Certified Instructor Program
Learn what it takes to become an NVIDIA-Certified Instructor.
Program Overview
The NVIDIA Certified Instructor Program (CIP) enables candidates to become certified to teach NVIDIA workshops. The program connects qualified instructors with high-quality training and hands-on course materials, lab access, and fully configured, GPU-accelerated workstations in the cloud. Through this program, candidates can be certified to teach workshops offered by:
- Deep Learning Institute (DLI): Provides training designed for those who build AI applications, including developers, data scientists, and software engineers.
- NVIDIA Academy: Provides training designed for those who build, deploy, operate, and maintain AI infrastructure, including system administrators and network engineers.
General Qualifications
To qualify for this program, candidates must fit into one of the following categories:
- Associated with an organization that is an NVIDIA Authorized Learning Partner or Education Services Partner
- Employed by NVIDIA
- For DLI Workshops only: Currently employed by an academic institution that qualifies for the DLI University Ambassador Program. Candidates in this category must:
- Be a current faculty or a full-time lecturer at an academic institution
- Teach at least two workshops every 12 months to at least 40 total students.
Note that teaching assistants, postdocs, and students at any level (undergraduate, graduate, or PhD) do not qualify.
In addition, candidates must meet the technical qualifications listed by workshop or for the selected Learning Path as this is not a train-the-trainer program.
Consideration for acceptance into the program is based on:
- Teaching experience
- Expertise in Learning Path topics covered in workshops
- Satisfaction of certification exam prerequisites
- Agreement to the terms in the Certified Instructor Agreement
Instructor Certification Process for Developer Workshops
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Step 1: Qualifications
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Step 2: Apply
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Step 3: Get Certified
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Step 4: Start Teaching
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Ongoing Activities
Review DLI Learning Path Qualifications
The program is organized in Learning Paths focused on specific core themes. This provides certified instructors with a foundational framework mapped to essential competencies within each Learning Path. Select the Learning Path you are interested in and verify that you meet the qualifications to teach the workshops within the Learning Path.
New Learning Paths are being developed for Enterprise AI and Physical AI--sign up for NVIDIA Training news to stay informed on their availability.
Candidates must demonstrate experience developing at least one significant agentic AI application in a commercial, academic, or open-source capacity and be able to explain their contributions, technical decisions, and results.
Candidates should have experience with:
- Advanced Python and applied software engineering for modular AI applications.
- Designing stateful agents with reasoning, memory, tool calling, routing, and task execution.
- Managing context, dialog, and control flow across multi-step interactions.
- Connecting agents to retrieval systems, APIs, external tools, and data sources.
- Selecting orchestration patterns for sequential, branching, and event-driven workflows.
- Preventing agent derailment through validation, guardrails, retries, and human oversight.
- Coordinating specialized agents through delegation, communication, and shared-state management.
- Evaluating task completion, tool selection, reliability, safety, and failure recovery.
- Understanding the capabilities and trade-offs of different agent architectures and orchestration frameworks.
Experience with LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, AutoGen, Hugging Face, or similar technologies is beneficial, but candidates should primarily demonstrate knowledge of the underlying agentic concepts rather than a specific framework.
Apply
University Ambassador applications are by invitation only. Candidates must be nominated by an NVIDIA sponsor.
Authorized Learning Partner applicants and NVIDIANs should reach out to the DLI team directly for intake.
Get Certified
DLI Instructor Certification features a Learning Path-based framework. Successful candidates will be certified to teach all workshops within their selected DLI Learning Path.
Accepted candidates will be placed into a cohort and given three months to complete the following steps:
- Submit a sample teaching video
- Complete student assessments for all workshops within the Learning Path
- Optionally, review recordings of the workshops within the Learning Path
- Pass the designated Professional-level NVIDIA Certification exam for the Learning Path
- Pass a 1:1 interview with a DLI Principal Instructor
Start Teaching
Once you have become certified, you can now start teaching.
To schedule a workshop, log into the Certified Instructor Portal and submit the Training Services Request form.
Get Certified in an Additional Learning Path
Take your skills to the next level by earning instructor certification in additional Learning Paths. Broaden your teaching portfolio, unlock new professional opportunities, and deepen your mastery of cutting-edge topics. A new application is required for each Learning Path.
