Western Governors University
Senior Educational Program Designer
Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84193
Senior Educational Program Designer
Western Governors University (WGU) is committed to expanding access to higher education through online, competency‑based degree programs. We seek a thought leader to shape our program design across the enterprise, ensuring that learning pathways are engaging, equitable, and aligned with industry expectations.
Compensation:
Grade: Faculty 507 – Pay Range: $78,300 – $117,500
Location & Schedule 4001 South 700 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84107. Hybrid work: four days in the office, one day remote.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities
Break down complex problems and explore ways to delight users with tools that solve their problems efficiently and effectively.
Collaborate and partner with cross‑functional teams of program development, academic, operations, and other stakeholders.
Design programs that deliver on the promise of competency‑based education to provide efficiency, flexibility, personalization, achievement of goals, and fit with industry expectations.
Design programs that promote social mobility and equity.
Ensure that program designs maximize broad access, including for underserved students, industry relevance, learning, and financial sustainability.
Apply best practices in backwards program design to the context of CBE programs.
Quickly discover and prototype potential options, then weigh trade‑offs between choices.
Anticipate, advise upon, and document the cost, scope, and implementation effort of competing program design options.
Apply a systems‑thinking approach to help collaborators consider all elements of program design, such as enrollment, learner engagement, curriculum, instruction, evaluation, assessment, etc.
Collaborate on the identification of student personas and ensure that pathways efficiently meet their needs.
Conduct industry and outside standards research and align program designs to industry and outside standard needs.
Select outcomes and design programs in meaningful ways.
Assess the sustainability of a program design at scale over its lifecycle.
Recommend tools and technologies that achieve scale while maintaining quality programming.
Set success metrics.
Thoroughly and beautifully document the resulting program design to guide development decisions that uphold the integrity of the design as well as provide a historical record for decisions that were made.
Establish a model for training/education for faculty, mentors, enrollment counselors, and all other stakeholders; work directly with students during the deployment of programs and courses.
Ensure the overall quality and effectiveness of training/education for faculty, mentors, and enrollment counselors.
Communicate solutions to stakeholders in a manner that simplifies complexity and generates excitement.
Facilitate meetings and brainstorming sessions that are organized and productive.
Advocate for high standards of excellence in providing delightful and rewarding user experiences, and proactively support the team in achieving them.
Provide thought leadership for new and emerging techniques for competency‑based education.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Experience designing products or solutions that benefit end users and society.
Extensive experience leading design thinking and product design sprints in person and with remote teams.
Proven track record devising and designing high‑quality web and/or mobile products in collaboration with product management and engineering partners.
Good listener – weighs input from multiple perspectives when forming opinions and recommendations.
Collaborative and team‑oriented work approach.
Excellent written, oral, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
Proficiency in technology‑driven document and collaboration tools, including Microsoft Office suite, web conferencing, and cloud‑based tools.
Competencies Influences Others and Communicates Effectively
Communicates to improve and promote teamwork, decision making, and problem solving.
Listens and responds effectively to the reactions and positions of others and encourages the expression of diverse ideas and opinions.
Adjusts message and style to fit the audience.
Provides timely and helpful feedback.
Communicates appropriately to win support with all audiences.
Collaborates
Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives.
Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas.
Partners with others to get work done.
Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments.
Gains buy‑in, trust, and support of others.
Manages Ambiguity
Deals comfortably with the uncertainty of change.
Effectively handles risk.
Can decide to act without the total picture.
Is calm and productive, even when things are up in the air.
Deals constructively with problems that do not have clear solutions or outcomes.
Being Resilient
Is confident under pressure.
Handles and manages crises effectively.
Maintains a positive attitude despite adversity.
Bounces back from obstacles and setbacks.
Grows from hardships and negative experiences.
Drives for Results
Has a strong outcomes‑based orientation.
Pursists in accomplishing objectives despite obstacles and setbacks.
Has a track record of successfully achieving goals.
Pushes self and helps others achieve results.
Has a continuous improvement mindset.
Organizational Learning
Learns quickly when facing new situations.
Experiments to find new solutions.
Takes on challenges of unfamiliar tasks.
Extracts lessons learned from failures and mistakes.
Expands knowledge base through ongoing curiosity.
Job Qualifications Minimum Qualifications
Three or more years’ experience within the fields of product, interaction, and visual design/development.
Bachelor’s degree.
Background in online learning and/or development of educational products.
Background in metrics‑driven, evidence‑based decision making.
Portfolio or work samples showcasing product design prowess, creativity, and depth of thought, coupled with fluency in best practices for interaction design, visual design, and prototyping.
Experience working effectively on cross‑organizational teams.
Preferred Qualifications
Master’s degree or Ph.D. in a relevant field.
Experience creating cross‑contextual learning experiences that are born mobile, social‑by‑design, gamified, or non‑linear with student‑driven pathways.
Proven record of developing and producing quality assessment and learning experiences using established development and production processes and methodologies.
Demonstrated understanding of the higher education environment.
Demonstrated success with change management, particularly stabilizing and structuring diffuse and ambiguous situations.
Physical Requirements
Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Position & Application Details Full‑time, regular position (40 standard weekly hours). Eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.
