Director of instructional design

About the role

Alchemy is looking for a hands-on Director of Instructional Design to lead how our customers and our design team get the most out of Curie, Alchemy's AI-enabled course design software dedicated to reducing costs, accelerating course and program development, and driving educational outcomes. You will be the instructional design voice of the company: coaching customers as they roll Curie out to their faculty, setting the standards our designers work to, and making sure the ID work we sell is scoped, staffed, and delivered well.

This is a player-coach role. You will lead a distributed team of instructional designers, including contractors, while still rolling up your sleeves on customer training, product testing, and proposal work. You will partner closely with the Director of Project Management and the VP of Product Development.

What you'll do

Customer enablement

• Advise and train customers on implementing Curie with their faculty, including onboarding sessions, workshops, and faculty-facing guidance.
• Speak credibly to instructional design principles and best practices with customers, faculty, and academic leaders.
• Create and maintain training materials, job aids, and implementation guides for Curie.

Team leadership

• Provide day-to-day direction to a distributed team of instructional designers, including employees and contractors, all working remotely.
• Set scope for instructional design development on each project and assign work accordingly.
• Recruit, hire, and onboard qualified instructional designers and contractors as project demand requires.
• Give regular, constructive feedback and review work for quality and consistency.

Standards and quality

• Establish and maintain instructional design standards for work built with Alchemy and Curie.
• Ensure course designs meet accessibility and quality expectations, such as WCAG and Quality Matters.

Product partnership

• Serve as the instructional design subject-matter expert for the Product Development team, weighing in on features and roadmap when asked.
• Test and QA new Curie features and releases from an instructional designer's and faculty user's point of view.
• Bring customer feedback and field insights back to the product team.

Scoping and delivery

• Scope the instructional design portion of RFPs and proposals using the Alchemy product catalog.
• Partner with the Director of Project Management to deliver projects within scope, budget, and timeline.
• Work with the Director of Project Management to design repeatable, scalable approaches for large or multi-course projects.
• Coordinate with outside vendors and partners when projects require it.
• Lead projects as the instructional designer yourself when the situation warrants it.

What you bring

• Master's degree in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Education, or a related field (bachelor's with equivalent experience considered).
• 5+ years of instructional design experience in higher education, including online and hybrid course development.
• 2+ years leading or directing instructional designers, including remote team members or contractors.
• Strong command of instructional design models and learning science, such as ADDIE, backward design, and UDL.
• Experience training or consulting with faculty and academic stakeholders.
• Experience scoping ID work for proposals, statements of work, or project estimates.
• Working knowledge of multiple LMSs, such as Canvas, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace, or Moodle.
• Clear, confident communication and presentation skills with both technical and academic audiences.
• Comfort testing software and giving structured, actionable feedback to product teams.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1/2.2) and accessibility testing.
• Experience using AI tools as well as design and interactive creation tools such as the articulate suite, h5p, etc.

Nice to have

• Experience in workforce development or corporate learning.
• Experience managing vendor or partner relationships.
• Experience at an EdTech company or in a client-facing services role.
• Quality Matters certification or peer reviewer experience.

The details

• Salary: 92,000–98,000, depending on experience
• Location: Remote (US), with occasional travel to customer sites
• Reports to: Chief Operating Officer
• Benefits: As a full time employee of the Company you will be eligible to participate in a number of Company-sponsored benefits, including Unlimited PTO, Sick PTO and Holiday PTO plans. The Company offers Medical, Dental, and Vision insurances, as well as a 401k.