Education Jobs International: Teaching, EdTech, and Curriculum Design

One is traditional international teaching — IB schools in Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai. The other is EdTech and online tutoring — global remote roles built on the K-12, higher-ed, and workforce-learning booms. The pay and lifestyle differ enormously. Choose deliberately.

Top-tier IB schools (Dulwich, Nord Anglia, GEMS, ISS) pay $45k–$85k tax-free + housing + flights. Second-tier: $30k–$55k. Mid-East, Southeast Asia, and China dominate the pool. Europe pays less but offers lifestyle.

Curriculum Designer, Learning Experience Designer, Instructional Designer, Learning Engineer, Content Producer, Product Manager (EdTech), Growth Marketer (EdTech), and Live Tutor for global platforms like Preply, italki, Cambly, and Wyzant. Learning Engineers at Coursera and Udacity now make $130k–$180k.

PGCE (UK), TEACH-NOW / Moreland (US alt-cert), state licensure for US, QTS transfer for UK, IB workshop certifications for international schools. For instructional design: none required, but a Coursera or Michigan cert plus portfolio dominates.

International schools handle visas end-to-end — this is one of the smoothest sponsored moves in any industry. EdTech is mostly remote, so visa is a non-issue for many roles.

International schools: recruiter interview, demo lesson (recorded or live), panel with head of department, offer. EdTech: portfolio review, take-home design exercise, cross-functional panel, offer.

Three artifacts minimum: one full course walkthrough with learning objectives mapped to activities, one micro-learning module, one assessment design with rationale. Bonus: one storyboard with subject-matter-expert notes visible.

Preply and italki tutors at $15–$40/hr; Cambly at $10–$14/hr; specialized STEM/test-prep at $40–$120/hr. Cambridge/Oxbridge admissions tutoring can hit $200/hr for the right tutor.

Applying to international schools without a portfolio of student work, applying to EdTech without a design portfolio, and confusing 'teacher' with 'instructional designer' — they are different careers with different hiring loops.

Teaching: classroom → head of department → deputy head → head of school. EdTech: IC designer → senior → principal → director of learning. Both peak strongly if you specialize in a subject area or an audience segment.

Open CareerSphere Education, split your applications 50/50 between international schools and EdTech, and give it 6 weeks of consistent effort.