Applications Invited:  Director of Education for Frontline Systems, Inc.

Frontline Systems, Inc., developer of Excel-based business analytics software for data mining, simulation/risk analysis and optimization including the Excel Solver, invites applications for a new full-time permanent position as Director of Education, at our headquarters in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe, on the California/Nevada border.  To print and post this invitation, please login and click here.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities will include creation/enhancement of educational materials related to our software products, including video tutorials on DVDs and the Web, example models, Website pages, Help systems, and syllabus materials for online and in-person training courses.  The ideal candidate will be able to create educational materials himself/herself, and also act as an editor to recruit and work with outside authors to create new materials.

This position will involve ongoing contact, in person and by phone and email, with Frontline’s academic and commercial customers, to better understand our users’ needs, and communicate and champion those needs in our ongoing product development efforts.  A limited amount of travel to INFORMS, JSM or other professional society conferences, and academic and commercial customer sites will be required.

Qualifications

We are seeking candidates who have demonstrated the ability to create high quality educational materials related to optimization, simulation, and data mining methods and applications, such as textbooks (published or in manuscript form) that have been used in teaching, typically at the MBA level, high quality course materials on the Web, example models, and pre-recorded video tutorials that we can review.  Teaching experience and empathy with users is required; experience teaching in executive education is a plus.  However, this position will primarily involve creation of educational materials, and testing them with users, rather than ongoing presentation of seminars and courses.

Frontline’s products include Analytic Solver Platform for Excel, Solver SDK Platform (used by software developers), Solver Server, and our new Solver Apps for Office 365 and SharePoint 2013 (see www.solver.com for details).  Our products are powerful and comprehensive – supporting a wide range of forecasting and data mining methods, the full spectrum of linear, integer, nonlinear, and non-smooth optimization methods, and robust optimization, stochastic programming and simulation optimization; we often pioneer the use of new algorithms and methods.  We are seeking candidates who are comfortable with this spectrum of methods, and accept the challenge of explaining them, from a unified perspective, to a broad audience of users.

We expect most candidates will have a PhD in Operations Research, Management Science, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics or a related field, but we’re open to doctoral students or other candidates with demonstrated, exceptional ability to create high quality, manuscript length educational materials.  Candidates should have research interests related to our software development efforts, and have a strong desire to advance the state of the art in both research and practice.

Candidates should be comfortable using Microsoft Excel at a fairly advanced level, using modeling languages for optimization and/or simulation, using data mining software, and writing code to implement models in at least one language such as R, MATLAB, C/C#/C++, Visual Basic, Java, PHP or JavaScript.  Good skills with manuscript-level word processing, and Web page creation using HTML and CSS are required; experience with tools for video tutorial creation (for example Camtasia Studio) and/or Help system creation is a plus.

Benefits

We offer highly competitive cash compensation, commensurate with experience and qualifications, as well as medical and dental benefits and a 401(k) plan fully funded by the company.  Frontline Systems is located on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, a world renowned summer and winter resort destination, with spectacular scenery and a wide range of opportunities for hiking, swimming, boating, skiing, and enjoying nature – as well as a variety of cultural opportunities including a summer Shakespeare festival.  Incline Village is about 35 miles from Reno, 120 miles from Sacramento, and 205 miles from San Francisco.  Residents of Nevada pay no state income tax.

Applications

Candidates should send a resume/curriculum vitae, references for teaching and/or publishing, and examples of authored educational materials such as textbooks, Web course materials, example models, or pre-recorded tutorials, to hr@solver.com.  Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.