Sr. Instructional System Designer; ISD

Sr. Instructional System Designer (ISD3)

Location: Hanover, MD (Hybrid) |
Status: Open

We are currently seeking a Sr. Instructional System Designer (ISD3) to design, develop, and revise complex interactive, virtual, and instructor-led courses of a technical nature. This role ensures the integrity of task analysis, training requirements, training hierarchies, instructional materials, and evaluation plans, converting written materials and training requirements into interactive courseware. The ISD3 leads instructional design architecture and governance for assigned courses, establishing design standards and coordinating cross-team implementation with content developers, SMEs, configuration management, LMS, QA, and instructors to support controlled releases and continuous improvement.

If you are an experienced instructional designer who enjoys leading design standards, mentoring junior designers, and building eLearning solutions grounded in adult learning theory, then this is the position for you!

Courses run , Monday through Friday. Contract core hours are .

• Design learning objects for interactive e-training solutions using Captivate or other government-approved tools.
• Test and apply quality assurance methodologies for modularized eLearning objects, defining validation criteria and checklists and capturing evidence in government-approved formats.
• Design cumulative eLearning practical exercises in a virtualized environment that mimics real-world experience, giving learners the opportunity to demonstrate course concepts.
• Design formative and summative assessments to gauge mastery of key concepts, ensuring traceability between objectives, instruction, and assessment artifacts.
• Provide task leadership, manage workflows, and oversee junior designers.
• Develop structure for and conduct mapping of course objectives to KSA and/or JQS requirements.
• Establish learning pathways, prerequisites, and sequencing rules to support progressive mastery and appropriate cognitive load.
• Establish and enforce instructional design standards, templates, and style guides, leading design reviews to ensure consistent application across modules and releases.
• Coordinate with Configuration Management to ensure instructional design artifacts are version-controlled, include required revision histories, and support controlled release packaging and change summaries for government review.
• Lead pilot and post-delivery improvement cycles by analyzing learner performance data and feedback, documenting findings, implementing approved revisions, and coordinating retest/validation as required.
• Ensure Section 508/WCAG accessibility is designed into courseware, with validation and remediation evidence documented for government review.
• Evaluate and develop high-stakes exams for web-based training.

General office environment. The work environment is fast-paced and sometimes involves extreme deadline pressures. The nature of the work requires a high degree of teamwork and cooperation with other members of the staff as well as individuals across the Company and Customers.

• Extensive experience working with subject matter experts to ensure technical accuracy of instructional content.
• Extensive knowledge of adult learning methods, the SAM/ADDIE model, and a variety of technologies and tools (Learning Management Systems, the latest version of Captivate) to support eLearning solution development.
• Strong writing and verbal communication skills for collaborating with content developers and other designers.
• Experience establishing and enforcing design standards, templates, and style guides, and leading design reviews.
• Experience ensuring traceability between objectives, instruction, and assessments, and coordinating with testing experts for high-stakes assessments.
• Experience defining validation criteria and checklists for courseware and maintaining audit-ready evidence of verification actions.
• Experience overseeing Section 508/WCAG compliance activities for courseware, including remediation verification and documentation.

TS/SCI preferred

One of the following:

• Doctoral degree in Instructional Systems Design, Instructional Technology, Education, English, Communications, or a related field, plus six (6) years of relevant experience; or
• Master's degree in the same fields, plus eight (8)…