"Associate Director of Instructional Design, Wharton Online - Wharton Executive Education"

Job Description Summary

Founded in 1881 as the world's first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With campuses in both Philadelphia and San Francisco, Wharton has over 850 staff, a faculty population of more than 235 renowned professors, and 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education's individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 104,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. Wharton is home to a dynamic community of staff, bringing a wide range of skills, experiences, and perspectives. To learn more, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.

The Associate Director of Instructional Design & Learning Analytics (ADID) role is an evolution of our existing instructional design capacity that directly supports Wharton's strategic priorities in executive education, quality at scale, and data-informed decision-making. This role helps facilitate the expansion and optimization of the self-paced programming catalog within the Wharton Online business unit. As an extension of that work, the ADID embeds learning analytics expertise within the instructional design function, ensuring that course structures, assessments, and teaching strategies are continuously optimized using real learner and client data. By integrating Canvas, Qualtrics, and CRM data into coherent evaluation frameworks, the ADID assists the business unit in demonstrating impact on learner outcomes, behavioral change, and ROI for corporate partners, thus strengthening the Wharton Online value proposition and its ability to secure and renew engagements. This role also standardizes design and evaluation practices across programs, creating reusable templates, dashboards, and processes that increase efficiency, reduce rework, and make it easier for faculty and staff to deliver high-quality online offerings at scale.

The Associate Director of Instructional Design and Learning Analytics is a member of the Wharton Online team within the Aresty Institute of Executive Education in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. This position reports to the Director of Instructional Design and Content Strategy. The incumbent applies instructional design methodologies, evidence-based teaching and learning practices, and multimedia design principles to develop and maintain non-credit executive education programs that help adult learners meet their professional development goals. This role also designs and implements program evaluation frameworks, learning analytics practices, and data workflows that connect LMS, survey, and CRM data to support continuous improvement, learner engagement, and organizational decision-making. The Associate Director of Instructional Design and Learning Analytics regularly collaborates with the Associate Director of Video Production Management to create effective and engaging multimedia resources, and with the Associate Director of Educational Technologies to implement pedagogically sound technologies and integrations that improve the learner experience and support scalable evaluation practices.

Job Responsibilities

• Consulting with the Director of Instructional Design and Content Strategy, the Associate Director of Instructional Design, and the Wharton Online team to provide instructional design expertise during the design of online asynchronous and synchronous programs.
• Collaborating with and supporting faculty and instructors, Program Directors, Course Managers, and internal and external stakeholders to create accessible and robust online learning experiences. This includes developing learning objectives, course maps, outlines, scripts, slides, videos, assignments, activities, compliance reviews, beta-tests, and preparing final products for launch.
• Designing and maintaining program evaluation frameworks that use surveys, LMS data, CRM data, and follow-up assessments; mapping learning objectives, program goals, and organizational goals; and developing metrics and models to assess learner engagement, learning outcomes, behavioral change, and ROI.
• Developing and managing data workflows and automations that integrate Canvas LMS, Qualtrics, CRM, and other organizational data sources; standardizing data collection and reporting practices; and implementing instructional technology integrations and AI-assisted workflows that enhance instructional quality, learner engagement, and evaluation.
• Conducting research and experimentation, applying statistical methods to analyze learning data, and translating findings into recommendations that support continuous improvement of instruction, courses, and programs.
• Partnering with program directors, leadership, and instructional design teams to define data needs and success metrics; developing reports, summaries, and presentations that translate learning data into actionable narratives; and creating guidance, frameworks, and documentation to support consistent and scalable evaluation practices.
• Maintaining up-to-date, in-depth knowledge of best and emerging practices in online teaching, executive education effectiveness, instructional design, learning science, and learning analytics; presenting on best and emerging practices to internal and external audiences.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

Required:

• A bachelor's degree and 3-5 years of experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience supporting faculty or subject-matter experts in developing online courses from design through development, including defining learning objectives, designing activities and assessments, and preparing courses for launch.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, collaborate across diverse stakeholders, and manage relationships with faculty, staff, and external partners.
• Demonstrated ability to manage high-level structures (e.g., multi-course programs, complex data workflows) and granular details (e.g., individual assessments, survey items, data definitions) simultaneously.
• Experience with learning management systems (e.g., Canvas) and survey tools (e.g., Qualtrics), and comfort working with spreadsheets and basic data analysis.

Preferred:

• Master's degree in instructional design, learning sciences, educational technology, data analytics, or a related field; 5-7 years of experience.
• Experience in continuing and professional education, higher education, or executive education.
• Experience designing and implementing program evaluation frameworks, learning analytics dashboards, or similar measurement initiatives in an educational or training context.
• Familiarity with data visualization and reporting tools (e.g., Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or similar), CRM systems, and basic statistical methods (e.g., A/B testing, regression, segmentation).
• Experience implementing or supporting instructional technologies, LTI tools, or integrations between LMS, survey platforms, and CRM or data warehouse environments.
• Experience experimenting with automation and AI tools (e.g., GPT-assisted workflows) to enhance productivity, evaluation, or course development processes.

Job Location

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Wharton School

Pay Range

$66,000.00 - $80,000.00 Annual Rate

To apply, visit https://wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recruiting/upenn/careers-at-penn/job/SCC-Aresty-InstExec-Ed/Associate-Director-of-Instructional-Design--Wharton-Online---Wharton-Executive-Education_JR00117249