Senior Manager, Learning Design Strategy

If youre passionate about building a better future for individuals communities and our countryand youre committed to working hard to play your part in building that futureconsider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online competency-based degree programs WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century one that has received praise from academic industry government and media leaders. Whatever your role working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Job Description

• Oversees an interdisciplinary team of experts that integrate new and innovate design approaches and ensures the readiness of team members to adopt them.
• Ensures readiness for emerging tech vetted by the Program Experience team with training best practices coaching and consulting for all design and development.
• Develops and executes a strategy to continuously measure and improve the quality of our course materials.
• Manages a hybrid portfolio of new/improved design projects executive-sponsored initiatives team member onboarding and ongoing training quality reviews and high-priority project interventions.
• Leads out in solving complex design and technical issues that require significant analysis troubleshooting and collaboration with other teams.
• Maintains an authoritative coaching relationship with the respective experts on their team (with sufficient cross-disciplinary expertise to provide expert feedback and direct outcomes to optimize reuse and scale).
• Consults on detailed requirements provided to the vendors and contractors used by Program Development.
• Works laterally with other Sr. Managers to find solutions for shared challenges in design process tech or people resources.
• Continuously updates and curates examples of the teams best design work to be used for training and for communicating the overall value of Academic Program Development.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• High-level of individual proficiency and mastery in the learning sciences
• Ability to put innovation into practice
• Leadership of digital transformation and emerging tech including AI
• Effective change readiness and enablement skills with the ability to promote evaluate and develop these skills on their own team and across all of Program Development
• Fluency in learning production learning analytics and reporting
• Strong aptitude for learning new applications and leading implementation.

• Masters degree or greater in a related field
• 7 years of demonstrated experience
• Evidence of successful learning program leadership that demonstrates both cross-disciplinary knowledge and specialist domain expertise
• Hands-on experience with a wide range of design and authoring technologies
• Background in online higher education preferred but relevant or overlapping experience in corporate government or other non-profit contexts may also be considered.
• Experience in leading and coaching expert-level manager-equivalent leaders with high-value responsibility for the design and development of learning.

Preferred Qualifications

• A doctorate in a relevant discipline paired with demonstrable expertise in program development
• 10 years of leadership in higher education program development with a preference for 3 years of scaling innovative design across a large team
• Experience in managing experts to achieve outcomes
• Experience in leading AI transformation of both the program development and student learning experience
• A mix of online higher education experience and corporate learning experience to support workforce-relevant approach.

Working Condition

• Onsite collocation is required in Salt Lake City UT
• Travel up to 15-20% may be required on an ad hoc basis
• Ability to work in a busy shared-space office environment.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.

This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.

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Position & Application Details

How to Apply: If interested an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. Its not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.