Senior Educational Program Designer

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career. Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is: Grade: Faculty 507 Pay Range: $80,700.00 - $121,000.00 Job Description The Senior Educational Program Designer is a thought leader and advocate for new and emerging program design. They will lead and facilitate the design of competency-based higher education programs that emphasize students’ ability to acquire and demonstrate skills, rather than the amount of time spent learning. This person will use curiosity, empathy, and experience with convergent experience design to anticipate and investigate the impact of decisions made about program design across the entire enterprise of competency-based education. They are a systems thinker who can guide cross-functional teams in translating complex student and business needs into programs that provide efficient and personalized learning pathways. They will focus relentlessly on ensuring that program designs resonate with employers, learners, and policymakers, and will employ best practices and innovative practices for program design in the competency-based education context. The Senior Educational Program Designer will create designs that optimize: the value proposition for the learner; the resources required; student engagement; successful learning experiences; and financial sustainability. They will connect internal and external stakeholders for information exchange, problem-solving, and designing education programs to achieve impact.   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 backward program design to the context of CBE (Competency-based Education) 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 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 Knowledge, Skill, 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. Can demonstrate an extensive “bag of tricks” for empathetic design and facilitation challenges.  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.  Proficienc