WHAT DOES A LEARNING DESIGNER DO?
Published: Jan 23, 2026 - The Learning Designer influences senior leaders and clearly communicates a compelling learning vision aligned to business strategy. This role designs impactful, culturally aligned learning experiences and determines solution approaches to build, buy, or curate to deliver measurable outcomes in fast-paced, ambiguous environments. The designer also applies expertise in design and learner research, evaluates program effectiveness, and strengthens a learning culture by mentoring and guiding peers.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Learning Designer
1. Learning Designer Duties
- Innovation Strategy: Operate as an “innovation hub” collaborating with the LMS team and other e-Learning designers to pioneer creative, engaging, low effort, easy-to-access virtual solutions using the LMS and other emerging learning tools such as mobile learning, social learning, micro-learning, short videos, video channels, video classrooms, podcasts, webcasts, just-in-time learning, learning self-service, virtual mentoring, and coaching
- Solution Development: Build innovative solutions that meet organizational learning and development needs across the enterprise and the major lines of business.
- Visual Design: Craft eye-catching designs while maintaining and following brand guidelines
- Authoring Tools: Use authoring tools, determine the overall educational flow, and content breakdown.
- Creative Design: Design a slick look and feel, bring content to life through text, graphics, video, audio, animation, etc, in easy-to-consume ways
- Media Production: Produce engaging videos, multimedia presentations, and podcasts
- Tool Exploration: Dig deep into the workings of e-Learning tools and experiment with new ways to deliver learning
- Video Delivery: Experiment with new ways to deliver learning using the video management tools
- Learning Experience: Assist in crafting visual/audio experiences that work best for virtual learning and easy consumption
- ILT Conversion: Assist in the conversion of instructor-led training (ILT) courses/programs to virtual learning solutions or vILT
- Live Workshops: Assist in the production of live, remote workshops in video classrooms with SMEs and/or executives
- Content Repurposing: Repurpose and leverage learning solutions from existing training content
- Virtual Deployment: Design and deploy learning solutions through virtual channels
- Video Production: Shoot and produce high-quality video/audio content
- Design Evaluation: Evaluate aesthetic choices critically with the customer needs in mind
2. Learning Designer Responsibilities
- Course Design: Design courses for face-to-face, blended, and online delivery
- Needs Analysis: Conduct learner and content analysis
- Instructional Planning: Prepare flowcharts and storyboards
- Prototyping: Prepare paper prototypes
- Usability Testing: Conduct try-outs and usability reviews
- Event Coordination: Facilitate the organization of workshops, trainings, and other events
- Training Delivery: Deliver training in certain areas of expertise
- Research Reporting: Conduct research and prepare reports
- Operational Support: Execute any other duty and responsibility assigned by the Management Team
3. Learning Designer Functions
- Curriculum Ownership: Own the entire Security-related curriculum and provide the expertise for curriculum development
- Instructional Design: Design and develop sustainable training solutions, using solid instructional design methodology (including adult learning theory, interactive activities, and competency-based evaluations) to ensure training solutions are effective and aligned with quality and regulatory requirements
- Learning Strategy: Understand the unique needs of legal, security, product, engineering, and other business teams (goals, products, tools, processes) to produce effective and relevant learning strategies
- Content Maintenance: Produce and revise training materials to keep course materials current and match organizational needs
- Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with cross-functional stakeholders to define security risk and compliance requirements for training and awareness initiatives
- Security Partnership: Partner closely with Security leaders to develop internal communications strategies and training materials for their respective areas
- Program Communication: Drive cross-functional and effective communications throughout the learning development program lifecycle, providing the visibility and transparency required to ensure cross-functional team and stakeholder alignment
- Change Messaging: Provide proactive and reactive messaging that supports key initiatives and program rollouts
- Risk Management: Identify program risks and drive the implementation of recommended mitigations
- Program Metrics: Develop, define, and report on program health and success metrics, including learning effectiveness metrics and retention measurement
4. Learning Designer Details and Accountabilities
- Executive Influence: Confidence in speaking fluently and influencing senior leaders as an expert in learning design
- Vision Communication: Effectively socialize and communicate the vision of the learning experience to key stakeholders throughout the organization through strong storytelling and in alignment with business strategy
- Adaptive Working: Work effectively in a fast-paced, continuously evolving, and sometimes ambiguous environment
- Learning Design: Design learning experiences that produce measurable outcomes in a creative, engaging, relevant, and sustainable way that is reflective of culture and brand
- Design Strategy: Determine design process and approach for complex learning solutions, leveraging a build/buy/curate model ranging from creating a learning product from start to finish, partnering with peers or vendor partners to get work done.
