Content Specialist (Instructional Design)

Western Governors University • Salt Lake, UT

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Content Specialist designs, builds, maintains, and evolves WGU’s Orientation experience for Traditional Orientation and Career Accelerator students. The role turns program strategy into learning modules, digital assets, and just-in-time supports, ensuring the experience is coherent, current, on-brand, accessible, and pedagogically sound. Working with Communications, EdTech, Program Development, Engagement Specialists, and Operations, the specialist uses student feedback and performance data to improve content and respond to changing program needs.

The position is based on-site at WGU’s Salt Lake City office, during standard business hours, with occasional flexibility to support production timelines or program needs. Occasional travel of up to 20% is expected, including company summits, commencement, conferences, and other business-related events. The stated salary range is $73,500 to $110,200. This is a full-time, regular position classified as 40 standard weekly hours and eligible for bonuses and the benefits listed below.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in instructional design, education, communications, multimedia, or a related field.
• At least 3 years of demonstrated experience in content creation, instructional design, learning experience design, or a closely related role.
• Portfolio demonstrating learning design and digital content creation work.
• Hands-on experience with content creation tools such as Canva, Adobe Suite, or equivalent, and basic multimedia production.
• Experience working with adult learners or in higher education.
• Demonstrated experience designing learning experiences for adult learners.
• Familiarity with instructional design models such as ADDIE or SAM and with adult learning principles.
• Ability to translate complex content into clear, structured, learner-friendly experiences.
• Strong writing skills and ability to adapt voice and tone for different audiences and channels.
• Comfort with multimedia production, including video scripting, basic editing, screen recordings, and narration.
• Visual design sensibility and attention to detail.
• Strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple workstreams, stakeholders, and deadlines.
• Self-directed, reliable, and accountable across multiple workstreams.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, including the ability to work across creative, technical, program, and student-facing teams.
• Ability to communicate effectively in writing and verbally across disciplines and audiences.
• Comfort using engagement metrics, completion data, and just-in-time usage patterns to inform content decisions.
• Openness to iteration and feedback.
• Cultural competence and demonstrated experience designing for diverse student populations.
• Commitment to equity, accessibility, inclusive design, and continuous professional development.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Adult Learning, or a related discipline.
• Experience designing just-in-time supports, microlearning, or contextual help systems.
• Experience working across multiple stakeholder groups, including Communications, EdTech, and Program teams.
• Familiarity with learning management systems and digital content delivery platforms.
• Familiarity with WGU’s academic model, programs, or student success systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain the end-to-end orientation experience for Traditional and Career Accelerator students, applying adult learning principles and ensuring appropriate pacing and coherence.
• Translate program goals and student needs into structured learning experiences with clear outcomes and meaningful checkpoints.
• Iterate on existing modules and create new modules based on data, student feedback, and program changes.
• Partner with Program Development to incorporate changes into the orientation experience and keep content accurate and aligned with program intent.
• Create and maintain digital assets, including videos, scripts, slides, written copy, graphics, interactive elements, and supporting materials.
• Maintain reusable content, templates, and components to support consistency and ease of updating.
• Ensure assets are on-brand, accessible, and aligned with WGU’s voice and values.
• Partner with multimedia and design teams on complex production and manage external contributors and vendors as required.
• Lead the design and development of just-in-time supports prompted by student behavior, needs, or points of friction.
• Identify gaps in contextual student support and design, build, and deliver solutions to address them.
• Test and iterate just-in-time content using usage data, student feedback, and input from Engagement Specialists.
• Maintain and expand the just-in-time content library as student needs and programs evolve.
• Partner with Communications on messaging, brand consistency, and tone.
• Partner with EdTech on platform capabilities, content delivery, and learning system integrations.
• Coordinate with Engagement Specialists on content needs identified through student conversations and community activity.
• Coordinate with the Operations Specialist on engagement and content-performance data to inform design decisions.
• Represent the orientation experience in cross-departmental working groups as needed.
• Balance ongoing maintenance, new content creation, and just-in-time development across parallel timelines; track modules, stakeholders, and deadlines.
• Use engagement metrics, completion data, and just-in-time usage patterns to inform content decisions and improve work over time.
• Design with cultural competence, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in mind.

Benefits

• Bonus eligibility
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Telehealth and mental healthcare
• Health savings account
• 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
• Flexible paid time off without accrual requirements
• Flexible paid sick time without accrual requirements
• 11 paid holidays
• Other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level