Instructional Designer

Instructional Designer

At Cornerstone, we believe in AI that works in the service of people, amplifying their judgment to drive high-performing, future-ready organizations forward. Cornerstone Workforce AI™, the intelligence platform for workforce readiness, brings together workforce and labor market data into a proprietary Cornerstone People Graph™, translating signals into intelligence, targeting learning where it matters, developing critical skills, and surfacing hidden talent. Delivered as an open, enterprise platform across whatever application your people work in every day, Cornerstone Workforce AI is built for scale, security, and trust, with certified AI guardrails. As an industry leader, Cornerstone is helping approximately 7,000 organizations, 140M+ users, across 186 countries build continuous workforce readiness.

About the Role

This role owns the end-to-end development of Cornerstone's certification exams. You will lead job task analyses, build and maintain item banks, set defensible cut scores, and produce validity and reliability evidence that meets industry standards. Your exams will certify that Implementation and Integration Consultants are ready to deliver the Cornerstone platform to customers. You will work across the Certification team, Product, and subject matter experts to ensure every credential is valid, current, and secure.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead job task analyses (JTAs) with subject matter experts to establish the knowledge, skills, and abilities each credential must measure
• Design and develop multiple-choice, scenario-based, and performance-based assessment items aligned to each JTA blueprint
• Build and maintain item banks with sufficient depth to support secure exam delivery and ongoing item rotation
• Set and document defensible cut scores using established methodologies (Modified Angoff) and produce supporting validity and reliability evidence
• Conduct item analysis after each exam administration and retire or revise underperforming items
• Design performance-based and scenario assessment formats that simulate real consultant tasks on the Cornerstone platform, not just multiple-choice recall
• Apply knowledge of Cornerstone's Single Architecture and core product modules to ensure item content is accurate and current
• Manage assigned certification development tasks and deliverables within established timelines, communicating progress and escalating blockers as needed
• Maintain accurate program documentation related to assigned development activities, including task inventories, item records, and update logs
• Review examination items and credential content for clarity, accuracy, and alignment to blueprint specifications prior to deployment
• Provide content direction and blueprint alignment guidance to the Certification Program Coordinator for the development of candidate-facing support materials
• Partner with team members to ensure development activities are aligned with broader program strategy, stakeholder expectations, and delivery timelines
• Identify, test, and implement AI-enabled automation for routine operational work; measure impact and retire unnecessary manual processes
• Use AI to assist with drafting items, checking blueprint alignment, and preparing update documentation, with expert human review of every item before deployment

What Success Looks Like

• Release currency: 100% of exams and certifications updated within 3 weeks of each major Cornerstone release.
• Item quality: 100% of exam items reviewed for clarity, accuracy, and blueprint alignment before deployment, with fewer than 2% needing correction after release
• Delivery: 100% assigned development tasks delivered by their committed dates each quarter
• AI transformation: Baseline hours spent on item drafting and documentation updates measured in the first 90 days, then reduced by 30% within 12 months, with human review of every item maintained
• Every active exam has documented validity and reliability evidence on file and is reviewed within 3 weeks of each major product release
• Cut scores are set using a documented, defensible methodology and reviewed at least annually
• Item bank depth meets the minimum threshold for secure delivery (defined by the program) with no exam requiring repeat items within a single candidate's testing window
• Performance-based or scenario items represent at least 30% of each Consultant exam blueprint by June 2027

Required Experience

• Experience in instructional design with a focus on assessment or certification programs
• Familiarity with exam item development, item banking, and blueprint alignment
• Understanding of certification best practices and assessment lifecycle management
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines
• Attention to detail in reviewing and editing content for accuracy and quality
• Ability to collaborate effectively within a team and across functions
• Ability to evaluate AI outputs and apply sound judgment about when a human must decide
• Experience conducting formal job task analyses and translating outcomes into exam blueprints
• Demonstrated experience with cut-score methodologies (e.g., Modified Angoff) and the ability to document validity and reliability evidence
• Experience with performance-based and scenario-based assessment design, not limited to multiple-choice formats
• Familiarity with Cornerstone's platform or comparable enterprise SaaS talent/learning management systems; able to assess whether item content accurately reflects platform behavior
• Understanding of exam security practices including item bank depth requirements, exposure analysis, and proctoring controls

Preferred Experience

• Experience designing or improving AI-enabled workflows
• Experience with AI-assisted item authoring tools and established review workflows for AI-generated content
• Familiarity with Cornerstone Single Architecture and the Implementation and Integration Consultant role or equivalent technical consulting certification programs

AI & Continuous Learning

• Uses AI tools every day in their own work and can show an example where AI changed how the work is done, not just how fast.
• Evaluates AI output critically for accuracy, bias, privacy and data handling, and knows when a human must decide.
• Actively explores internal (Cornerstone AI) and external tools, brings recommendations to the team, and retires tools and processes that don't earn their place.
• Continuous learner: keeps skills current through communities, certifications and hands-on experimentation, and externally from industry and shares what they learn with the team.
• Uses AI-assisted item generation tools to accelerate first-draft item development, then applies structured SME review to validate accuracy, relevance, and alignment to the JTA before items enter the bank.
• Reviews every AI-generated item for bias, accessibility, and content accuracy before use.
• Understands the risks of AI-enabled cheating and item exposure; applies exam security protocols (item rotation, exposure analysis, proctoring controls) to protect credential integrity.

How You Work

• Customer obsessed: Start with the learner's and the account's problem, not the tool.
• Innovate and transform: Challenge the status quo and retire systems and processes that do not earn their place.
• Proactive leadership: See problems and act before being asked.
• Get it done: Ship, measure and iterate.
• Forward looking: Plan for where technology and the business are going.
• AI native: Use AI daily to rethink work, not just accelerate it.
• Get uncomfortable to succeed: Take on hard, ambiguous problems and stay with them.

Our Growing Presence in Costa Rica Cornerstone is excited to be building a new hub in Costa Rica as part of our continued investment in growing our global talent and capabilities. We are bringing together teams across a variety of functions, creating exciting opportunities for people to join us at the ground floor of this new chapter and help shape how we grow in the region. We have invested in a new office in Costa Rica, with construction beginning soon, and we expect our presence and capabilities in the region to continue expanding over time. For those joining us now, this is a unique opportunity to help build something from the beginning, work alongside talented colleagues across Cornerstone globally, and be part of our longer-term growth in Costa Rica.

Employment Structure As we establish our operations in Costa Rica and complete the process to operate under the country's Free Trade Zone Regime, Cornerstone is partnering with Recluta, our local Employer of Record (EOR).

Our Culture Spark Greatness. Shatter Boundaries. Share Success. Are you ready? Because here, right now – is where the future of work is happening. Where curious disruptors and change innovators like you are helping communities and customers enable everyone – anywhere – to learn, grow and advance. To be better tomorrow than they are today.