Assistant Director - Academic Systems & Programs

You will join SASTech as Assistant Director, Academic Systems and Programs, reporting directly to the Director. This is not a traditional administrative role. It sits at the centre of everything: curriculum design, faculty development, lab integration, learner outcomes, and the institutional systems that make it all work. You will translate SASTech's academic ambitions into operational reality, and you will do it from the front, with a teaching load of your own.

Day to day, here is what this role looks like:

• Own the curriculum architecture across all SASTech programmes: design semester-wise learning roadmaps, define clear learning outcomes and skill benchmarks for every cohort, and ensure inter-subject coherence so students experience the programme as a unified, progressive journey rather than a collection of disconnected courses

• Own semester execution end to end: course schedules, timetables, faculty allocations, exam and project cycles, capstone reviews, and academic calendar management. You protect the academic calendar so faculty can focus entirely on teaching

• Build, mentor, and manage a high-performing faculty team. Conduct regular teaching quality reviews including class observations, session debriefs, and structured feedback. Lead faculty onboarding and ongoing capability development, ensuring every faculty member grows as both a practitioner and an educator

• Carry a direct teaching load in your area of expertise. This is non-negotiable and integral to the role. Your classroom is a demonstration of the standard you expect from every faculty member, and your willingness to teach earns the credibility to lead the faculty team

• Integrate SASTech labs (AI Studio, Robotics Lab, hardware labs, product studios) into coursework so they are used with purpose, not just maintained. A lab that sits idle is a failure of programme design

• Own learner outcomes across the cohort: track internship readiness, competitive performance (ICPC, GSoC, robotics), and student experience. Build structured feedback and academic support systems so that at-risk learners are identified early and no student falls through quietly

• Institutionalise a structured industry advisory loop: regular interactions with CTOs, senior engineers, and domain experts to ground the curriculum in real-world relevance. Translate that feedback into actionable curriculum changes with a defined turnaround every semester

• Manage academic systems with the rigour of an operations lead: LMS, grading workflows, attendance, performance dashboards, UGC compliance, and accreditation documentation. Coordinate with the university administration on regulatory submissions and NAAC documentation

• Build the culture. Run speaker series, hackathons, open research days, and peer learning initiatives. Be the person who makes SASTech a place where faculty love to teach and students love to learn. Build systems and playbooks that outlast individuals

Requirements

A strong technical background, meaningful industry experience, and a genuine love for teaching and institution building. We do not have a rigid qualification filter. Beyond the background, here is what we actually care about.

Domain and Systems Depth

• Strong hands-on foundation in at least one technical area: full-stack engineering, data science and ML, systems and algorithms, software engineering, or applied mathematics. Enough to design rigorous coursework, engage faculty credibly across verticals, and step into a classroom when required

• Deep familiarity with modern pedagogical approaches: project-based learning, competency-based assessment, flipped classrooms, and outcome-driven curriculum design. You have used at least some of these in practice, not just read about them

• Operational instincts for how academic institutions work: timetabling, faculty coordination, LMS management, UGC and accreditation processes, and learner performance tracking in a high-rigour environment

The Person

• You have done meaningful technical work in industry and then found yourself drawn to teaching, curriculum, or programme building. That combination is rare, and it is exactly what this role demands. You have built or significantly improved something: a curriculum, a team, a programme. And you are proud of it

• You are alumni of IIT, BITS, IIIT Hyderabad, NIT, or a comparable institution. Alternatively, you prepared seriously for UPSC with Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering as an optional, and you want to channel that depth of preparation into building a great educational institution

• You operate with the precision of a programme manager and the empathy of an educator. You measure your own success by whether students are genuinely learning and growing, not by whether the system logged their attendance or a metric turned green

• You have 7 to 12 years of total experience with a meaningful blend of industry and academic or programme leadership. You thrive in ambiguity, move quickly, and do not wait for a perfect plan before acting

Good to Have

• Prior experience at institutions with a strong research or lab-driven culture: Plaksha, Ashoka, IIIT Hyderabad, or BITS Pilani

• Experience launching new academic programmes, minors, or global academic partnerships

Benefits

Here is the honest pitch: we are building IIT 2.0. Not by replicating what the IITs have done, but in the spirit of what they represented: a bold institutional bet on India's future. We operate like a startup inside a university, which means real ownership over your domain, and working alongside faculty who have built real systems, not just written about them.

You will not be filling a vacancy. You will be laying a foundation. The people who join SASTech in these early years will shape what this institution becomes. If you want to make a dent in how India builds and teaches technology, this is where that work happens.