Director, Learning Design and Innovation

Risepoint

About The Position

Risepoint is an education technology company that provides world-class support and trusted expertise to more than 100 universities and colleges. We primarily work with regional universities, helping them develop and grow their high-ROI, workforce-focused online degree programs in critical areas such as nursing, teaching, business, and public service. Risepoint is dedicated to increasing access to affordable education so that more students, especially working adults, can improve their careers and meet employer and community needs. The Product Innovation team supports the strategy and design of innovative learning solutions at the intersection of higher education, alternative credentials, employer markets and workforce development. This role works across all teams - market research, product marketing and other Risepoint units - to identify, design and grow scalable, skills-based, and career-connected learning solutions. Job Summary We are seeking a forward-thinking Director, Learning Design and Innovation to drive the design, development, and early go-to-market strategies at the intersection of higher education, alternative credentials, and workforce development. This position plays a key role in shaping and designing programs that scale to meet the needs of today’s modern learners and employers—stackable, nondegree, credit-bearing, accelerated, AI optimized and more—while ensuring they align with academic integrity, partner expectations, and evolving compliance landscapes. While not responsible for building courses directly, this person is setting the academic direction, structure, and rationale for teams to execute against. This position delivers data intelligence to influence program offerings at our Partners.

Requirements

Minimum of 7 years Experience in learning design, product development, or strategy in the higher education, edtech, or workforce learning space.
Proven successes and experiences in working with scaling skills-based, stackable, or non-traditional learning programs in higher education and or industry.
Deep knowledge of multiple learning ecosystems: higher ed, workforce education, adult learning, and international education markets.
Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity and apply systems thinking, design thinking, and agile methodologies to new product challenges.
Strong consultative, communication, and influence skills across stakeholder groups.
Substantive understanding of a wide range and breadth of current edtech trends, state and federal policies, technologies and data sources.
Ability to connect academic programming with learning design and talent development needs of the workforce and regional employer partners

Nice To Haves

Experience with global education markets such as Australia, UK, EMEA.
Background in business modeling and revenue strategy for learning products.
Comfort with tools for market and learner research, data synthesis, learning, product experimentation etc. (e.g., Tableau, Miro, LMS platforms).

Responsibilities

Learning Experience & Product Strategy Design and present early programmatic high-level recommendations to university leadership, internal stakeholders and employer partners around workforce and learning solutions for the modern learner and employee (degree and non-degree).
Collaborate with internal stakeholders in Product Innovation and across enterprise as needed to support internal awareness and move key projects forward with university partners.
Design learning experiences and solutions that align with workforce trends, employer needs, and skills taxonomies with an understanding of the principles of adult learning, experiential learning, and human-centered design to inform product innovation.
Leverage frameworks in support of business strategy and partner solutions, i.e., skills and career pathway mapping, stackable credentials space, appropriate optimization of AI in learning and non-learning functions, performance-based admissions and learning, CBE, and more.
Market Analysis, Intelligence and Innovation Translate learner needs, industry trends, and market insights into academic requirements and models that are feasible, scalable, and aligned with university expectations.
Identify high-impact opportunities through analysis of several data points. Working closely with market research, product marketing and analytics teams across the enterprise; bridge insights to inform innovative product new strategies and services.
Serve as a knowledgeable resource for internal teams and university partners regarding compliance, academic policy, and curricular governance
Consulting & Stakeholder Engagement Provide consulting to university academic and administrative leadership, internal stakeholders and employer partners on the design and positioning of new learning products; serving as thought partner to internal teams and university stakeholders.
Effectively engage with university leadership, faculty, employer partners, internal and external stakeholders etc, to collaborate with employer partners to co-develop talent-aligned learning solutions in domestic and international markets.
Evaluate current academic portfolios for given partners to identify gaps, redundancies, or opportunities for innovation.
Perform in accordance with Risepoint Policies
Perform other duties as assigned