Senior Learning Solutions Design Architect

Heelsandtech; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 96,500 - 188,400; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Industry-leading healthcare

Educational resources

Discounts on products and services

Generous time away

Job summary

An innovative technology company in San Francisco is seeking a Senior Learning Solutions Design Architect to craft advanced skilling systems that foster a future-ready workforce. You'll collaborate closely with stakeholders to drive impactful learning initiatives with a focus on accessibility and scalability. Ideal candidates will possess a relevant advanced degree and significant experience in instructional design. This role includes competitive pay and industry-leading benefits.

Qualifications

• Master's or Bachelor's Degree in relevant field with several years of instructional design experience.
• Experience designing performance-driven skilling solutions in enterprise settings.

Responsibilities

• Map learning ecosystems and recommend design standards.
• Build scalable AI-powered learning experiences.
• Design skilling experiences aligned with Microsoft's values.

Skills

Instructional design

Experience design

AI integration

Collaboration

Strategic thinking

Education

Master’s Degree in relevant field

Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field

Tools

Content management systems

Job description

Senior Learning Solutions Design Architect

Microsoft’s Global Learning & Skilling (GLS) Team plays a pivotal role in shaping Microsoft’s future. We achieve this by crafting an innovative skilling strategy and implementing world-class programs aimed at empowering our employees, managers, and leaders with cutting-edge capabilities.

We are looking for a Senior Learning Solutions Design Architect, a visionary architect with deep expertise in designing and developing intelligent, adaptive, and agentic skilling systems. This role is central to achieving our Learning Strategy ambitions, including mobilizing differentiated skilling at scale, making Microsoft the most AI-fluent workforce in the world, and enabling our People Priority of Innovative Talent & Skills.

You will be at the forefront of designing a cutting-edge portfolio of skilling experiences that can be effectively scaled and customized across org-based skilling initiatives. Partnering with in-business L&D teams, you will steer the development of skilling goals in alignment with Learning Strategy 2.0 and Executive Leadership Council (ELC) priorities. You will collaborate closely with key leadership stakeholders and Learning and Skilling SMEs to drive strategic business outcomes through innovative learning and skilling initiatives. You will synthesize cutting-edge learning theories with practical application, ensuring each methodology is adaptable, scalable, and aligned with organizational goals. This position requires a strategic mindset to anticipate future skilling needs and the ability to translate complex learning concepts into clear, actionable solutions for diverse audiences.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Psychology, Education, Marketing, English, Communication, or related field AND 3+ years experience in instructional design, experience design, education OR Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Education, Marketing, English, Communication, or related field AND 4+ years experience in instructional design, experience design, education OR Associate’s Degree in Business Administration, Technical Writing, Paralegal, or related field AND 6+ years experience in instructional design, experience design, education OR equivalent experience.
• 2+ years experience designing and delivering scalable, performance-driven skilling solutions aligned to business outcomes across matrixed or enterprise environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral Degree in Psychology, Education, or related field AND 3+ years experience in instructional design, experience design, education OR Master’s Degree in Psychology, Education, Marketing, English, Communication, or related field AND 6+ years experience in instructional design, experience design, education OR Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Education, Marketing, English, Communication, or related field AND 8+ years experience in instructional design, experience design, education OR equivalent experience.

Instructional Design IC4 – The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $96,500 – $188,400 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $123,500 – $206,400 per year.

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 9, 2025.

Responsibilities

What You’ll Drive:

• Map the end-to-end ecosystem of tools, systems, and signals that enable agentic learning
• Understand the capabilities, constraints, and AI integration potential of each system relevant to learning-in-the-flow
• Recommend integrations, workflows, and design standards that enable high-impact, scalable, agentic solutions
• Use telemetry to correlate skilling activity with business outcomes (e.g., speed-to-proficiency, retention, readiness)

Strategic Learning Architecture:

• Build a strategic design framework and reusable component system for AI-powered learning experiences
• Define how modular design, personalization, and behavioral triggers can be operationalized across platforms
• Apply behavioral science, neuroscience, and generative AI to create evidence-based, human-centered learning solutions
• Use role contexts, workflow data, and learner signals to validate needs and shape solution hypotheses

Skilling Experience Innovation:

• Design skilling experiences that reflect Microsoft’s Leadership Principles, Manager Expectations, and Cultural Attributes
• Rapidly prototype and iterate using design thinking to ensure relevance, impact, and adaptability
• Ensure accessibility, global readiness, and inclusive design from the start

Content Design & Management:

• Lead the end-to-end design, curation, and governance of skilling content systems across org-based skilling initiatives
• Architect content strategies that support discoverability, personalization, and reuse across shared disciplines and roles
• Use AI to augment the design, iteration, and personalization of learning content
• Apply metadata schemas and signal-based frameworks to optimize content delivery and learner experience
• Partner with in-business Learning and Skilling teams to curate discipline-aligned content and support cross-academy strategies
• Build scalable content operations that reduce duplication and accelerate time-to-skill
• Maintain consistency and quality across a distributed or cross-functional design environment
• Use versioning, component reuse, and documentation practices that support scale and speed

Enterprise Collaboration & Influence:

• Align design strategy with enterprise skilling priorities by reducing required learning, scaling manager enablement, and activating behavior- and workflow-based learning signals that drive performance outcomes
• Partner cross-functionally with thought leaders, product teams, and learning experience leaders to co-create durable, modular skilling solutions that embed seamlessly into the flow of work
• Influence product group roadmaps and prioritization cycles by translating learner insights, business needs, and performance data into strategic design recommendations
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement by leveraging telemetry, learner feedback, and real-world usage patterns to evolve learning solutions and ensure sustained business relevance

Additional Role Responsibilities:

• Develop, guide, and manage learning programs and initiatives by identifying organizational needs, securing resources, and prioritizing work
• Drive alignment of larger learning and skilling capabilities to the organization’s strategy for maximum impact
• Consolidate and coordinate information across inputs to build holistic planning in a given segment, defining the skilling story
• Prioritize short- and long-term planning efforts that capture the voice of the learner
• Define learning objectives, outcomes, and actionable plans using a learner-centric approach
• Leverage available resources across the business to execute on the plan
• Manage financial planning and forecasting to determine budgets
• Lead implementation of core learning programs and systems at a regional level
• Drive content improvement through 360-degree feedback and data
• Execute strategic end-to-end learner journeys and program collections
• Map engagement points with stakeholders to enable program and content execution
• Represent organization as a thought leader in learning and development solutions
• Guide data usage to meet learning objectives and evaluate content effectiveness
• Drive program/content assessment and ensure privacy and accessibility standards are met
• Use data to evaluate relationships, benchmark, and define learning priorities
• Advise on business impact, ROI, and behavior change driven by learning programs
• Communicate learning approaches and influence stakeholder buy-in

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

Industry leading healthcare

Educational resources

Discounts on products and services

Savings and investments

Maternity and paternity leave

Generous time away

Giving programs

Opportunities to network and connect

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.