Maintain Your Certified Status
To maintain your status, certified instructors are required to:
- Attend mandatory professional development (annually)
- Attend mandatory content briefings for all workshop/Learning Path updates
- Optional attendance at quarterly regional meet-ups (virtual)
- Maintain positive student feedback ratings
- Renew membership annually
- Adhere to the guidelines detailed in the Certified Instructor Agreement
- Certified Instructors are required to deliver at least two NVIDIA workshops per year, to at least 40 total students total
Instructor Certification Process for AI Infrastructure Workshops
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Step 1: Review Qualifications
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Step 2: Pass the Interview
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Step 3: Complete Training
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Step 4: Get Certified
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Ongoing Activities
Review Academy Workshop Qualifications
Select the workshop you are interested in and verify that you meet the qualifications to teach it.
Pass Instructor Candidate Interview
The next step in the certification process is to complete an interview with the NVIDIA Academy team. This interview evaluates your technical background, instructional experience, and readiness to become an NVIDIA Certified Instructor.
Duration: 1 hour
Presentation: Candidates will deliver a 30-minute presentation on a technical topic of their choice.
Assessment: The interview also includes an evaluation of the candidate’s technical knowledge, communication skills, and overall proficiency.
Interviews are conducted by invitation only. Eligible candidates will be contacted directly by NVIDIA to schedule their interview.
Complete Training and Technical Certifications
Before becoming certified to teach NVIDIA Academy courses, candidates must complete training and have their skills validated via NVIDIA certification exams.
Step 1: Complete the Required Fundamentals Training and Certification
- Complete the self-paced Course: AI Infrastructure and Operations Fundamentals
- Pass the Associate Certification Exam: NCA-AIIO
Step 2: Complete the Workshop Your Wish to Teach
- AI Infrastructure Professional Public Workshop
- AI Operations Professional Public Workshop
- Cumulus Linux Administration Public Workshop
- SpectrumX Networking Platform Administration Private Workshop
- NVIDIA AI Enterprise on Bare-Metal Kubernetes Public Workshop
Step 3: Earn Professional Certifications (Where Applicable)
Some workshops also require candidates to pass the related professional certification exams:
- For the AI Infrastructure workshop, pass the Professional Certification Exam: NCP-AII
- For the AI Operations workshop, pass the Professional Certification Exam: NCP-AIO
Step 4: Complete Course Immersion and Shadowing
Candidates must become familiar with the course materials, delivery environment, and instructional approach before certification. This includes:
- Course Immersion
- Master the course slides, lab guides, and overall content flow
- Practice using the NVIDIA Academy platform for lab delivery
- Develop troubleshooting and student support skills
- Shadowing
- Assist with an instructor-led training session
- Observe experienced instructors in action
- Study instructional delivery style and pacing techniques
- Learn effective learner interaction strategies
- Understand classroom management approaches
Get Certified as an Instructor
In this final step to become a NVIDIA Certified Instructor (NCI), candidates must successfully complete a multi-part assessment process based on industry-standard instructor certification practices. Work with your NVIDIA contact to schedule these activities.
Teach-Back Session (45–60 minutes)
Candidates deliver an assigned technical topic to demonstrate instructional readiness and presentation skills. Evaluation areas include:
- Technical accuracy and depth of knowledge
- Clarity, structure, and organization of content
- Delivery style and learner engagement
- Time management and pacing
- Ability to confidently answer learner questions
Lab Proficiency Assessment (3–4 hours)
Candidates complete a series of hands-on lab exercises to demonstrate:
- Practical understanding of course technologies
- Troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
- Ability to guide learners through complex technical scenarios
Supervised First Delivery
Candidates deliver their first course with support from an experienced instructor through mentor oversight, or a co-delivery teaching model. After the course delivery, candidates receive:
- Learner feedback analysis
- Structured mentor coaching and feedback
- A personalized development plan for continued improvement
Get Certified in Additional Workshops
Take your skills to the next level by earning certifications in additional NVIDIA workshops. Broaden your teaching portfolio, unlock new professional opportunities, and deepen your mastery of cutting-edge AI infrastructure technologies.
Maintain Your Certified Instructor Status
To maintain your status, certified instructors are required to:
- Maintain student positive feedback ratings.
- Maintain active technical certifications (renewed per NVIDIA requirements)
- Deliver a minimum number of courses per year
- Participate in mandatory refresher training and professional development
- Adhere to the guidelines detailed in the Certified Instructor Agreement.
Additional Resources
Get Started Today
View our learning paths and select either your first or your next workshop to get certified to teach.
Questions?
Reach out if you have questions about our certified instructor program.
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