Playlab
Tech / AI / Software
LearningEngineer
Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Mid+ candidates.
“Learning Engineer at Playlab. Skills: AI building, prompting, coaching educators, prototyping. building, prototyping, and designing AI tools on Playlab alongside partner schools, districts, and organizations. coaching educators as they build their own”
Industry & Context.
figure out how to make the right thing for a specific school, team, or context
travel to partner sites for in-person build days, coaching, and design sprints
What They're Looking For.
Must Have
K-12 classroom experience, understanding of the problems educators are actually trying to solve, builder at heart who likes to tinker, prototype, and make things with new tools, experience with design thinking, rapid prototyping, or helping people learn by doing, working understanding of prompting, including system prompt design, few-shot techniques, knowledge grounding, and getting reliable outputs from LLMs, comfortable using and experimenting with AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Playlab), ability to work through ambiguity and figure out how to make the right thing for a specific school, team, or context, relationship-builder who earns trust with educators, school leaders, and district partners, care deeply about equity and access, and about ensuring AI capacity-building reaches historically marginalized communities, excited to travel to partner sites for in-person build days, coaching, and design sprints
Nice to Have
Experience teaching design thinking, project-based learning, or competency-based learning, Background in building, prototyping, or designing educational technology tools, Familiarity with Playlab or experience building AI-powered apps, prompt engineering skills and understanding of how LLMs work under the hood, Former instructional coach or school-based technology integrator, Experience running hackathons, design challenges, or maker-style experiences with students or adults, Background in learning engineering, learning science, or UX / instructional design, Bilingual (especially Spanish/English), network across K-12 schools, districts, or education nonprofits
What You'll Do.
and designing AI tools on Playlab alongside partner schools
coaching educators as they build their own
anchoring a district's PD
prototyping student-facing AI apps
partnering with the Special Projects team on an experimental build
Build and Prototype AI Apps on Playlab for and with partner organizations
Co-Design AI Tools With Educators through hands-on coaching sessions
Flex Across Partner Work and Special Projects
Run Design Sprints and Build Sessions (virtual and in person)
Coach Educators Through the Build Process
Push the Boundaries of What's Possible on the Platform
Host Office Hours and Open Build Time
Support Student-Facing AI Building including hackathons
and project-based work for students aged 13+
Bring Field Insights Back to the Playlab team
How You'll Work.
Team & Collaboration
works across the broader LE team and Playlab's product, engineering, and partnerships teams; bring insights from the field back to our product and learning teams; collaboration
Communication Scope
coaching educators; relationship-builder
Process & Methodology
design sprints, project-based work
Full Job Description
ABOUT PLAYLAB Playlab is a tech non-profit dedicated to helping educators and students become critical consumers and creators of AI. We believe that an open-source, community-driven approach is key to harnessing the potential of AI in education. We equip communities with AI tools and hands-on professional development that empowers educators and students to build custom AI apps for their unique context. Over 40,000 educators have published apps on Playlab, and the impact is growing every day. At Playlab, we believe that AI is a new design material, one that should be shaped by many to bring their ideas about learning to life. If you're passionate about building creative, equitable futures for students and teachers, we hope you'll join us. THE ROLE Playlab seeks a Learning Engineer to join our growing Learning Engineering team in a flexible role that flows across partner work, content areas, and special projects depending on where the team needs craft and capacity. You will spend your time building, prototyping, and designing AI tools on Playlab alongside partner schools, districts, and organizations, and coaching educators as they build their own. The Learning Engineering function at Playlab is growing fast. As partner work expands across regions, content areas, and the AI Lab Schools cohort, we need Learning Engineers who can move with that work. One quarter you might anchor a district's PD series; the next, prototype student-facing AI apps with a lab school; the next, partner with the Special Projects team on an experimental build. The portfolio shifts with team needs and the strengths you bring. Learning Engineers at Playlab combine classroom experience, strong prompting and AI building skills, and a builder's mindset. You should understand how large language models respond to different prompting strategies, how to structure system prompts, integrate knowledge sources, set guardrails, and design app flows that produce reliable, useful outputs. You will sit with ed
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