Equity Specialist - Instructional Design

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If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career. Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is: Grade: Professional 310 Pay Range: $91,000.00 - $136,400.00 Job Description Serves as a subject matter expert (SME) and mentor to instructional designers (IDs), leading the integration of innovative features and practices-with a specialized focus on equity, accessibility, and inclusive design. This role ensures the timely and effective incorporation of emerging instructional technologies and methodologies into course design and content development. This role is also a key point of contact for "how-to" inquiries related to equitable and accessible instructional design and assessment development. This role is critical in bridging the gap between instructional design expertise and the adoption of cutting-edge educational technologies, ensuring instructional designers are well-equipped to create engaging, effective, and forward-thinking learning experiences. This role additionally serves as a cross-team advocate, working laterally across Academic Program Development (APD) to lead the integration of equity strategies into course materials, assessments, and learning experiences. Location: This position will be onsite based in our Raleigh, NC office. Primary Responsibilities Coaches instructional designers in APD on course/content development using equitable, accessible design practices. Leads the integration of new instructional design features and approaches; evaluates impact on diverse learner populations. Ensures the timely rollout of new strategies and tools, monitoring effectiveness and learner impact. Mentors and develops instructional designers and contractors, through training, guidance, and scalable resources. Explores and implements emerging technologies (including generative AI); document best practices and innovation standards. Develops and maintains AI-enabled guidance to ensure consistent design practices across instructional design roles. Partners with stakeholders to strengthen instructional strategy and uphold academic quality standards. Contributes to course development to ensure alignment with WGU's mission and academic quality standards. Delivers workshops, training sessions, and just-in-time resources to build team capability. Leads cross-functional projects; recommends and implements process improvements. Coordinates contractor work (approve hours, track timelines) to keep projects on schedule. Designs and champions scalable solutions that advance student equity and next-generation accessibility across APD's course portfolio. Works laterally across APD teams to integrate equity strategies into course materials, learning resources, and assessments. Creates and drives adoption of consistent accessibility, DEI, and inclusive design frameworks across curriculum and content. Applies Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to proactively support diverse learner needs. Conducts needs-analyses; provide training, consultation, and guidance on accessible design, assistive technologies, and data-informed equity gap reduction. Represents APD and serve as a cross-department spokesperson for equity, diversity, and accessibility practices in Program Development. Evaluates AI tools and instructional technologies through an equity lens; identify opportunities and risks for diverse learner populations. Performs other related duties as assigned. This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Expertise in instructional design, curriculum development, and learner experience (UX). Advanced knowledge of emerging instr

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