Learning Experience Designer, Core (Remote, US)

We are seeking a Learning Experience Designer (LXD), Core to serve as a grade-level lead in the design and production of high-quality instructional materials for Newsela's core secondary ELA curriculum. This role is ideal for a hands-on curriculum builder with strong ELA content and pedagogy expertise who is passionate about creating engaging, standards-aligned lessons, texts, and assessments—and who is energized by owning the quality and coherence of an entire grade level of instruction. As a grade-level lead, you are accountable for the quality of everything that ships at your grade: the development of scopes and sequences for units; development and review of teacher- and student-facing materials; content from internal teams, external contributors, and AI-supported workflows; and making the day-to-day judgment calls that keep units aligned to standards, the curriculum model, and Newsela's quality bar. You'll collaborate with other content teams and leaders in developing, refining, and implementing program-level frameworks and quality guidelines, and you'll own their consistent application at your grade.

Responsibilities

Serve as grade-level lead and subject-matter point of contact for assigned grade; Own resolution of content and alignment issues across workstreams; Ensure lessons, texts, and assessments form a coherent arc consistent in structure, voice, rigor, and fidelity to the curriculum model; Verify all materials align to relevant state ELA standards and frameworks; Support development of grade-level scopes and sequences; Support development of teacher-facing and student-facing lessons and materials; Draft and refine formative and summative assessment items, rubrics, and performance tasks; Build embedded scaffolds and differentiation for diverse learners; Own review of contributor- and AI-generated lessons, activities, and assessments; Support iterative refinement of AI prompts and specifications; Collaborate in developing rubrics, checklists, and conventions; Collaborate closely with senior designers, lesson and assessment writers, ELD specialists, and product and technology teams; Prioritize and deliver work on time to Newsela's standards

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in English, Education, Curriculum & Instruction, or a related field; 5+ years of experience in secondary ELA curriculum development, instructional design, or content creation (school- or district-based curriculum development experience also considered); Strong working knowledge of secondary ELA pedagogy and state standards and frameworks such as CCSS, including reading development, writing instruction, and assessment best practices; Excellent English writing and editing, with a demonstrated ability to produce polished, standards-aligned instructional content and to give clear, useful feedback to other writers; A judicious eye for quality and acute attention to detail when reviewing materials, with the ability to make sound, well-reasoned content decisions independently; A strong ownership mindset—you take responsibility for outcomes at your grade level, follow through on commitments, surface risks early, and hold yourself and others to a high bar; Comfort and fluency with AI tools, and an interest in using them to accelerate high-quality content development without sacrificing pedagogical rigor; Strong organizational and verbal communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and prioritize in conjunction with business needs

Nice to have

Preferably for an educational technology or publishing company; high school emphasis is welcome given near-term needs; Prior classroom teaching experience in secondary ELA; Experience contributing to a core (basal) ELA curriculum at a curriculum provider; Experience creating resources or scaffolds for multilingual learners and striving readers; Experience reviewing or guiding the work of contributors, freelancers, or vendor teams; Experience with digital content authoring tools or content management systems (CMS); Master's degree in English, Education, Curriculum & Instruction, or a related field

Benefits

Comprehensive medical benefits with employer contribution to premiums and HSA accounts; gym reimbursement; pet insurance; free access to Calm app; Rocket Lawyer; monthly tech stipend; inclusive benefits including parental leave, fertility support, adoption; 401(k) plan with employer match; flexible PTO; paid sick time off; company holidays; winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st); annual learning and development allowance