Learning Product Owner, Salt Lake City, UT

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 309 Pay Range: $66,800.00 - $100,100.00

Job Description

Oversees the full product lifecycle (design, development, and continuous improvement) for an assigned portfolio of online learning l products, ensuring alignment with market needs and University standards. This role operates at the intersection of learning science, product thinking, and instructional technology to create scalable, high-impact learning experiences.

Accountable not only for designing new products within their portfolio, but for guiding development teams to bring their designs to life, monitoring performance in the market, and driving ongoing improvements based on data, learner behavior, and business outcomes. They operate with a high degree of ownership, managing multiple products simultaneously within an agile environment.

Collaborates with critical stakeholders in assessment, media, architecture, academics, operations, discovery, delivery, and others to ensure products are effective, efficient to produce and support, and aligned to strategic goals.

Essential Responsibilities

• Partners with cross-functional stakeholders to own a defined portfolio of products from concept through launch and ongoing iteration
• Owns curriculum and assessment within assigned products, including relevance, quality, technical accuracy, functionality, and assessment validity.
• Implements and ensures adherence to best practices in the design, development, delivery, and maintenance of assigned product portfolio.
• Ensures alignment between curriculum and assessment
• Collaborates with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure programs meet all accreditation and regulatory requirements.
• Designs scalable and reusable products aligned to learner needs, business priorities, and market demand
• Applies learning science, user experience design, and accessibility best practices to all learning experiences.
• Partners with assessment and development teams to.
• Ensures alignment between competencies, assessments, and instructional strategies.
• Ensures designs are implemented as envisioned and delivered in a timely manner.
• Creates playbooks and video walkthroughs for all products within defined portfolio
• Ensures timely delivery of quality programs.
• Partners with assigned Project Managers to.
• Oversees multiple products and initiatives concurrently within an agile environment.
• Plans, prioritizes, and executes work across the product lifecycle, balancing speed, quality, and scope.
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams to ensure timely, high-quality development and delivery.
• Contributes to evolving best practices in the use of emerging technologies in online learning design.
• Partners with Learning Architects to use AI tools to accelerate design, development, content generation, and analysis workflows; and identify and implement opportunities to automate processes and improve efficiency
• Provides thought leadership and recommends innovations in learning products, learning design, and delivery based on data analysis and learning science.
• Evaluates and analyzes program and course performance as required for operation and quality improvement.
• Develops and maintains success metrics and time, budget, and quality measures.
• Maintains accountability for product quality, relevance, and outcomes over time
• Partners with Data Analysts to monitor product performance using defined success metrics (engagement, persistence, completion); and analyze learner data, staff feedback, and behavioral patterns to identify root causes and opportunities.
• Partners with Research Scientist to design and implement improvements through structured experimentation and iteration.
• Applies a systems-thinking approach to design decisions, understanding upstream and downstream impacts.
• Partners with stakeholders to align on product vision, priorities, and success measures.
• Communicates design rationale, tradeoffs, and outcomes clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Contributes to critical documentation in support of the full product lifecycle.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, skills, and Abilities

• Experience working in agile or iterative development environments
• Excellent organizational and project management skills, including the ability to effectively handle multiple tasks and pay attention to detail.
• Familiarity with AI tools and their application in content creation, analysis, and workflow optimization.
• Experience working with instructional technologies and digital learning platforms.
• Proficiency in designing end-to-end learning experiences, from concept through evaluation.
• Strong foundation in learning science, instructional design, and adult learning theory
• Understand product-level curriculum and assessment design and development
• Strong online learning design and development skills
• Clear understanding of user-experience best practices, including accessibility requirements
• Ability to facilitate groups and meetings in person and remotely
• Ability to manage multiple projects efficiently
• Excellent written, oral, presentation, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to build relationships and influence at all levels, both internally and externally.
• Strong collaboration, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Systems thinking and ability to connect design decisions to broader organizational outcomes
• Data analytics skills, including interpretation, synthesis, and translation into actionable product improvements
• Proven ability to use data to make informed decisions (analyze root causes, design experiments and interventions with clear success measures, conduct retrospective analysis, etc.).
• Detail-oriented, with proven ability to handle multiple tasks
• Requires composure under pressure, dealing with ambiguity and comfort working closely with senior leadership.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master's degree in Instructional Design, Education, Learning Experience Design, or related field
• All applicable licenses or certifications.
• 4 years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience with online learning and change management.
• Experience working on cross-functional teams delivering complex projects

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in competency-based education or online higher education
• Experience using data to drive product or learning design decisions
• Familiarity with UX/UI design principles and tools
• Experience leveraging AI in design or development workflows.

Travel

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.