Senior Instructional Designer

CLEARANCE LEVEL: Public Trust

This job is full-time onsite at the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) located in Arlington, Virginia. FSI is the primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community.

FSI is seeking a Senior Instructional Designer to be part of their Digital Learning Division (FSI/EX/DLD), which coordinates the learning design of digital products (mobile, eLearning and performance support) and educational technology services. 

Instructional Design for eLearning is a well-established field. The industry standard for a Senior Instructional Designer position within this field requires a master’s degree (in instructional design, educational technology, or related field) and 6+ years of experience are needed to in order to provide thought leadership, create new curricular strategies, and envision new/cutting edge learning products to specifically meet the unique global needs of the department, as well as lead a team of instructional designers in doing so. A senior designer will be instrumental in crafting strategies to deal with initiatives such as blended, mobile, multimodal, gaming, focused experiential and simulation-based learning.

The Senior Instructional Designer works closely with leadership and subject matter experts to conceptualize, design, and create solutions that meet learning needs. The position will serve as a thought leader and innovator in digital learning solutions for the Foreign Service Institute. This key senior position will also monitor the work of Instructional Designers. In that role, he or she will recommend personnel for projects based on skills and abilities, monitor the section for workload, identify common issues among different projects, and propose new instructional strategies as appropriate.

Minimum Education Required

• MS/MA in instructional design, educational technology, or related field.

Minimum Experience Required

• Minimum 6 years of instructional design experience.
• Demonstrated experience with a broad array of digital learning solutions (including, but not limited to: e-learning courses, mobile learning, simulations, microlearning, ePublishing, blended learning/flipped classroom, and games.)
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to conduct needs/audience analysis, develop training objectives, create instructional strategy, design learning solutions, and produce evaluations.
• Demonstrated knowledge of a wide range of learning theories and models, and how they apply to different learning contexts.
• Demonstrated experience working with project teams (e.g.: Graphic Artists, Developers, and Editors) to produce professional e-learning.
• Demonstrated knowledge of responsive web design, interface usability guidelines, Section 508 accessibility, SCORM, learning management systems, and integration of media into web-based training applications.
• Demonstrated experience as a team lead, including mentoring/coaching junior staff.
• Positive and proactive customer service skills.

Responsibilities

• Conducts needs assessments and identifies digital learning approaches most appropriate to address performance gaps, work context, and audience needs.
• Identifies appropriate technology to address curricular needs and designs solutions to meet those gaps.
• Creates digital learning strategies that employ various methods and technologies to best address curricular needs; that is, identifies whether (and explains why) a solution should be comprised of a single e-learning course, multiple courses, or a mixture of microlearning, mobile apps, synchronous seminars, etc.
• Oversees a team of instructional designers who interact with other training professionals to produce online learning materials.
• Recommends personnel for projects based on skills and abilities.
• Monitors work products of instructional designers and escalate concerns as appropriate.
• Provides support to instructional designers to facilitate tight timelines in a results-oriented environment and advises improvements to design using coaching and mentoring techniques.
• Acts as liaison between section and other technical staff, if necessary.
• Represents the section in planning meetings with government staff.
• Maintains a thorough knowledge of subjects important to Foreign Service Officers and applies knowledge to produce appropriate, effective, and meaningful learning solutions.
• Other duties as assigned.

Additional Experience

• Familiarity with US government web/mobile development policies and standards.
• Knowledge of language learning principles.
• Experience with video/animation.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
Ventura is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Ventura is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.