Instructional System Designer

Job Description

Job Description

Sr. Instructional Systems Designer

Learning only matters if people perform better after it. In this role you design instruction that changes how teams hire, onboard, and run critical workflows—so clients see faster time-to-competence, fewer process errors, and training that holds up after the workshop ends. You will own the learning architecture from need to measured result, not slide decks that sit unused.

Performance Objectives

• Diagnose performance gaps with stakeholders and convert them into prioritized learning objectives tied to observable job tasks within the first two weeks of each engagement.
• Design and ship blended learning solutions—job aids, practice scenarios, facilitator guides, and digital modules—that cut time-to-proficiency on a named workflow by a target agreed with the client.
• Build evaluation plans (reaction, learning, behavior) and report whether learners can perform the task, not merely complete the course.
• Prototype and iterate one pilot per major program, incorporating learner and manager feedback before full rollout.
• Standardize reusable design patterns so similar client problems reuse 30%+ of prior assets without sacrificing fit.
• Coach subject-matter experts to deliver practice-based sessions and retire content that does not change on-the-job behavior.
• Hand off a complete package—objectives, content, assessment, and maintenance notes—so the client can run and update the program without you.

Environment & Resources

You will work inside a small advisory team that pairs talent strategy with workflow design. Expect direct access to consultants and client operators, light governance, and ownership of the learning workstream from discovery through measurement. Tools are chosen for the job—authoring, collaboration, and lightweight LMS or knowledge platforms—not a fixed stack. You report to the engagement lead and partner with recruiters, process advisors, and client SMEs. Scope and budget are set per engagement; you influence both by showing what performance requires.

Essential Qualifications

• Proven record designing instruction for adult professionals where success was measured by job performance, not completion rates.
• Fluency in needs analysis, task analysis, practice design, and criterion-referenced assessment.
• Ability to produce clear facilitator guides, scenarios, and digital learning without a large production team.
• Experience translating messy operational processes into sequenced learning that a manager can reinforce.
• Comfort facilitating SME workshops and pushing back when requested content will not change behavior.
• Portfolio or case examples that show before/after performance, not only visual design.
• DHS Trusted Tester Certification, required

Why This Role

• Your work sits next to hiring and workflow decisions, so learning is built into how work gets done—not bolted on afterward.
• Small team, real ownership: you shape the method, not just fill a template.
• Variety of client problems without losing depth—you stay through measurement, not a handoff at storyboard.
• Senior judgment is expected: fewer layers, faster decisions, visible impact.

If you design learning that people can do on Monday morning, apply with a short note on one program you built and the performance change it produced.