Instructional Designer

This position is not open to applicants residing in or otherwise based in California, New York, Illinois, or Massachusetts. Additionally, applicants must be located in the Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific time zones.

Note to Applicants

We’re looking for professionals who take pride in their work. We know your resume tells part of the story, but our application questions help us understand how you think and work. Because we receive a high volume of applications, only applications with complete, thoughtful responses will be reviewed.

As the Instructional Designer, you will work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and key stakeholders to design and develop engaging and effective online courses for higher education and corporate partners. You will ensure that courses adhere to research-based best practices, incorporate relevant technologies, and meet quality standards. You will collaborate with SMEs to adapt content for online instruction, suggest relevant learning technologies, and develop course materials that support the stated learning objectives.

You will coordinate with several teams, including e-Learning Technology, Quality Review, Video & Multimedia Services, and Graphic Design to ensure the design and development of online learning supports the vision of the partner and subject matter experts. You will also work with the Lead Instructional Designer and Project Manager to inform them of issues affecting the project's course design, development, and delivery.

Successful instructional designers in this contract role think beyond content and activities alone; they consider how pedagogy, learner experience, and technology work together to create an experience that can be effectively built, delivered, and scaled within the partner’s educational technology ecosystem.

This is an independent contractor engagement (1099). The opening is for future project needs. Must be able to attend scheduled project meetings during regular business hours (timing set in advance). Outside of scheduled meetings and agreed deadlines, contractors determine their own work hours.

• Collaborate with SMEs to design high-quality online courses that are supported by research-based best practices in online learning.
• Work with SMEs to establish learning outcomes and align content and assessment with those outcomes.
• Collaborate with SMEs to design relevant assessments that align with course learning objectives.
• Suggest relevant open educational resources and appropriate instructional methods for delivering online content.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation of design decisions and help prepare materials for partner review and approval.
• Incorporate partner and stakeholder feedback through agreed revision cycles.
• Leverage AI-powered tools to generate innovative ideas for course content creation and streamline development workflows.
• Facilitate SME working sessions to obtain approvals required to complete course design deliverables.
• Coordinate with internal production teams at defined handoff points (e.g., multimedia, QA, graphics) to complete deliverables.
• Participate in scheduled milestone reviews and project check-ins as needed to meet delivery milestones while remaining flexible to evolving project needs and priorities

• Advanced degree in Education, Instructional Technology, or related field.
• Current, in-depth knowledge of instructional design and learning theories with expertise in online learning,
• instructional design and technology, adult learning theory, and andragogy/pedagogy.
• Demonstrated experience (3-5 years) collaborating with SMEs for online course development in higher education or corporate environments.
• Strong fluency across learning management systems such as Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, Moodle, and related educational technologies, with the ability to understand their capabilities and constraints and use them intentionally to inform learning design decisions.
• Proven ability to build strong relationships with subject matter experts (SMEs) to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing, while moving projects forward and meeting deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal and…