Learning Experience Designer, Supplemental ELA (Remote, US) at Newsela

<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Why You'll Love This Role:&nbsp;</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We are seeking a <strong>Learning Experience Designer (LXD)</strong> to be a key driver in the development and production of high-quality instructional materials for our supplemental K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) product. This role is ideal for a hands-on curriculum builder with a strong foundation in ELA pedagogy who is passionate about creating engaging, standards-aligned lessons, activities, texts, and assessments for K-12 students.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>What You'll Be Doing:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <h4><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Content Creation and Curation</strong></span></h4> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Material Authoring:</strong> Directly write, design, and structure detailed lessons, activities, and student worksheets/interactives based on established instructional models and product specifications.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Text Selection and Editing:</strong> Identify, vet, and edit grade-appropriate student-facing texts (fiction and non-fiction) to ensure they align with ELA learning objectives and provide rich opportunities for skills practice.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Assessment Design:</strong> Develop clear and concise low-stakes formative and summative assessment items and rubrics (e.g., multiple-choice, short answer, essay prompts) that effectively measure student progress against specific learning outcomes and standards.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Quality Assurance:</strong> Review and provide focused editorial and pedagogical feedback on content drafts produced by internal teams or external contributors or vendors, ensuring accuracy, fidelity to the curriculum model, and student engagement.</span></li> </ul> <h4><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Science of Reading Best Practices and Curriculum Alignment</strong></span></h4> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Instructional Application:</strong> Apply fundamental, evidence-based principles of learning science, including best practices for reading comprehension, language or vocabulary acquisition, and writing mechanics, to the design of every lesson, activity and assessment.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Science of Reading:</strong> Stay up to date with research and best practices for teaching students how to leverage the pillars of the science of reading including phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, reading comprehension and vocabulary.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Standards Adherence:</strong> Ensure all content development strictly adheres to relevant state ELA standards across the K-12 continuum.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Accessibility and Scaffolding:</strong> Design materials with embedded scaffolds and differentiation strategies to make content accessible and meaningful for a wide range of learners, including Multilingual Learners (MLLs).</span></li> </ul> <h4><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Collaboration and Workflow</strong></span></h4> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Team Coordination:</strong> Work effectively with freelance contributors, other learning experience designers, and product managers to ensure content quality is consistently high.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Feedback: </strong>Provide detailed and consistent feedback to contributors to ensure output meets Newsela’s high quality standards. Ensure all feedback is rooted in documentation from Newsela or in ELA best practices.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Organization: </strong>Prioritize and deliver work on time and within Newsela’s standards of quality. Understand Newsela’s quality standards and their purposes, so they can be effectively applied across all content.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Learning Design:</strong> Translate high-level blueprints into detailed design specifications and content outlines that guide a scalable and consistent content development process that leverages AI tools, human contributors and staff.</span></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>About You:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Required</strong></span> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Education: Bachelor’s degree in Instructional Design, Education, Curriculum &amp; Instruction, English, Journalism or a related field.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience: 3+ years of experience in K-12 curriculum development, instructional design, or content creation, preferably for an educational technology or publishing company.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">ELA Knowledge: Strong working knowledge of K-12 ELA pedagogy, standards, and effective teaching methods.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Content Skills: Excellent writing and editing with demonstrated ability to produce high-quality, polished instructional content.</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Fluency with AI tools</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Other: Strong organizational skills as well as verbal communication skills and ability to prioritize and re-prioritize in conjunction with business needs.</span></li> </ul> </li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Preferred</strong></span> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Prior classroom teaching experience (K-12 ELA).</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience working with digital content authoring tools or content management systems (CMS).</span></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><em>All offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check as part of our pre-employment process.</em></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Why you’ll love working at Newsela:</strong></span></p> <ul> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Health &amp; Wellness:</strong> Comprehensive medical benefits with employer contribution to premiums and to HSA accounts. Additional benefits such as gym reimbursement, pet insurance, free access to the Calm app, Rocket Lawyer and more to help you stay healthy: mind, body, and soul.&nbsp;</span></li> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Work From Home: </strong>We are a fully remote company. We provide a monthly tech stipend to support your WFH needs!</span></li> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Supporting ALL Families:</strong> Inclusive benefits to support you and your family, including parental leave, fertility support, adoption, and more!&nbsp;</span></li> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Financial Wellbeing:</strong> Invest in your future with our 401(k) plan, which includes a employer match to help you build long-term financial security.</span></li> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Time Off: </strong>Flexible PTO, paid sick time off, company holidays plus winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st).</span></li> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Professional Development:</strong><strong> </strong>Newsela offers an annual learning and development allowance to employees to attend external training sessions, classes, workshops, conferences, and educational materials to foster professional growth within their current role and career aspirations at Newsela.</span></li> <li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Make A Difference:</strong> No matter your role or department, the work you do each day helps share the future of education and improves the lives of students and teachers.</span></li> </ul> <h3><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>About Newsela:</strong></span></h3> <p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Newsela is a leading education technology company dedicated to meaningful classroom learning for every student. We deliver integrated, AI-powered solutions designed to unlock student engagement, empower teachers, and drive meaningful learning outcomes. Our suite of products supports knowledge and skill development, writing practice, daily instruction, assessment, and data-informed decision-making across K–12 classrooms. Grounded in learning science research, Newsela’s solutions integrate content, assessment, and analytics to help educators track progress, understand student outcomes, and deliver high-impact instruction that supports every learner.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">#LI-Remote</span></p><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p><span style="font-size: 16px;">Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate’s individual skills, qualifications, and experience. Total compensation for this role also includes incentive stock options and benefits.&nbsp;</span></p></div><div class="title">Base Compensation Range</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$60,000</span><span class="divider">&mdash;</span><span>$70,000 USD</span></div></div></div>