Senior Instructional Designer

Senior Instructional Designer

The Senior Instructional Designer leads the design and development of complex learning experiences that build workforce capability and improve individual and organizational performance. Using expertise in adult learning, instructional design, learner experience, technology, and AI-enabled design and development, this role translates business and performance needs into practical, engaging, accessible, and scalable learning solutions.

The designer partners with consultants, business leaders, subject-matter experts, and enterprise stakeholders. The role independently leads work from solution design and prototyping through development, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement, while helping advance design practices across the learning organization.

Primary Responsibilities

• Translate business, performance, and learning needs into effective learning strategies and experiences.
• Consult with stakeholders and learning partners to understand the audience, desired outcomes, performance gaps, and business context.
• Independently design solutions for complex, ambiguous, or high-impact learning needs.
• Determine the appropriate learning approach, modality, structure, learner experience, and reinforcement strategy based on the need.
• Apply adult learning, instructional design, behavioral science, and performance-support principles to solution design.
• Challenge assumptions about when formal training is needed and recommend alternative approaches when learning alone will not address the performance need.

• Use artificial intelligence as an integrated part of the learning design and development process to improve quality, creativity, efficiency, and speed to market.
• Apply AI to research, ideation, content generation and refinement, storyboarding, scenario development, assessment creation, personalization, prototyping, and quality review.
• Evaluate and refine AI-generated output to ensure accuracy, instructional integrity, accessibility, learner relevance, and alignment with organizational standards.
• Explore emerging AI capabilities and learning technologies and identify opportunities to responsibly incorporate them into the design process.
• Share AI-enabled practices, prompts, methods, and lessons learned with other designers and learning professionals to strengthen capability across the team.
• Balance the efficiency created through AI with human judgment, learner-centered thinking, responsible use, and strong instructional design practices.

• Design and develop engaging learning experiences across modalities, including digital learning, instructor-led and virtual experiences, performance support, system simulations, practice activities, videos, job aids, and blended learning.
• Develop storyboards, prototypes, facilitator materials, participant resources, assessments, practice activities, and supporting assets.
• Create solutions that emphasize application and performance rather than information delivery alone.
• Incorporate practice, feedback, reinforcement, and opportunities for application into learning experiences.
• Design with accessibility, usability, consistency, inclusion, and learner experience in mind.
• Use rapid prototyping and iterative design approaches to test concepts and incorporate stakeholder and learner feedback earlier in the process.
• Build scalable and reusable solutions where appropriate rather than approaching every need as a custom development effort.

• Lead complex design projects from concept through implementation with minimal direction.
• Establish project scope, design approach, milestones, resource needs, deliverables, risks, and dependencies.
• Partner with consultants, facilitators, Communications, Technology, vendors, subject-matter experts, and business stakeholders throughout the design process.
• Facilitate design discussions and confidently present recommendations, prototypes, and design rationale to stakeholders.
• Navigate changing requirements, competing priorities, and ambiguity while maintaining progress toward the intended outcome.

• Establish measurable learning and performance outcomes during the design process.
• Develop appropriate evaluation approaches to assess learner experience, knowledge, behavior, performance, and business impact.
• Use learner feedback, performance data, stakeholder input, and other available insights to continuously improve learning experiences.
• Evaluate existing learning solutions and recommend where content should be simplified, redesigned, consolidated, automated, modernized, or retired.
• Apply quality-assurance practices throughout design and development rather than treating review solely as a final step.

• Serve as a senior design expert and thought partner for complex or highly visible learning initiatives.
• Provide guidance, coaching, feedback, and design support to less experienced designers and other learning professionals.
• Establish and model strong standards for instructional design, learner experience, accessibility, AI-enabled design, and quality.
• Identify reusable practices, templates, tools, and design patterns that improve consistency and efficiency across the learning organization.
• Stay current on evolving practices in learning experience design, artificial intelligence, learning technology, behavioral science, and workforce development.
• Help advance the team's overall design capability as tools, technology, and learner expectations evolve.

Qualifications

We are looking for an accomplished learning experience designer who can turn complex learning and performance needs into engaging, scalable, accessible, and measurable experiences.

Basic Qualifications:

• Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in instructional design and development
• Bachelor's degree or an additional three years of experience in Instructional Design in lieu of a degree

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience designing and developing learning solutions across multiple modalities.
• Experience independently leading complex design projects from discovery through implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement.
• Strong knowledge of adult learning, instructional design, learner experience, accessibility, and performance-based design principles.
• Experience using learning technologies, digital authoring tools, and rapid prototyping approaches.
• Demonstrated ability to use generative AI or other AI-enabled tools to support research, ideation, design, content development, prototyping, and quality review.
• Ability to evaluate AI-generated output for accuracy, quality, instructional integrity, appropriateness, and responsible use.
• Ability to influence stakeholders, navigate ambiguity, explain design rationale, and communicate recommendations clearly.
• Strong design, facilitation, written communication, project leadership, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Advanced degree, certification, or specialized training in instructional design, learning experience design, adult learning, educational technology, human performance, or a related discipline.
• Experience designing complex enterprise learning solutions, curricula, or learning journeys.
• Experience with AI-enabled design tools, modern authoring platforms (such as Adobe Storyline and Rise), learning management systems, digital learning platforms, Microsoft 365, or Workday Learning.
• Experience with learning measurement and evaluation.
• Experience designing for accessibility and inclusive learner experiences.
• Experience coaching or providing design guidance to other learning professionals.
• Experience working in financial services or another complex or regulated environment.
• Experience managing vendors or external development partners.

Success Measures

• Learning experiences that address defined performance and capability outcomes.
• Engaging, accessible, practical, and scalable solutions aligned with learner and business needs.
• Consistent leadership of complex design work from strategy and prototyping through implementation and evaluation.
• Measurable improvements in learning effectiveness, application, performance, or workforce capability.
• Strong partnerships with consultants, business leaders, subject-matter experts, and enterprise stakeholders.
• Effective use of learner feedback, performance data, and evaluation insights to improve solutions.
• Practical and responsible use of AI and technology to improve the quality, creativity, speed, and effectiveness of learning design and development.
• Contribution to stronger design standards, reusable practices, and capability across the learning organization.