Senior Instructional Designer

TrulyHired; United States; Remote; USD 60,000 - 73,000; Full time

Job summary

McGraw Hill is seeking a Senior Instructional Designer for grades 6-12 ELA to design digital learning experiences used by millions of students and educators. You will lead cross-functional teams of content experts, product managers, UX designers, and developers to create accessible, standards-aligned literacy products.

This remote, fixed-term position runs through August 2027 and is open to applicants authorized to work in the United States.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years experience in digital instructional design, curriculum development, or eLearning development.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, Curriculum & Instruction, or related field.
• Experience designing for digital platforms with authoring tools, learning management systems, and content management systems.
• Strong understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG) and universal design for learning (UDL).
• Proficiency with Agile workflows, sprint-based iteration, and collaborative team environments.
• Ability to lead cross-functional problem-solving with product, UX, and engineering teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting to internal stakeholders and external partners.
• Strong ability to organize work across multiple priorities and make data-informed decisions.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and capable of influencing trade-off decisions across scope, quality, time, and resources.

Responsibilities

• Design digital curriculum using Understanding by Design (UbD), backward design, and design thinking principles.
• Develop prototypes, proof-of-concepts (POCs), and digital content tools in collaboration with SMEs and technical support.
• Contribute to and lead build rounds, manuscript reviews, and storyboarding.
• Write and maintain clear and user-centered product requirement documents.
• Apply accessibility best practices and proactively design accessible content and tools.
• Partner with content, UX, technology, engineering, and product teams to design learning experiences that are engaging and instructionally sound.
• Support Agile product development workflows through iterative feedback, sprint planning, and testing.
• Collaborate on tool enhancements and feature development, translating instructional needs into technical requirements.
• Contribute to cross-functional teams to ensure that product requirements, project schedules, and product goals are met and completed on time.
• Lead workflows across multiple components of the product, ensuring that timelines and quality benchmarks are met.
• Provide informal training and mentorship to Instructional Designers and Associate Instructional Designers, and new team members.
• Act as a point of contact for vendors, providing clear guidance, feedback, and decision-making support.
• Create and maintain documentation for digital workflows, best practices, and instructional guidelines.
• Identify, pilot, and scale novel approaches to digital learning that add measurable value for educators and learners.
• Support digital product tasks such as metadata tagging, concept mapping, and digital editing.
• Troubleshoot complex technical and instructional challenges through root cause analysis.
• Develop and refine best practices for using digital tools and for creating engaging content within technical constraints.

Skills

Instructional design

Curriculum development

eLearning development

Agile workflows

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Data-informed decisions

Ambiguity tolerance

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, Curriculum & Instruction, or related field

Tools

Authoring tools

Learning Management System (LMS)

Content Management System (CMS)

Job description

Senior Instructional Designer Full Description

Overview

Build the Future

At McGraw Hill, we create best-in-class, next-generation learning experiences that are used by millions of students and educators worldwide every day. We design intuitive and effective tools that maximize teachers' time and students' learning. And we do all of this in a supportive and collaborative environment where we work alongside brilliant colleagues, touch lives around the world, see the difference our hard work makes, and continue on our own paths of lifelong learning.

How can you make an impact?

McGraw Hill, the leading provider of digital and print educational resources, is looking for a Senior Instructional Designer, 6-12 ELA (Project Status) for our K-12 division literacy programs.

As a Senior Instructional Designer for Grades 6-12 ELA, you will be a pivotal contributor in designing high-quality digital learning experiences used by millions of students and educators. Working within a collaborative and cross-functional team of content experts, product managers, UX designers, and creative technologists, you will lead and support the creation of engaging, standards-aligned, and accessible literacy products for middle and high school learners. Your expertise will help shape robust curriculum and digital tools that drive learning, equity, and innovation. You will balance hands-on design work with process improvement, mentorship, and cross-functional collaboration across the product development lifecycle.

This is a remote position open to applicants authorized to work for any employer within the United States. This is a Project Status role with a fixed term through August 2027.

What You’ll Do:

• Design digital curriculum using Understanding by Design (UbD), backward design, and design thinking principles.
• Develop prototypes, proof-of-concepts (POCs), and digital content tools in collaboration with subject matter experts (SMEs) and technical support.
• Contribute to and lead build rounds, manuscript reviews, and storyboarding.
• Write and maintain clear and user-centered product requirement documents.
• Apply accessibility best practices and proactively design accessible content and tools.
• Partner with content, UX, technology, engineering, and product teams to design learning experiences that are engaging and instructionally sound.
• Support Agile product development workflows through iterative feedback, sprint planning, and testing.
• Collaborate on tool enhancements and feature development, translating instructional needs into technical requirements.
• Contribute to cross-functional teams to ensure that product requirements, project schedules, and product goals are met and completed on time.
• Lead workflows across multiple components of the product, ensuring that timelines and quality benchmarks are met.
• Provide informal training and mentorship to Instructional Designers and Associate Instructional Designers, and new team members.
• Act as a point of contact for vendors, providing clear guidance, feedback, and decision-making support.
• Create and maintain documentation for digital workflows, best practices, and instructional guidelines.
• Identify, pilot, and scale novel approaches to digital learning that add measurable value for educators and learners.
• Support digital product tasks such as metadata tagging, concept mapping, and digital editing.
• Troubleshoot complex technical and instructional challenges through root cause analysis.
• Develop and refine best practices for using digital tools and for creating engaging content within technical constraints.

What You Bring:

• 5-10 years experience in digital instructional design, curriculum development, or eLearning development.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, Curriculum & Instruction, or a related field.
• Experience designing for digital platforms and creating learning experiences with authoring tools, learning management systems, and content management systems.
• Strong understanding of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) and universal design for learning (UDL).
• Proficiency with Agile workflows, sprint-based iteration, and collaborative team environments.
• Ability to lead cross-functional problem-solving with product, UX, and engineering teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting to internal stakeholders and external partners.
• Strong ability to organize work across multiple priorities and make data-informed decisions.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and capable of influencing trade-off decisions across scope, quality, time, and resources.

Preferred Experience

• Deep understanding of curriculum development for grades 6-12, especially within the ELA discipline; classroom teaching experience is a strong plus.
• Experience working with or managing freelancers and vendors.
• Familiarity with K-12 educational publishing, edtech platforms, and/or literacy curriculum design.
• Engagement in professional learning networks or thought leadership communities.

Why work for us?

The work you do at McGraw Hill will be work that matters. We are collectively building experiences that will help shape the future of education. Play your part and experience a sense of fulfilment that will inspire you to even greater heights.

The pay range for this position is between $60,000 - $73,000 annually. However, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. Additionally, a full range of medical and/or other benefits may be provided, depending on the position offered.