Assistant Director - Learning Design Enablement

Northeastern University•Boston, MA

About The Position

Northeastern's Experiential Digital Global Education (EDGE) team seeks an experienced, student-centered instructional design leader to serve as Assistant Director, Learning Design Enablement. The position supports the Learning Design Enablement (LDE) team's operational excellence and the advancement of high-quality, accessible, and inclusive online learning across EDGE's Learning Design portfolio, helping advance Northeastern's priorities for teaching and learning at scale. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Learning Design Enablement, the Assistant Director directly manages Learning Design Manager(s) and Senior Learning Experience Designers, and oversees the Learning Experience Designers who report to them. The role develops managers and senior designers as leaders, holds them accountable for program outcomes, and builds consistent practices across their teams. It partners with faculty, deans, program directors, department chairs, and peer leads across EDGE's Strategy, Delivery, Media, and Data & Tech functions. The role owns Learning Design Enablement's quality control process, sets design standards, and confirms products meet those standards before handoff to Learning Solutions. It analyzes learner data and course retrospectives to inform design decisions and improve the portfolio. In partnership with the Sr. Director, it leads process improvements to keep the team efficient, productive, and creative. The position manages concurrent projects and workflows across the LDE portfolio, overseeing project scoping, design, and development and coordinating timelines, dependencies, and handoffs with other teams. It develops team leaders, sets goals, conducts performance reviews, and promotes effective management, designer development, and a positive, collaborative culture. The role typically requires a master's degree in Instructional Design, Educational Psychology, Learning Experience Design, or a related field, and/or equivalent work experience, plus at least six years of experience as a leader in designing and developing high-quality online learning experiences. Northeastern's expected hiring range is $87,785.00–$123,998.75.

Requirements

Master's degree in Instructional Design, Educational Psychology, Learning Experience Design, or a related field, and/or demonstrated equivalent work experience.
At least 6 years of experience as a leader in the design and development of high-quality online learning experiences.
Experience owning an end-to-end quality review process, including setting standards and release criteria.
Experience developing or maintaining quality assurance standards, style guides, or QA frameworks for online learning.
Experience using learning analytics to inform design and revision decisions.
Experience managing a portfolio or program set at scale.
Experience managing instructional design leads and/or managers of instructional designers.
Experience leading multiple complex, cross-functional projects with competing priorities while balancing quality and on-time delivery.
Experience building relationships with faculty, academic leadership, and cross-functional teams in a matrixed organization.
Experience shaping how a design team adopts and governs AI tools in learning design, with fluency in current and emerging applications.
Experience working alongside media and technical teams, with working knowledge of LMS architecture sufficient to diagnose issues and guide design quality.
Ability to set long-range goals while managing execution and detail across multiple projects.
Ability to manage change and deliver results with minimal direction in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
Ability to work strategically with faculty, college partners, peers, campus administrators, and leadership.
Innovative, intrapreneurial problem-solving and collaboration skills, with strong interpersonal and organizational skills.
Demonstrated record of creative, accomplished leadership and a strong commitment to advancing the University's priorities.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in innovative online learning environments, preferably in higher education or enterprise online learning.

Responsibilities

Lead the LDE quality control process throughout the development lifecycle, through handoff to Learning Solutions.
Set design standards and release criteria, confirm products meet standards, and maintain the QA framework as tools, feedback, and institutional priorities evolve.
Distribute QA checks across LDE Leads, their teams, and AI-assisted monitoring; evaluate AI-assisted QA to ensure it remains responsible and scalable.
Partner with the Lead Multimedia Specialist on media-specific standards and QA checkpoints.
Analyze learning analytics, course retrospectives, QA findings, and learner, faculty, and partner feedback to identify improvement priorities.
Track enablement-team KPIs and report QA findings and trends to the Sr. Director and cross-functional leads.
Develop processes and resources that help designers, faculty, and content experts maintain program fidelity and effective pedagogy.
Partner with other EDGE teams to maintain consistent LDE policies, processes, and tools and promptly resolve internal process issues.
Manage concurrent projects and workflows across the LDE portfolio, keeping delivery on schedule.
Oversee scoping, design, and development of learning design projects within the enablement portfolio.
Keep the Sr. Director informed about project status, team capacity, and emerging risks to support schedule and roadmap decisions.
Ensure LDE Leads and their teams understand current timelines and schedule changes, and connect LDE work with Media and other teams' dependencies.
Identify production timeline risks early, resolve them within the team, and escalate issues affecting scope, resourcing, or other teams to the Sr. Director.
Manage dependencies and handoffs with Media, Learning Solutions, and Program Management.
Build relationships with faculty, Academic Directors, academic leadership, and external partners; set expectations and surface tradeoffs before they affect timelines or other teams.
Directly manage Learning Design Manager and Senior Learning Experience Designer roles and oversee the Learning Experience Designers reporting to them.
Develop LDE Leads to make sound decisions and manage their teams effectively; set goals, conduct performance reviews, and hold direct reports accountable for program outcomes and quality standards.
Lead and mentor design leaders, building their judgment in strategy and program-level decisions.
Delegate program-level decisions to LDE Leads within clear guardrails and bring cross-pillar and resourcing issues to the Sr. Director.
Hold regular portfolio reviews with LDE Leads to turn successful design ideas and new methods into standard practice.
Coach managers on feedback, workload, and designer development; gather feedback from team members and partners to improve processes and build a positive, collaborative culture.