Senior Instructional Designer (Remote, Contract)
CapeTalent isn't your average staffing agency. We connect AI-forward Learning & Development professionals with Fortune 100 companies who are shaping the future.
CONTRACT DETAILS
1099 or C2C (No W2)
This role is structured for experienced freelancers and independent contractors. W2 employment is not available for this engagement.
- 6-month contract (strong likelihood of extension)
- 100% Remote (U.S. or Canadian candidates only)
- Start date: June 2026
- 40 hours per week @ $55–$65/hour (C2C or 1099), based on experience
- Standard U.S. business hours (EST/CST/MST/PST)
- Heavy Slack collaboration + Laptop provided
- Portfolio REQUIRED
THE ROLE
About the Role
This is an Individual Contributor (IC) role. We're looking for a Senior Instructional Designer who designs and builds in equal measure, and who does their best work when the pace is quick and the problems are loosely defined. You'll own complete learning journeys end to end — not one-off courses — translating dense FinTech and SaaS product workflows into experiences that feel simple, hold attention, and scale across a global audience.
The work covers both new builds and reimagined existing content, and leans on the modern toolkit: branching scenarios, simulations, persona-led microlearning, gamified interactions, and reusable design frameworks. Day to day, you'll work alongside fellow designers, developers, program managers, SMEs, and product and technical partners, and you'll be the one bringing order and creative momentum when the brief is still taking shape.
How we build matters here. Our production runs on a structured, AI-assisted workflow with Claude embedded at the points where it saves the most time — shaping outlines and design packages, drafting content, and populating build files. The intent isn't to replace your craft; it's to clear the repetitive work so your energy goes to design decisions, learning science, and iteration. You drive the judgment, the review, and the polish.
What You'll Do
- Map and build full learning journeys tied to real workflows and the performance outcomes they're meant to move.
- Produce storyboards and learning flows clear enough that development can run smoothly and at scale.
- Take tired legacy material and rebuild it into something visual, current, and genuinely learner-first.
- Grow the shared toolkit — design systems, frameworks, and reusable models others can build on.
- Craft interactive facilitator-led sessions, complete with participant materials and facilitation guides.
- Build persona-driven microlearning, simulations, and game mechanics that lift engagement and retention.
- Use Articulate Storyline as the home base for builds — with AI feedback and interactions living inside the course itself — and design in Rise where clean localization matters.
- Weave in video, animation, and other media so the finished experience feels cohesive and polished.
- Rework existing templates for better flow and engagement — nothing ships straight out of the box.
- Keep everything compliant, tracked, and QA'd in Docebo.
- Lean on AI (Claude, Gemini, Notebook LM) to speed up outlining, drafting, content development, prototyping, file population, and revision cycles.
- Work shoulder-to-shoulder with SMEs to keep learning anchored to business goals and metrics.
- Juggle several projects at once without losing speed, quality, or deadlines — and without needing much oversight.
- Operate comfortably against SLAs.
What We're Looking For
- At least 5 years designing and developing instructional content, backed by a portfolio of end-to-end journeys, scenario work, and impact you can point to. We weigh the quality and speed of your work over a year count.
- You already build with Generative AI (Claude, Gemini, Notebook LM) in live production — it's woven into how we work, not a nice-to-have.
- Fast and assured in Articulate 360 (Storyline), Rise, Synthesia, and 7Taps, plus Figma or a comparable tool for quick prototyping and storyboarding.
- Comfortable in Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Audition) to create and integrate multimedia.
- Enough fluency with JavaScript and Storyline web objects to know how they stretch what a course can do.
- A track record building interactive, facilitator-led and live virtual sessions that are engaging, scalable, and outcomes-driven.
- A reputation for shipping strong work quickly when volume is high.
- Skilled at turning complicated systems into learning that changes performance.
- Background designing for customer-facing teams or product training.
- Evidence that your work moves the needle on engagement, adoption, and outcomes (NPS, completion, and the like).
- Experience creating reusable, scalable content and frameworks.
- Grounded in learning science — cognitive load, Bloom's, the forgetting curve and spaced reinforcement, behavior change and motivation, and microlearning/chunking.
- At home in Agile and fast-paced settings.
Why This Role?
- You get a kick out of making complex products feel simple and engaging to learn.
- You want a seat in high-impact FinTech/SaaS enterprise product training.
- You like roles that mix strategy with hands-on building.
- You do your best work in modern, fast-moving learning environments.
- Innovation, speed, and quality are things you actually care about.
- Ambiguity doesn't rattle you — you bring the structure.
- AI-powered tools and workflows energize you rather than intimidate you.
- Learner experience, adoption, and usability genuinely matter to you.
We're looking for someone who can:
- Design learning experiences, not just content.
- Build quickly using modern tools and AI.
- Drive measurable impact through engagement and performance.
Ready to apply? Submit your resume and portfolio link to be considered.
Job Type: Contract
Pay: $55.00 - $65.00 per hour
Work Location: Remote
