Senior Instructional Designer

McGraw Hill LLC. • UNAVAILABLE, UNAVAILABLE

10d • Remote

About The Position

McGraw Hill is seeking a Senior Instructional Designer, K-5 ELA, for its K-12 literacy programs. This remote position is open to applicants authorized to work for any employer within the United States. The role is a Project Status Worker (PSW) position with a fixed term through 8/31/2027.

The Senior Instructional Designer helps create high-quality, digital-first, standards-aligned, accessible literacy learning experiences. Working with content experts, product managers, UX designers, creative technologists, and other teams, the role balances hands-on instructional design with process improvement, mentorship, and collaboration throughout the product development lifecycle. The posting describes the work as serving Grades K-5 ELA, while also referring to middle and high school learners.

The position includes designing and storyboarding curriculum, developing prototypes and digital content tools, supporting Agile product workflows and user testing, documenting requirements and best practices, coordinating work across product components, and guiding vendors and colleagues. The role also contributes to digital product tasks and helps identify and scale effective approaches to digital learning.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, Curriculum & Instruction, or a related field.
• Experience designing for digital platforms and creating learning experiences with authoring tools, learning management systems, and content management systems.
• Strong understanding of accessibility standards such as WCAG and universal design for learning (UDL).
• Proficiency with Agile workflows, sprint-based iteration, and collaborative team environments.
• Ability to lead cross-functional problem-solving with product, UX, and engineering teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to internal stakeholders and external partners.
• Strong ability to organize work across multiple priorities and make data-informed decisions.
• Comfort with ambiguity and ability to influence trade-off decisions involving scope, quality, time, and resources.

Nice To Haves

• Deep understanding of curriculum development for grades K-5, especially in ELA; classroom teaching experience is a strong plus.
• Experience working with or managing freelancers and vendors.
• Familiarity with K-12 educational publishing, edtech platforms, and/or literacy curriculum design.
• Engagement in professional learning networks or thought leadership communities.

Responsibilities

• Design and storyboard digital-first curriculum using Understanding by Design (UbD), backward design, and design thinking principles.
• Develop prototypes, proof-of-concepts, and digital content tools in collaboration with subject matter experts and technical support.
• Contribute to and lead build rounds, manuscript reviews, user testing, and storyboarding.
• Write and maintain clear, user-centered product requirement documents.
• Apply accessibility best practices and proactively design accessible content and tools.
• Partner with content, UX, technology, engineering, and product teams to create engaging, instructionally sound learning experiences.
• Support Agile product development through iterative feedback, sprint planning, and testing.
• Collaborate on tool enhancements and feature development, translating instructional needs into technical requirements.
• Work with cross-functional teams to meet product requirements, project schedules, and product goals on time.
• Lead workflows across multiple product components, ensuring timelines and quality benchmarks are met.
• Provide informal training and mentorship to Instructional Designers, Associate Instructional Designers, and new team members.
• Act as a point of contact for vendors, providing guidance, feedback, and decision-making support.
• Create and maintain documentation for digital workflows, best practices, and instructional guidelines.
• Identify, pilot, and scale novel digital learning approaches that add measurable value for educators and learners.
• Support user testing studies by interpreting results and making strategic recommendations.
• Support digital product tasks such as metadata tagging, concept mapping, and digital editing.
• Troubleshoot complex technical and instructional challenges through root cause analysis.
• Develop and refine best practices for digital tools and for creating engaging content within technical constraints.

Benefits

• A full range of medical and/or other benefits may be provided, depending on the position offered; details are available through the company's benefit offerings page.

What This Job Offers

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