Sr. Accelerator Design & Development Manager (AI Skilling)

InStride•Los Angeles, CA

11h

About The Position

At InStride, people are our purpose. We believe that investing in people is the most powerful way to drive success—for individuals and organizations alike. As a public benefit corporation, we partner with leading employers to unlock opportunities for their employees, providing access to top-tier education programs that align with their employees’ career goals and the company’s business goals. Our mission goes beyond skill-building; we're here to empower our partners’ employees to advance their careers, elevate their expertise, and achieve meaningful personal and professional growth. No matter the team you’re on, our dedication to the success of our partners and their employees is what drives us. If you're passionate about making a difference and driving educational and professional advancement, InStride is the place for you. To get a better feel for our culture, watch more here . Candidates must be located in one of the following states to be considered eligible for employment: AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MD, MA, MI, MO, NV, NH, NJ, NY, PA, OH, OR, TX, VA, WA, WI. What we're looking for (role overview) : At InStride, we’re redefining how employers develop talent through applied, university-quality learning that drives measurable business impact. Our Capability Accelerators are cohort-based, role-aligned programs, co-developed with leading universities and employers, designed to build the skills that matter most for performance, productivity, and mobility at scale. As demand accelerates for practical, responsible AI capability across the workforce, we’re hiring an Sr. Accelerator Design and Development Manager, AI Skilling to help lead this next chapter. This role will focus on designing and scaling AI Capability Accelerators that enable non-technical leaders and professionals to effectively apply AI in their day-to-day work, while partnering productively with technical teams and managing AI-related risk. Reporting to the Director of Enterprise Learning, you will lead the end-to-end design and development of AI-focused Accelerators, translating employer business priorities into clear capability models, role-specific behaviors, and structured program blueprints. You’ll work closely with academic partners, faculty, and industry experts to bring these programs to life, embedding applied use cases, deliberate practice, and AI-enabled feedback mechanisms that drive real behavior change on the job. Beyond individual programs, this role plays a critical part in evolving InStride’s AI Accelerator model. You’ll help codify repeatable design frameworks, templates, and quality standards for AI skilling, ensuring our offerings remain rigorous, scalable, and differentiated as the market rapidly evolves. This includes shaping how we integrate emerging AI tools and agents into learning experiences, while maintaining a strong focus on responsible use and business relevance. This is a hybrid strategic and hands-on role. You’ll design flagship AI skilling programs for employers today, while building the systems and intellectual property that enable InStride to scale AI capability development across industries tomorrow.

Requirements

End-to-end AI program delivery: Direct experience designing, launching, and delivering applied AI or advanced capability programs, with ownership from concept through live delivery and iteration.
Applied AI learning expertise: Hands-on experience using AI, simulations, and practice-based learning to build real capability for non-technical leaders and professionals.
Employer-facing program leadership: Proven ability to partner with senior L&D leaders and business stakeholders to translate priorities into delivered, high-impact programs.
Scalable learning system design: Ability to codify what works into repeatable models, templates, and playbooks that enable quality and scale.
Builder mentality: Energized by shipping real programs, learning from what lands, and continuously improving the model in ambiguous, fast-evolving environments.
This role is best suited for candidates who have personally delivered AI capability programs, not just advised on AI strategy or learning design.
You’ve delivered AI capability programs end to end.
You’ve designed, built, launched, and iterated applied AI programs that went live and drove real learner and business outcomes.
Your AI experience is applied, not theoretical.
You’ve helped non-technical leaders and professionals use AI in real workflows, decisions, and business contexts, not just understand the tools.
You’ve done this work in a credible delivery environment. This includes enterprise L&D or AI Centers of Excellence, top consulting firms where you owned execution, or high-quality workforce or executive education organizations.
You bring strong applied learning judgment. You know how to design cohort-based, practice-heavy programs that drive behavior change, and you’ve proven it through delivery.
You can partner directly with enterprise clients. You’re comfortable translating business priorities into delivered programs and navigating senior stakeholders.
You’re a builder and operator. You thrive in ambiguity, make practical trade-offs, and improve the model by shipping and learning, not over-designing.
Willingness to travel occasionally to collaborate with clients, academic partners, and internal teams.

Responsibilities

Co-lead employer engagements as the Practical AI capability SME: Partner with the VP, Professional Services and Director, Enterprise Learning to translate employer business needs into clear, outcome-driven AI Capability Accelerator designs and learning blueprints.
Design and deliver Practical AI Capability Accelerators end to end: Personally design, build, and help deliver early AI Accelerators, integrating applied use cases, practice, simulation, and feedback, and staying close to live pilots to drive continuous refinement.
Launch and scale ready-to-deploy Practical AI Accelerators: Lead the design, development, and launch of at least two ready-to-deploy AI Capability Accelerators in year one, including supporting multiple cohort runs of each.
Partner with academic faculty and industry experts: Work directly with academic partners to co-create programs that balance rigor with employer relevance, speed, and execution.
Build and codify the Practical AI Accelerator model: Capture what works through delivery by developing repeatable design frameworks, templates, and playbooks that enable faster customization and consistent quality.
Lead instructional design execution: Direct and support instructional designers and content developers, rolling up sleeves when needed to ensure high-quality, applied learning experiences.
Stay close to learners to drive impact: Engage directly with learners during early cohorts to support success, gather insight, and inform continuous improvement of content and delivery.
Operate as a builder in a scaling environment: Manage multiple workstreams with clarity and judgment, contributing to the broader vision and strategy for InStride’s AI Capability Accelerator portfolio.

Benefits

InStride employees are eligible to enroll in 2,800+ online certificate and degree programs through our Step Forward program . Unlike traditional tuition reimbursement programs, InStride covers your tuition upfront, regardless of your course of study, degree type, or school - eligible to employees starting Day 1.
401(k) plan with company match
Flexible vacation policy
Paid family leave
Best-in-class health care benefits

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