K-12 & edtech content
Curriculum Developer
Designing what gets taught, without managing the classroom.
Typical pay
$60k-$105k
How you get in
Teaching experience plus instructional design skill
Outlook
Growing; digital curriculum and edtech drive demand
Average openings
46/100Fewer openings per worker than the average job, and the field is growing.
JobPOVs index, calculated from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025-2035 for Instructional coordinators. It measures how many openings arise each year relative to the size of the field — not how many people apply. BLS does not publish a saturation figure.
Curriculum developers design instructional materials, standards alignment and assessments. Publishers and edtech companies pay substantially more than districts, and it is a common landing spot for teachers who want out of the classroom.
A day in the life
9:00a – 4:30p · 7 hours 30 min
- 9:00aReview standards alignment for a new unit
- 10:00aWrite lesson sequences and assessment items
- 12:30pLunch
- 1:30pMeet with subject matter experts and reviewers
- 3:00pRevise based on classroom pilot feedback
- 4:30pCoordinate with the editorial and design teams
How to get in
Teacher into curriculum
Duration
5-8 years
Cost
$0-$30,000
Credential
Teaching license plus curriculum experience
- Teach for several years and build subject expertise
- Join district curriculum committees and write units
- Move into an instructional coach or district curriculum role
- Then target publishers and edtech, where pay is significantly higher
Master's in curriculum and instruction
Duration
2 years
Cost
$15,000-$50,000
Credential
MEd in curriculum and instruction
- Complete a curriculum and instruction master's
- Build a portfolio of designed units and assessments
- Target district coordinator or publisher roles
- The credential most district curriculum positions expect
Edtech content development
Duration
1-3 years
Cost
$0-$5,000
Credential
None — a portfolio of built content
- Learn instructional design tools and digital content platforms
- Freelance for edtech companies to build a portfolio
- Understand accessibility and assessment design
- Fully remote roles are common in this segment
What people love
- · Uses teaching expertise without classroom management
- · Edtech and publisher pay exceeds district salaries
- · Remote-friendly
- · Impacts far more students than one classroom
What wears people down
- · Long review and revision cycles
- · Standards change and force rewrites
- · Disconnected from the students you are writing for
- · Edtech is subject to funding cycles and layoffs