Here is a guide to different types of learning design roles. I’m writing from my own experience working as an Australian learning designer. Whilst these are specific to Australia, I think these are widely applicable and can be mapped onto US based learning designers as well. I hope this guide is useful for those who are looking to get into learning and instructional design and are interested in the career path and opportunities.
Learning Design Roles
Builder (Entry level position): Someone who builds learning experiences using eLearning Authoring tools (Articulate, Learning Management Systems etc). Builders create lessons based on storyboards which specify what text, images and interactive elements (videos, multiple choice questions etc) should be present on each screen. These storyboards have often been designed by a learning designers.
Builders often also conduct Quality Assurance checks (QA) on the learning experience before it is deployed to real learners, checking things like copywriting, images and videos loading properly and checking the accuracy of interactive elements such as multiple choice inputs, text inputs etc. In universities, sometimes learning design builders can be student interns or apprenticeships for aspiring learning designers.
Learning Designer (Entry level or some experience required): A learning designer designs a digital learning experience. This involves working with a subject matter expert to design the learning experience most importantly by drafting a storyboard. This will involve some combination of objective setting, learner research, design storyboarding and implementation work. Depending on the organisation, a learning designer may directly manage their projects, which involve negotiating with subject matter experts, providing updates to management, stakeholders and tracking financial budgets. This project management may also be handled by a specialist project manager or a lead learning designer.
Lead Learning Designer (Experience required): A lead learning designer leads and mentors a team of learning designers and is responsible for the output of training and learning experiences. This role can involve designing a learning design process, giving feedback to learning designers and collaborating with subject matter experts, project managers and middle managers.
Other Management roles (Head of Learning, Head of Training and Development etc), I wont go into these types of roles for now, as these roles are still quite rare and emerging. Often these roles are more likely to exist in a larger established private company are often located in the HR department.
Stakeholder and Adjacent Roles
So far I have only covered learning design roles, however there are adjacent roles which often interact with learning designers. These roles can be also be part of the learning designer role (e.g. a learning designer might be their own project manager and produce video content as part of their role, especially if they are operating in a lean team).
Subject Matter Experts: These are experts in their domains who learning designers have to collaborate with in order to produce learning experiences. SME’s are responsible for writing the subject content and checking the accuracy and appropriateness of the learning experience for their intended audience. In a university context, this is often an academic. In a corporate companies, this can be a line manager or individual contributor with domain knowledge.
Project Manager: A project manager is in charge of ensuring a project is completed on time, under budget and fulfills the requirements of the learner. This can involve creating project plans, drafting status updates and coordinating teams of learning designers, graphic designers, video producers etc. They will also provide status updates to stakeholders such as managers, directors etc.
Graphic Designer: Graphic designers create visual artifacts such as images, infographics, visual overlays and create a unified visual style guide (involving font hierarchy, visual imagery and logos).
Video and Audio Producer: Some teams may have a dedicated video or content producer who films, records and edits video and audio content such as interviews, podcasts or instructional videos.
Software Developers: Some learning experiences may require more custom experiences to be created using the skills of a software developer. This can involve custom simulations, custom website development and learning analytics.