"Assistant Teaching Professor, Immersive Media and Games"

Assistant Teaching Professor, Immersive Media and Games

Northern Arizona University

Special Information

• This position is an on-site position which requires the incumbent to complete their work primarily at an NAU site, campus, or facility with or without accommodation. Opportunities for remote work are rare.

About the Department/College

The School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS) is known for its student-centered approach and strong emphasis on hands-on learning and research. We offer a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees, offered by approximately 60 faculty in the school, with roughly 1,200 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. The department fosters close faculty-student interaction, with a focus on mentoring and collaborative research, partnering with local and national organizations to apply engineering solutions to real-world problems, especially those relevant to Arizona and the Southwest.

About the Position

The Immersive Media and Games program offered by the School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems at the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering (SCE) in Northern Arizona University invites applications for a career track (non-tenure track) position at the rank of Assistant Teaching Professor. The successful candidate will have a strong background in game development teaching and prior experience in university teaching. The program is especially interested in applicants whose technical expertise is in human-computer interaction, game user research, games and AI, and game-based learning. Prior industry experience and shipping game products would be a plus.
The anticipated start date for this position is the beginning of the Fall 2026 semester.

Responsibilities Include

• Teach 24 credit hours of Immersive Media and Games (IMG) courses, or laboratory equivalent, during the academic year.
• Develop undergraduate courses to support existing and new degree programs within the program.
• Increase recruitment and retention in Immersive Media and Games.
• Perform service for the department, college, university, and profession.
• Maintain office hours and direct interaction with students.
• Remain current in their discipline, updating course content as appropriate.
• Work with the IMG Program faculty to develop and implement processes and tools for assessment of teaching and student learning outcomes, incorporating appropriate methodologies and technology.
• Mentor the Game Design student club.
• Work with the Schools of Art and Visual Communication so IMG students have the right courses and curriculum offered by their programs.
• Work with industry partners in identifying projects for the Capstone course, internships for the students.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Completion of a PhD in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Informatics, Data Science, AI, or a closely related field, awarded by August 18th, 2026.
• A minimum of two years of college-level teaching experience, which could also have been during the doctoral degree.

*A combination of related education, experience, and training may be used as an equivalent to the above Minimum Qualifications.*

Preferred Qualifications

• 3-5 years of teaching experience in undergraduate game design courses, ideally in an ABET-accredited program.
• Experience developing and teaching experimental laboratory courses.
• Experience developing Capstone projects.
• Experience with mentoring student teams to compete in game design challenges, hackathons, game jams, and other competitions.
• Prior industry experience in game development, immersive technology.
• Experience of involvement in curriculum development, student advising, and ABET accreditation processes.
• Demonstrated evidence of engagement with external sponsors to support student projects.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the needs related to public education.
• Knowledge of learning management systems.
• Knowledge of instructional design, effective pedagogy, team teaching, and innovative learning methodologies.
• Knowledge of best practices in teaching and learning in traditional and hybrid classroom environments.
• Being able to demonstrate the connections between prototyping, design, and development of immersive products.
• Knowledge of effective supervisory and leadership practices.
• Knowledge of game engine architecture, immersive content creation pipelines, and tools for usability and assessment.

Skills

• Program development skills.
• Effective leadership and active listening skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Experimental work and prototyping experience.
• Industry experience.
• Game programming skills (C++, C#).
• Effective communication skills.

Abilities

• Communicates effectively.
• Develops and maintains good working relationships.
• Facilitates learning in multiple modalities.
• Offers content courses to augment department curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
• Teaches a wide variety of courses.
• Recruits, advises, and mentors undergraduate or graduate students.
• Teaches and works effectively with members at all levels of the University.
• Engages with and leads collaborative multi- and inter-disciplinary teams.
• Works in a collaborative environment with faculty, staff, and students.
• Ability to integrate hands-on learning using AR/VR, motion capture, and VFX/sound.

Compensation

Salary range begins at $70,577. Annual salary commensurate with candidate's qualifications and related experience.

Submit your Application

Vacancy will remain open until filled.

To apply for this position, please click on the "Apply" button on this page.

Application must include (saved as PDF and/or Word documents):
1. a cover letter highlighting your particular qualifications for this position;
2. a curriculum vitae; and
3. names and contact information for three references.

Please do not include any other documents as they will not be considered.

If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to participate in the hiring process, please contact the Disability Resources Office at 928-523-8773, DR@nau.edu, or PO Box 5633, Flagstaff AZ 86011.

To apply, please visit: https://careers.nau.edu/jobs/assistant-teaching-professor-immersive-media-and-games-flagstaff-arizona-united-states