About Vertex STEM Education: Vertex STEM Education is a premier educational center in Toronto offering cutting-edge science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business enrichment programs. We are dedicated to nurturing the next generation of innovators through hands-on learning, competitive science fair mentoring, and personalized instruction.

Position Overview: We are seeking a versatile and passionate Lead Instructor to head our technology programs and mentor high school students for competitive science fairs and innovation challenges. This unique role requires a multidisciplinary expert with hands-on experience in both software and hardware development, practical experience with AI products, and a solid foundation in core scientific concepts to guide complex student innovations.

Key Responsibilities:

- Comprehensive STEM Instruction: Teach foundational coding, computer science, and hardware integration courses, delivering high-quality 1-on-1 personalized lessons tailored to student goals.
- Advanced Science Fair Mentoring: Guide Grade 9–12 students through the Scientific Method and Engineering Design Process. Mentor them from ideation and architecture design to building, testing, and evaluating complex software, hardware, or AI-integrated projects.
- Multidisciplinary Project Incubation: Help students bridge theoretical science concepts (e.g., physics, biology, environmental science) with real-world tech solutions using sensors, microcontrollers, and modern software architectures.
- Curriculum Integration: Continuously refine the curriculum to keep pace with industry trends, specifically integrating AI tools, IoT, and full-stack development into actionable student projects.

Qualifications & Requirements:





- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer/Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related technical/scientific field.
- Technical Versatility: Robust programming skills (Python, C++, etc.) coupled with hands-on hardware development experience (e.g., Arduino, Raspberry Pi, circuitry, robotics).
- AI & Science Expertise: Demonstrated experience working with AI products, APIs, or machine learning models. A strong grasp of fundamental science concepts to effectively evaluate and guide high-level experiments.
- Mentorship: Patient, student-centric communication skills. Prior experience mentoring students for science fairs, hackathons, or tech competitions is highly preferred.

Compensation & Benefits:

- Hourly Rate: $35 – $50 per hour (commensurate with experience).
- Work Type: Contract (with flexibility based on class schedules).

Pay: $35.00-$50.00 per hour Expected hours: 12.0 – 35.0 per week

Ability to commute/relocate

- East York, ON M4G 3V2: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Application question(s):
- A Grade 11 student that you are mentoring wants to build an food expiry tracking product. Describe how you would guide them in selecting the necessary hardware, software, and tools, while ensuring their project follows a rigorous scientific method.
- Describe a time you mentored a student through a complex technical project from start to finish. How do you balance guiding them through difficult roadblocks (like a hardware failure or a software bug) without simply doing the work for them?

Education:
- Bachelor's Degree (required)

Experience:
- teaching: 2 years (required)

Work Location: In person

📌 Lead Instructor, Technology & Innovation Projects (East York)
🏢 Vertex STEM Education
📍 East York