Manager, Design & Development

The Design & Development Manager directs a cross-functional team in the development of Capella University’s offerings, courses, and courseroom experiences. This individual is responsible for leading a team, partnering with academic and business stakeholders, and supporting continuous improvement within the department to ensure excellence and efficiency. As a people leader who leads by example, the Manager puts people first by prioritizing trust, accountability, and transparency while encouraging creativity, diversity, equity, inclusivity, and an innovative mindset. The manager will assist the Director for Design & Development to ensure the timely completion of courses for the online launch, and coordinate with academic resource materials and school leadership, subject matter experts, and others to provide high-quality design and delivery that meet learner and faculty needs.

• Serve as a point of contact and resource for School Leadership on planning, development, and maintenance of program curriculum/courses/content.
• Collaborate with Directors, Concept to Launch partners, and VP of Course Development on roadmap needs and resources to execute school leadership goals.
• Partner closely with the Director of Design and Development to support the overall vision, brand, and goals of a team of varied positions (instructional architects, designers, editors, and learning technologists) in all day-to-day design & development tasks to ensure quality, timely delivery, and consistent format, standards, and style.
• Ensure cross-function team along with subject matter experts design, develop, implement, and maintain contextually rich, engaging, and objective-driven courses that focus on applicable real-world/ workplace skills. 
• Keep the Director of Design and Development informed of issues that impact the design and development of our products.
• Collaborate with the learning lab to ensure pilots, technology, and vision are executed within our courses.
• Develop an eye for automation opportunities to remove unnecessary friction from teamwork in order to focus more on learning and design for our learners.
• Partner with Director and VP to execute workplace evolution trends, learning agility, and design practices in the market to enhance the team’s skillsets.
• Work collaboratively with the team to establish and implement goals, objectives, policies, and procedures.
• Coordinate a professional development strategy, recognition, and engagement for all team members.
• Understand business goals and strategies in order to align strategic goals by helping to generate project proposals and plans in response to business needs and objectives.
• Partner with additional Course Development Teams to ensure processes is operating smoothly while seeking out and recommending solutions to achieve increased efficiencies and effectiveness.
• Partner with school and university leadership in delivering on their strategy through school and concept to launch roadmaps, department capacity, and organizational goals.
• Negotiate with partners to deliver on their goals while advocating for Course Development values and needs.
• Keep abreast of emerging trends and approaches in the e-learning market and utilize new methods as appropriate.
• Follow up on active and completed projects to assess the status and provide timely updates of identified issues and/or potential delays to various leaders.
• Maintain a current worldview on matters related to instructional design, educational technology, and leadership, identifying opportunities for process and quality improvement within course development.
• Accurately forecast and update budget as required, work with partners on planning in estimating resources and dollars for annual budgets.
• Assist in the development and management of innovative process improvements across the team and organization.

Education:

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
• Master’s Degree in Education, Instructional Technology, or Leadership (or equivalent, e.g., Education Specialist) preferred.

Work Experience:

• 3 – 5 years of professional leadership with administrative and staff management responsibilities.
• 3 – 5 years minimum experience supporting and/or managing business operations.
• 3 – 5 years of experience in instructional design, curriculum, and/or program/product development in higher education or a related industry.

Job Skills:

• Passion and eagerness to solve problems, learn, grow, and fully contribute to the future of a dynamic team.
• Excellent organizational and leadership abilities.
• Uses LMS and other technology systems/tools to manage design and development efforts.
• Understanding of online content and media development techniques and processes is preferred.
• Comfortable working within a project-oriented environment, supporting multiple projects simultaneously.
• Ability to work with a varied and/or cross-functional group of people in onsite, hybrid, and remote locations.
• Strong understanding of user-centered design and usability preferred.
• A customer-focused perspective with the ability to integrate information from multiple sources, identify resources for projects, and determine appropriate strategies to meet organizational needs.
• Ability to lead teams of specialists, advocating for their needs with leaders and helping them integrate with other specialist groups.
• Experience with higher education curriculum and assessment philosophies, especially outcomes-based and competency-based education preferred.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent collaboration and consultation skills.
• Excellent project, time management, and organizational skills.
• Other essential functions and marginal job functions are subject to modification.

Other:

• Must be able to travel 25% of the time.
• Must be able to lift 25 lbs.
• Typical office setting

Physical and Mental Demands:

• Mobility within the office including movement from floor to floor.
• Travel via plane, car, and metro is required to perform this job.
• Must be able to work 40-45 hours per week or more when business needs warrant.
• Access information using a computer.
• Effectively communicate, both up and down the leadership chain.
• Effectively cope with stressful situations.
• Strong mental acuity.

If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete our application process, please contact our Human Resources Department at [email protected].