Instructional Learning Designer

We're looking for an experienced Instructional Learning Designer to join the Royal Society of Chemistry and help shape how our audiences — chemistry professionals, students and the wider scientific community — learn and grow with us.  

In this role, you will design and develop interactive, high-quality e-learning experiences that serve our community across their entire journey with the RSC: from first encounter to professional development and beyond. You'll bring instructional design expertise and a genuine curiosity about learner needs and apply those skills to everything you create - ensuring our content is not just accurate, but engaging, purposeful, and built around the people who use it. 

Working closely with a project team, subject matter experts, product managers, and stakeholders across the organisation, you'll take a customer-centric, 'outside in' approach — letting learner needs and pain points drive what we commission and how we design it. You'll also play an active role in raising the standard of instructional design practice at the RSC, mentoring colleagues and contributing to a culture of continuous improvement. 

At the RSC we embrace flexibility and offer hybrid working, which means our teams come together when they need to collaborate. Although this role is contractually based at our Cambridge office, you will be able to work from home in the UK, with the expectation that you will attend the office to create a network and build capabilities across the business. In this role it is expected that you will attend the office 1-2 days per week and on an ad-hoc basis. If you need flexible working arrangements, please outline this in your application. 

What you'll do 

You'll lead the end-to-end design and development of digital learning materials — from scoping and research through to build, evaluation, and continuous improvement. Day to day, this means: 

• Conducting learner research and stakeholder interviews to inform the design and development of the digital instructional materials and methodology. 

• Applying methodologies such as ADDIE and SAM to plan and execute instructional design projects 

• Creating engaging e-learning courses, job aids, performance support tools, and learning pathways using leading authoring tools 

• Redeveloping existing materials with a sharp focus on best practice and customer need 

• Overseeing instructional video production, ensuring scripts are followed to the agreed learning design 

• Collaborating with subject matter experts, product managers, and business stakeholders across the RSC to ensure the accuracy and relevance of instructional materials, and that they align with business objectives 

• Developing evaluation and assessment processes to measure effectiveness and drive continuous improvement 

• Leading and mentoring colleagues in instructional design practice 

• Managing projects from initiation to delivery, mitigating risks and maintaining ISO quality standards 

• Staying current with emerging technologies and trends in e-learning and instructional design 

What we are looking for: 

• Proven experience as an Instructional Learning Designer, designing e-learning or working on the development of complex educational digital products. 

• Strong knowledge of e-learning development tools and software to create interactive multimedia-rich materials: This includes utilising software and tools such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, or others to create interactive and multimedia-rich instructional materials. 

• Experience of designing and developing multiple digital learning products concurrently. 

• Experience of applying approaches to pedagogy/andragogy to digital learning experiences. 

• Able to lead the design on multiple learning projects with tight deadlines. 

• Excellent writing and editing skills, with proven ability to write a range of technical, instructional and educational materials in different contexts, in a range of tones and styles 

• Strong analytical skills, ability to review large volumes of information and make informed decisions about priorities and design approaches. 

• Strong communication skills 

• Capable with Microsoft Office applications (PowerPoint, Word, Excel), and comfortable learning new packages such as authoring tools. 

• Commercial awareness and understanding commercial impact of product decisions. 

• Experience of matrix working and team working, and getting buy in from key stakeholders. 

• An understanding of platform technologies in a contextual nature to support instructional design. 

If you are interested in this role, please apply before the end of the closing date. When applying, you will need to provide an up-to-date CV and as a cover letter (in no more than 500 words) telling us about your relevant knowledge, skills and competencies and why you are applying for this role. 

About the RSC 

The Royal Society of Chemistry is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to advance chemical sciences. We are a provider of knowledge, a professional body and a voice for chemical sciences, with a heritage that spans 180 years. We work with industry and academia to promote collaboration and innovation. We advise governments on policy, and we promote the talent, information and ideas that lead to great advances in science. 

Benefits 

We promote a healthy work/life balance and flexible working options. Our benefits package includes: 

• 26 days’ paid holiday per annum plus bank holidays. 

• Pension plan with up to 12% employer contributions (depending upon your contribution). 

• Life assurance at 3 times basic annual salary. 

• Enhanced parental leave. 

• Paid volunteering days.