How to Apply Solutions to apply online; internal WGU employees must apply through the internal job board in Workday.
Additional Information Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all‑inclusive.
Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.
Equal Employment Opportunity:
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.
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Compensation:
Grade: Faculty 507 – Pay Range: $78,300 – $117,500
Location & Schedule 4001 South 700 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84107. Hybrid work: four days in the office, one day remote.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities
Break down complex problems and explore ways to delight users with tools that solve their problems efficiently and effectively.
Collaborate and partner with cross‑functional teams of program development, academic, operations, and other stakeholders.
Design programs that deliver on the promise of competency‑based education to provide efficiency, flexibility, personalization, achievement of goals, and fit with industry expectations.
Design programs that promote social mobility and equity.
Ensure that program designs maximize broad access, including for underserved students, industry relevance, learning, and financial sustainability.
Apply best practices in backwards program design to the context of CBE programs.
Quickly discover and prototype potential options, then weigh trade‑offs between choices.
Anticipate, advise upon, and document the cost, scope, and implementation effort of competing program design options.
Apply a systems‑thinking approach to help collaborators consider all elements of program design, such as enrollment, learner engagement, curriculum, instruction, evaluation, assessment, etc.
Collaborate on the identification of student personas and ensure that pathways efficiently meet their needs.
Conduct industry and outside standards research and align program designs to industry and outside standard needs.
Select outcomes and design programs in meaningful ways.
Assess the sustainability of a program design at scale over its lifecycle.
Recommend tools and technologies that achieve scale while maintaining quality programming.
Set success metrics.
Thoroughly and beautifully document the resulting program design to guide development decisions that uphold the integrity of the design as well as provide a historical record for decisions that were made.
Establish a model for training/education for faculty, mentors, enrollment counselors, and all other stakeholders; work directly with students during the deployment of programs and courses.
Ensure the overall quality and effectiveness of training/education for faculty, mentors, and enrollment counselors.
Communicate solutions to stakeholders in a manner that simplifies complexity and generates excitement.
Facilitate meetings and brainstorming sessions that are organized and productive.
Advocate for high standards of excellence in providing delightful and rewarding user experiences, and proactively support the team in achieving them.
Provide thought leadership for new and emerging techniques for competency‑based education.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Experience designing products or solutions that benefit end users and society.
Extensive experience leading design thinking and product design sprints in person and with remote teams.
Proven track record devising and designing high‑quality web and/or mobile products in collaboration with product management and engineering partners.
Good listener – weighs input from multiple perspectives when forming opinions and recommendations.
Collaborative and team‑oriented work approach.
Excellent written, oral, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
Proficiency in technology‑driven document and collaboration tools, including Microsoft Office suite, web conferencing, and cloud‑based tools.
Competencies Influences Others and Communicates Effectively
Communicates to improve and promote teamwork, decision making, and problem solving.
Listens and responds effectively to the reactions and positions of others and encourages the expression of diverse ideas and opinions.
Adjusts message and style to fit the audience.
Provides timely and helpful feedback.
Communicates appropriately to win support with all audiences.
Collaborates
Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives.
Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas.
Partners with others to get work done.
Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments.
Gains buy‑in, trust, and support of others.
Manages Ambiguity
Deals comfortably with the uncertainty of change.
Effectively handles risk.
Can decide to act without the total picture.
Is calm and productive, even when things are up in the air.
Deals constructively with problems that do not have clear solutions or outcomes.
Being Resilient
Is confident under pressure.
Handles and manages crises effectively.
Maintains a positive attitude despite adversity.
Bounces back from obstacles and setbacks.
Grows from hardships and negative experiences.
Drives for Results
Has a strong outcomes‑based orientation.
Pursists in accomplishing objectives despite obstacles and setbacks.
Has a track record of successfully achieving goals.
Pushes self and helps others achieve results.
Has a continuous improvement mindset.
Organizational Learning
Learns quickly when facing new situations.
Experiments to find new solutions.
Takes on challenges of unfamiliar tasks.
Extracts lessons learned from failures and mistakes.
Expands knowledge base through ongoing curiosity.
Job Qualifications Minimum Qualifications
Three or more years’ experience within the fields of product, interaction, and visual design/development.
Bachelor’s degree.
Background in online learning and/or development of educational products.
Background in metrics‑driven, evidence‑based decision making.
Portfolio or work samples showcasing product design prowess, creativity, and depth of thought, coupled with fluency in best practices for interaction design, visual design, and prototyping.
Experience working effectively on cross‑organizational teams.
Preferred Qualifications
Master’s degree or Ph.D. in a relevant field.
Experience creating cross‑contextual learning experiences that are born mobile, social‑by‑design, gamified, or non‑linear with student‑driven pathways.
Proven record of developing and producing quality assessment and learning experiences using established development and production processes and methodologies.
Demonstrated understanding of the higher education environment.
Demonstrated success with change management, particularly stabilizing and structuring diffuse and ambiguous situations.
Physical Requirements
Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Position & Application Details Full‑time, regular position (40 standard weekly hours). Eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.
How to Apply Solutions to apply online; internal WGU employees must apply through the internal job board in Workday.
Additional Information Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all‑inclusive.
Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.
Equal Employment Opportunity:
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.
#J-18808-Ljbffr