Senior Learning Designer

ABOUT THE FEDERAL DEFENDER LEADERSHIP CENTER

The Leadership Center is dedicated to cultivating a culture of inspired leadership within the federal defender community — developing the next generation of leaders, strengthening current ones, and building the systems and programs that make leadership development sustainable over time.
We are embedded within the federal public defender system and operate as a fully virtual organization. Our team is small by design — every role carries real ownership, real visibility, and real impact. We are in an active building phase, which means this is an opportunity to shape something from the ground up, not inherit someone else's playbook.

We are a proud equal opportunity employer whose central mission is to keep people out of prison through holistic representation, collaboration, and education. Federal public defender clients are people accused of federal crimes who cannot afford private lawyers, whose humanity is honored and protected at every stage of the criminal case and beyond.

Diversity and dignity are central to our work, and we hire without regard to race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, height, weight, veteran status, military obligations, or marital or parental status. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment in any personnel decisions or employee interactions.

THE OPPORTUNITY

As a Senior Learning Designer, you will support the full range of Leadership Center programming — from virtual and in-person workshops and leadership trainings to cohort-based learning, coaching engagements, and everything in between. You will bring design expertise, facilitation skill, and operational range to a team building a national leadership development function in real time. This is a high-scope, high-ownership role for someone who thrives when the work is dynamic, meaningful, and never the same day twice.
We are looking for a candidate who cares about impact, not just activity, with focused experience and interest in several distinct areas described below. We encourage you to indicate which one speaks most directly to your background and passion – and consider whether both fit. We are interested in discussing how your skills and experiences might span multiple areas.

- On-Demand & Digital Learning Experiences: New supervisors rarely arrive on a schedule that matches the training calendar. They are promoted mid-year, inherit teams mid-crisis, and face real leadership demands — difficult conversations, performance issues, team dynamics, resource decisions — before relevant in person or virtual training with a cohort is available. On-demand asynchronous learning meets new supervisors where they are — in the moment of need. We are looking for an experienced professional to develop engaging, high-quality learning experiences specifically designed for asynchronous and on-demand formats — working in close collaboration with colleagues who bring digital communications and production expertise. With a digital communications colleague, you will co-create the instructional design and learning architecture of the Leadership Center's on-demand library, ensuring that every piece of content is purposefully designed, not just recorded. Experience developing virtual and on-demand educational programs is required.

- Leadership Development Programming: Most leadership development professionals are strong in one or two dimensions – they can design, or they can facilitate, or they can run a program. This role calls for all three to support the full range of Leadership Center programming — from virtual and in-person workshops and leadership trainings to cohort-based learning, coaching engagements, and everything in between. You will bring design expertise, facilitation skill, and operational range to a team building a national leadership development function in real time. If you do your best work when no two days look alike and the mission runs deep, this role was built for you.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Program Design & Architecture
- Design and develop leadership development programs across modalities — virtual workshops, in-person intensives, cohort-based learning, and blended experiences
- Build curriculum that is evidence-based, experientially grounded, and calibrated to the specific culture and challenges of the federal defender community
- Develop facilitator guides, participant materials, pre-work, and application tools that extend learning beyond the training event
- Contribute to the Leadership Center's overall content strategy and programming roadmap

Implementation & Management
- Lead the national rollout of community or subject-specific programming, coordinating across geographies and office contexts
- Manage ongoing program operations — matching cycles, participant check-ins, cohort management, and facilitator support
- Identify and resolve program issues proactively, before they become participant experience problems
- Facilitate workshops, leadership trainings, cohort sessions, and learning experiences — virtually and in person — with credibility and craft
- Adapt facilitation approach in real time to the energy, experience level, and needs of the group
- Create psychologically safe learning environments where participants are willing to be challenged, take risks, and try new behaviors

Collaboration & Production Partnership
- Work alongside colleagues with digital communications and production expertise — collaborating on both the design and execution to produce something genuinely useful, polished, and built for the people who will use it.
- Serve as the instructional authority in content development cycles — owning the learning objectives and assessment strategy while collaborating with partners on design logic and the digital experience.
- Contribute to the development of content standards and quality guidelines for the Leadership Center's programs

Community Building & Support
- Build and maintain professional community with program participants, sponsors, and stakeholders across the federal defender community – creating connection, shared learning, and mutual support
- Design and facilitate convenings, peer learning forums, and community touchpoints that strengthen both skill and shared learning and support

Evaluation & Continuous Improvement
- Define program success metrics and build evaluation processes that measure real developmental impact, not just participation
- Collect, analyze, and act on participant feedback systematically
- Produce clear reports and insights for Leadership Center leadership and key stakeholders
- Continuously iterate — treating the program as a living design, not a finished product

EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE | SALARY AND BENEFITS

The Operations Director will serve as an employee of a Federal Public Defender Office and will be supervised by
the Leadership Center staff. This structure provides the stability and benefits of federal employment alongside the
dynamic, start-up culture of the Leadership Center itself — an unusual and genuinely attractive combination.

*Salary and Benefits
Leadership Center staff are federal employees whose salaries are based on years of experience and include a locality adjustment. The salary range listed in this announcement is based on the Judiciary Salary Plan locality of "Rest of United States (RUS)" which applies to certain parts but not all of the country. To find the salary range including the locality adjustment for the geographic region where you live, which could be higher, please refer to the Judiciary Salary Plan. The salary range for this position based on the “Rest of the United States” locality adjustment is $125,776 - $163,514, a range at AD Level 27-29 (for Assistant Federal Defenders)/Grade 14.

This position is full-time with a comprehensive benefits package that includes health and life insurance, vision and dental benefits, flexible spending accounts, paid time off, sick leave and paid leave for all federal holidays, and participation in the Federal Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP with up to 5% government matching contributions).

A C C E S S I B I L I T Y
We are committed to an inclusive and accessible application process. If you need an accommodation due to a disability during any stage of the application or interview process, please contact us at [email protected]. If hired, we are dedicated to providing reasonable accommodations to support your success and ensure equal access to opportunities in the workplace.