Learning Design Expert

McKinsey & Company; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

McKinsey & Company is seeking a senior Learning Design professional to innovate and deliver AI-enabled leadership development programs. You will design, develop, and govern a broad range of interventions across apprenticeship, coaching, and classroom formats, collaborating with Global L&D, regional teams, and data experts.

You will lead end-to-end design, partner with AI to identify performance needs, and ensure high-quality, modular content that scales across the firm.

Qualifications

• University degree in instructional/learning design or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 6+ years’ experience in instructional content development; professional services preferred.
• Deep learning science and human-development fluency with best-in-class design insights.
• Ability to see a project as part of a larger development ecosystem with multiple teams.
• Ability to manage downstream effects among people, technology, data, and firm practices.
• Experience with ILT, VILT, workplace learning, apprenticeship and coaching.
• Ability to create structure around ambiguous assignments and manage complexity.
• Excellent project management and problem-solving; Agile familiarity.
• Experience with Articulate Suite legacy tools preferred.
• Experience with AI tools such as Claude, OpenAI, Cursor.
• Ability to author, test, and iterate reusable agentic skills for AI-assisted drafting

Responsibilities

• Design and develop a wide range of learning interventions to meet diverse needs.
• Collaborate with Global L&D, Regional L&D, People, tech, and data teams.
• Partner with subject matter experts and senior stakeholders to ensure impact and standards.
• Leverage AI and data to advance leadership development with quality guardrails.
• Lead end-to-end design and development, from needs to learning experiences including apprenticeship, AI-based coaching, and instructor-led training.

Skills

Instructional design

Agile project management

Data analysis

AI tools knowledge

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

ILT and VILT

Ambiguity handling

Quality assurance

AI-assisted drafting

Education

University degree in instructional/learning design

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

Articulate Suite

AI tools: Claude, OpenAI, Cursor

Job description

Who You'll Work With

You are someone who thrives in a high-performance environment, bringing a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle meaningful challenges that have a real impact.

In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we’ll provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities to help you quickly broaden your expertise, grow into a well-rounded professional, and contribute to work that truly makes a difference.

When you join us, you will have:

• Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
• A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions, all while upholding our unwavering commitment to ethics and integrity. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
• Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Exceptional benefits: On top of a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we provide a comprehensive benefits package to enable holistic well-being for you and your family.

Your Impact

You will work in the Learning Design, Innovation, and Analytics Center of Excellence, a team that pairs a rare combination of strengths: world-class people-development experts, learning scientists, cross-functional connectors, data analysts, and AI innovators.

You will help colleagues learn through apprenticeship, flagship leadership programs, structured curricula, and high-quality deliberate practice. You will use technology and AI as the levers that advance McKinsey's position as the preeminent leadership development institution in the world.

You will design and develop a wide range of learning interventions that meet the needs of our diverse colleagues, across a range of topics. You will work in collaboration with a vast network of team members from Global L&D, Regional L&D, People, technology, and data. You will also collaborate with subject matter experts and senior stakeholders, with an eye toward firm impact, effectiveness, rigorous standards, and timeline.

Innovation is core to every role on the team, and you’ll develop emerging perspectives that help shape how the firm develops, manages, and delivers learning, with AI and data as core enablers.

You will work in a hybrid model, based near one of our offices, occasionally traveling for key project meetings and program deliveries.

You will bring world-class, creative design expertise to McKinsey, grounded in the best of learning science, behavioral science, and neuroscience, designing solutions that support specific performance objectives and drive measurable impact. At its core, this team helps people build the capability, expertise, and judgment that makes our firm distinctive. Increasingly, you will do that work in partnership with AI: using it to move faster and reach further, while keeping human-based development at the center.

You'll lead the entire end-to-end design and development process, from partnering with AI to identifying performance needs through the creation of learning experiences including apprenticeship, AI-based coaching, instructor‑led classroom, and deliberate practice.

You will also help build and maintain the shared, AI‑enabled modular content, reusable components, standards, and guardrails that let teams and colleagues across the firm adapt and deliver learning experiences without sacrificing quality.

Your Qualifications and Skills

• University degree in instructional/learning design, human resource development, educational technology, communications, or a related field. Advanced degree preferred
• 6+ years' experience in instructional content development; experience with a professional services organization preferred
• Deep learning science and human‑development fluency, grounded in best‑in‑class instructional design technique and insights from related disciplines, knowing what good looks like and when to elevate, override, or fix
• Ability to see a project as part of the larger development ecosystem, connected to other teams, tools, and decisions
• Ability to work through a solution's downstream effects, positive and negative, recognizing that people, technology, data, and firm practices are deeply intertwined
• In‑depth working knowledge across multiple development approaches including but not limited to: deliberate practice, ILT and VILT, workplace learning, apprenticeship, and coaching
• Ability to create structure around ambiguous assignments and manage complexity in terms of the work and stakeholders to deliver results in a compressed timeframe
• Excellent project management and problem‑solving skills; familiarity with Agile project management principles, as well as experience with qualitative and quantitative data analysis preferred
• Experience with legacy L&D authoring tools (e.g., Articulate Suite), preferred
• Experience with a range of evolving AI tools (e.g., Claude, OpenAI, Cursor)
• Ability to author, test, and iterate reusable agentic skills that drive AI‑assisted drafting, adaptation, and quality checks, not just one‑off prompting