- Design Expertise: Contribute subject matter expertise in the areas of interaction, design, visual design, user research, and user behavior
- Program Evaluation: Develop and execute evaluation strategies for programs
- Learner Insight: Innately curious about understanding the root of the problem from the learner's perspective
- Learning Culture: Promotes a culture of learning by coaching and mentoring learning experience designers on new and evolving techniques, and providing frequent feedback
5. Learning Designer Additional Details
- Learning Journeys: Design asynchronous and synchronous iterative learning journeys incorporating multiple learning loops and branching mechanisms based on learner performance and learners
- AI Personalization: Leverage AI systems and algorithms to ensure state-of-the-art, intuitive, and fully personalized learning experiences.
- Scalable Design: Ensure scalable design leveraging a range of learning facilitation mechanisms (coaching, peer review, quizzes, etc)
- Assessment Design: Develop appropriate assessment mechanisms to quantitatively and qualitatively measure learner assimilation and learner mastery across a range of relevant and demonstrable competencies.
- Faculty Enablement: Provide guidance, support, and training to faculty and staff around design principles/best practices in virtual/blended learning.
- Process Enablement: Enable systematized creation of relevant material via deployment of structured processes.
- Content Codification: Codify content drawn from the full range of IMD’s online and face-to-face offerings to shape IMD’s future portfolio of learning offerings.
- Portfolio Collaboration: Collaborate closely with IMD’s Director of Digital Learning and IMD Faculty to select, prioritize, organize, and build material and offerings to shape a learning portfolio relevant to IMD’s current and future customers.
6. Learning Designer Essential Functions
- SME Collaboration: Collaborates with internal subject matter experts and cross-functional teams
- Content Strategy: Design and support the development of the Digital Learning content strategy and e-learning solutions for the Division
- Training Formats: Identify the best Digital training format/channel for each customer's needs
- Course Development: Create new and adapt existing courses for an online/blended environment
- Vendor Sourcing: Work to identify external resources and vendors that specifically meet e-learning needs.
- Project Management: Project manage digital and e-learning projects with various teams and vendors
- Training Standards: Develop training standards and measurement tools to measure performance following each e-training
- Content Mapping: Develop content maps and asset blueprints incorporating appropriate content to meet identified training needs within scope
- Content Review: Review content and inputs provided to determine appropriateness and identify any gaps
- Content Validation: Work collaboratively with identified SMEs and clients to ensure content accuracy and appropriateness
7. Learning Designer General Responsibilities
- Product Collaboration: Work with product, sales, and other subject matter experts to understand product features and functionality
- Learning Development: Design, develop, and deliver engaging, fresh, and impactful learning experiences tailored to the needs of internal and external customers
- Asset Management: Create and maintain dynamic training assets, updated to reflect any changes to product features and functionality
- LMS Administration: Support ongoing maintenance and administration of the LMS platforms
- Training Evaluation: Assess training success through feedback, survey responses, completion reports, etc., and update materials and programs
- Technical Support: Provide first-level troubleshooting for issues raised during training programs and support projects designed to continuously improve team operations, processes, effectiveness, and productivity
- Training Delivery: Assist with the delivery of training courses, whether face-to-face, online, or remotely
- Project Coordination: Project and product managers set scopes, schedules, and budgets.
- Objective Alignment: Works with project managers and product managers to identify learning and performance objectives.
- Instructional Strategy: Establishes learning strategies and designs instructional content.
8. Learning Designer Responsibilities and Key Tasks
- Instructional Design: Designs and develops training programs, courses, or other instructional materials most effectively.
- Interactive Content: Content to include simulations, voice-overs, quizzes, and other interactive elements.
- Learning Activities: Creates engaging learning activities while adhering to brand standards and guidelines.
- Learning Solutions: Designs learning solutions targeted at team members in the organization, ensuring that all learning styles are captured.
- SME Collaboration: Collaborates with subject matter experts/stakeholders to ensure that content is accurate and thorough.
- Format Selection: Utilizes multiple formats, including print, audio, visual, and multimedia, and selects the appropriate format for the target audience or content.
- Curriculum Review: Reviews company teaching and learning programs to assess their potential for online delivery and advises appropriate managers on which areas of the curriculum can be redesigned/enhanced using e-Learning.
- Project Management: Manage several projects at once while ensuring deadlines, coordination, and quality
- Course Maintenance: Ensure regular maintenance of the courses, and analyze completion rate and satisfaction rate.
- Educational Theory: Apply the knowledge of educational theory and stay up to date with pedagogical innovations
Editorial Process and Content Quality
This content is part of Lamwork's career intelligence platform and is developed using structured analysis of real-world job data, including publicly available job descriptions, skill requirements, and hiring patterns.
Lam Nguyen, Founder & Editorial Lead, defines the research framework behind Lamwork's career intelligence platform, including job role analysis, skills taxonomy, and structured career insights.
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Content is reviewed and updated periodically to reflect changes in skills, role requirements, and labor market trends.
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