Careers

Full-Time Instructional Designer

Position Summary

The Instructional Designer reports to the Director of Program Design. In collaboration with Gardner Institute staff and other subject matter experts, this person will contribute to the design, development, and support of internal and external professional development opportunities for staff and institutional partners. This person will also work closely with a team of staff working on Transforming the Postsecondary Experience™, the process by which the Gardner Institute engages with college and university partners to transform the institution to promote positive outcomes for all students. The major responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Manage the use of the Gardner Institute’s learning management system (LMS) in delivering asynchronous learning experiences for internal and external professional development
• Provide support and training to Gardner Institute staff and partners in their use of the LMS
• Apply instructional design theories and principles to design, develop, and support modules, to be delivered in multiple modalities, for various Gardner Institute engagements
• Support the creation or revision of engagements from initial design to the final delivery of learning content
• Administer a universal evaluation tool for assessing the participant experience across the Gardner Institute engagements
• Support the Director of Program Design in guiding the Gardner Institute’s approach to the design and development of the participant experience in our engagements
• Broadly support Gardner Institute’s delivery of external content offerings to improve educational outcomes for students
• Other duties as assigned

Preferred Job Requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, Training and Development, Adult Education, or related field

Experience:

• A minimum of three years of experience in designing and developing instructional content for adult learners
• Proficiency with learning management systems such as Brightspace, image and video editing software, and web-based conferencing applications
• Ability to apply instructional design theories in the development and delivery of online and in person  learning experiences
• Experience developing and implementing professional development for higher education faculty and staff preferred
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Familiarity with Google Suite, Microsoft Office, Zoom and technology in general
• Strong organizational and project-management skills.
• Attention to detail and problem solving, with a demonstrated capacity to meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team, as well as independently.
• A commitment to the Gardner Institute’s mission

Working Conditions:

• The position may be based anywhere in the United States with excellent internet access. The staff member will primarily engage with colleagues on a computer, as well as phone, email, Slack and Zoom.
• Ability to function at a computer or workstation for long periods of time
• Ability to access reliable internet
• Ability to travel up to 15 percent of the time, including periodic travel to the home office in Brevard, NC and ability to primarily work hours consistent with the Eastern Time Zone
• Staff members are required to attend the Organizational Development days and other in person meetings that help the organization operationalize its mission

All employees are at-will employees. This means the employee or the Institute may terminate the employment relationship at any time for any or no reason.

Compensation

The range of salary will be between $68,000 – $80,000 per year. This position includes full benefits: health insurance, dental insurance, long-term disability, sick and vacation time, and a 9% retirement match.

 To Apply:

Send resume and cover letter to jobs@gardnerinstitute.org. The priority deadline for applications is May 12, 2025.

Internships

The Institute has benefited from the contributions of interns who have worked on a variety of projects including research, writing, and direct involvement in Institute activities.

Students who are interested in spending a period of time (usually one academic term) working with the Institute are invited to submit the Internship form. We alternate between graduate and undergraduate interns. All internships are online at this time.  Internships may or may not carry academic credit which would be awarded by the student’s home institution. The Institute will provide a qualified supervisor for the intern who will provide the intern’s institutional faculty of record with an appropriate evaluation of the intern’s performance in order to facilitate the institution’s awarding of course credit. Ideally, the intern will undertake some kind of project during the internship that must be reviewed and approved by both the Institute and the intern’s faculty member(s) of record at the intern’s institution.

 Typically, there is one internship available during each academic term, including summer. Application deadlines are July 1 (for fall) , October 7 (for spring), March 3 (for summer). Deadline is 5 pm Eastern for every semester.

• Fall 2025- Graduate

Interns will receive a stipend of $1,500 per semester and academic credit may also be available.

To apply for our internship, please complete the Internship Form.

Notifications on decisions will occur 6 weeks after deadline.

Internships require a commitment of 10-15 hours per week and availability during business hours of 9 am – 5 pm.

There is a stipend of $1,500 per semester for interns. 

POTENTIAL INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES INCLUDE:

• Social Media and Communications
• Data Analysis and Research
• Improving the success of undergraduate students
• Leadership skills development
• Exploration of possible careers in higher education
• Other Topics of Interest

AVAILABLE INTERNSHIPS

As we want to provide this internship opportunity to as many students as possible, students are eligible to receive the internship once in their undergraduate matriculation and once during their graduate school experience (masters and/or doctoral).

For questions, please contact internships@gardnerinstitute.org.