Learning Designer (Contract)

About the role

The Learning Architect sets the program and course strategy. You turn that strategy into finished courses. You'll work directly with faculty subject-matter experts, often at highly selective institutions, to shape their expertise into well-structured modules, activities, assessments, and media. You'll own the course build from storyboard to launch and keep it on schedule.

The EPIIIC framework

Every course we build is designed and evaluated against EPIIIC and aligned with Quality Matters standards.

What you'll do

• Partner with the Learning Architect to translate program goals and course maps into detailed course designs.
• Lead working sessions with faculty to define learning outcomes, sequence content, and develop activities and assessments.
• Coach faculty who are new to online teaching, and give clear, tactful feedback on their drafts.
• Write and edit course content, instructions, rubrics, and discussion prompts in a consistent, student-facing voice.
• Design interactive and scenario-based learning, including AI-enabled practice activities where they fit.
• Storyboard video and multimedia, and work with media producers to bring it to life.
• Build courses in the LMS (Canvas, Brightspace, Blackboard, or Moodle) or hand off clean specs to course builders.
• Make courses accessible to WCAG 2.2 AA and aligned with Quality Matters standards.
• Score courses against the EPIIIC scorecard and revise based on reviews and student feedback.
• Manage the build timeline for each course and flag risks early to the Learning Architect and university team.

What you bring

• 6+ years of instructional or learning design experience, mostly in higher education online programs.
• A portfolio of online courses you designed end to end, ideally for graduate or professional programs.
• Experience working directly with faculty, including senior faculty, and guiding them toward strong design decisions.
• Fluency in backward design, outcomes alignment, and assessment design.
• Working knowledge of Quality Matters, OSCQR, or similar quality frameworks.
• Hands-on accessibility skills: alt text, captions, heading structure, color contrast, accessible documents.
• Strong LMS experience, with Canvas preferred.
• Excellent writing and editing skills.
• Comfort managing several courses and deadlines at once with little supervision.

Nice to have

• Master's degree in instructional design, learning sciences, educational technology, or a related field.
• Quality Matters Peer Reviewer or Applying the QM Rubric certification.
• Experience using generative AI in course design or student learning activities.
• Familiarity with authoring and media tools such as Articulate Rise, H5P, Camtasia, or Figma.
• Background in a professional field such as health, business, education, or public policy.

Engagement details

• Type: 1099 contract, renewable based on course pipeline
• Commitment: [20-30] hours per week, for an initial [6]-month term
• Typical load: [2-3] courses in development at a time, each built over about [12-16] weeks
• Location: Remote within the U.S., with some meetings during U.S. business hours