Instructional Design Specialist

Constructive Dialogue Institute•New York, NY

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is seeking an Instructional Design Specialist to maintain and update its growing catalog of learning experiences, ensuring they are accurate, accessible, and current. This role involves managing the maintenance and version control for CDI's flagship online program, Perspectives, and its established live programs. The specialist will collaborate with the Education team and serve as a liaison to the Live Programs team, translating feedback from facilitators, partners, and learners into tracked content updates. Additionally, the role will involve partnering with the Product team on platform quality assurance and supporting Senior Curriculum Designers on partner-facing design projects. This is a hands-on position suitable for an individual early to mid-career in instructional design who possesses exceptional precision, enjoys systems building, and is motivated by the prospect of helping campuses foster constructive dialogue.

Requirements

3+ years of professional experience
At least 1+ years of experience building or maintaining learning content in instructional design, curriculum development, ed tech, or a related role. Graduate assistantships, practicums, and substantial volunteer work count.
Grounding in instructional design fundamentals, such as backward design, measurable learning objectives, and adult learning principles.
Hands-on experience with an LMS or course-authoring tool (e.g., Canvas, Moodle, Articulate Rise/Storyline, or similar).
Working knowledge of digital accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA, Section 508) and the habit of applying them consistently.
Exceptional attention to detail and strong systems skills, including a repeatable QA process and comfort with version control and documentation.
Clear, accessible writing that makes complex ideas simple without making them thin.
Genuine interest in constructive dialogue, viewpoint diversity, and higher education.

Nice To Haves

Higher education experience, such as a center for teaching and learning or online program design
Experience facilitating for adult learners or designing for sensitive, values-laden topics

Responsibilities

Plan and implement approved revisions to established live programs, managing the release schedule in coordination with the Live Programs team.
Keep supporting materials in sync when source content changes, including facilitator guides, slide decks, participant handouts, and survey items.
Support version control for Perspectives: including maintaining the changelog, archiving superseded versions, and ensuring any cohort's content can be reconstructed on request.
Draft and revise module text, discussion prompts, activities, and assessments grounded in CDI's research base and instructional design standards, for review by the Senior Director of Education.
Support Senior Curriculum Designers on partner-facing design projects, with room to take on more design ownership over time.
Run pre-release QA for Perspectives in partnership with Product: proofread, verify links and media, check accessibility (alt text, captions, plain language, WCAG conformance), and test the learner experience end to end before content goes live.
Own the content feedback backlog, working with the Live Programs team to consolidate input from facilitators, partners, learner surveys, and support tickets into one tracked queue.
Categorize requests, flag recurring issues, and recommend fixes.