English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science)
• Ph.D. in Education or a relevant discipline is preferred, but not mandatory

Professional Experience

• Minimum

  20 years

  of relevant and proven experience in school education, textbook development, curriculum design or academic publishing
• At least

  5 years

  proven experience

  in a leadership role

  managing cross-functional academic or publishing teams
• Strong familiarity with

  National Curriculum Frameworks

  (e.g., NCF 2005, NCF 2023, state curricula) and international pedagogical standards (e.g., IB, Cambridge, CCSS)

Desirable Skills and Competencies

• Proven experience in developing or overseeing textbooks and instructional materials for Grades 18
• Deep understanding of pedagogy for pre-primary, primary and upper primary levels
• Strong leadership, team-building and mentoring skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Ability to collaborate with editors, illustrators, production teams and external experts
• Comfortable with digital tools and content platforms, MS office, Google Suite and understanding of designing tools. (e.g., content management systems, collaborative writing tools)