USACO Instructor / Competitive Programming Coach — Remote

Job Summary

About the Opportunity

The most rewarding part of coaching is watching a student work through a difficult problem and finally understand why the solution works.

We are seeking an experienced USACO instructor who combines strong algorithmic problem-solving skills with the ability to teach clearly, patiently, and thoughtfully. We are especially interested in coaches with expertise in Silver and Gold preparation. The ability to teach Platinum-level material is a strong advantage.

This role is a good fit for an experienced competitive programming coach, computer science educator, or accomplished competitor who enjoys mentoring middle and high school students.

About Us

Based in Irvine, California, we provide online academic enrichment, advanced subject instruction, and competition preparation for students in North America and internationally.

Our teaching approach emphasizes strong foundations, meaningful practice, and consistent feedback. In our USACO program, we want students to develop the reasoning, implementation skills, and confidence to solve unfamiliar problems independently.

What You’ll Do

• Teach live online USACO preparation classes in small-group and one-on-one settings.
• Assess students’ programming skills and algorithmic understanding, then develop learning plans appropriate to their current division and goals.
• Build structured lessons using published USACO problems and other suitable competitive programming resources.
• Help students move from understanding a problem to developing an algorithm, explaining its correctness, analyzing complexity, and implementing a reliable solution.
• Use live coding, guided questioning, worked examples, and student-led explanations to make lessons engaging and interactive.
• Teach students to identify edge cases, debug systematically, and recognize the causes of incorrect answers, runtime errors, and time-limit failures.
• Assign focused practice and provide useful feedback on students’ code, reasoning, and implementation choices.
• Lead timed practice sessions and review completed contests to identify strengths and recurring difficulties.
• Share concise progress updates with our academic team and recommend appropriate next steps.
• Model independent problem-solving and respect for USACO’s contest rules.

Technical Expertise

Depending on the level you teach, relevant expertise may include:

• Programming foundations: C++, the Standard Template Library, arrays, strings, sorting, simulation, and exhaustive search.
• Core problem-solving techniques: Prefix sums, two pointers, binary search, greedy algorithms, recursion, and complexity analysis.
• Intermediate and advanced algorithms: Graph traversal, shortest paths, disjoint set union, dynamic programming, tree algorithms, and range-query data structures.
• Advanced competition preparation: Developing correctness arguments, combining techniques, optimizing solutions, and approaching unfamiliar problems under time pressure.

Teaching assignments will be matched to your demonstrated expertise. Please indicate which USACO divisions you are confident teaching.

Pay: $50.00 - $100.00 per hour

Expected hours: 2.0 – 20.0 per week

Work Location: Remote