The roleAs a Learning Design Lead, you will build the instructional backbone of our annotator hiring and onboarding pipeline. Today, annotator training and screening are handled ad hoc - no one on the team has a background in instructional design, and we're essentially winging it. This role exists to fix that: designing training modules robust enough that annotators can learn the task easily, and screening modules rigorous enough that we consistently pass the right people through to production work. This is a foundational hire for a broader goal of automating the end-to-end annotator hiring process.
What you'll do- Design and build training modules that teach annotators a given task clearly and efficiently, so they can be onboarded with minimal hand-holding
- Design screening/assessment modules that are difficult enough to reliably separate annotators who will perform well in production from those who won't
- Define grading criteria and pass/fail thresholds for screening assessments, advising the team on how to score submissions, since this methodology doesn't currently exist at Encord
- Use production performance data to continuously validate and refine both training and screening content
- Partner with the Data Strategy team to move toward a fully automated annotator hiring pipeline
Who we're looking for- A rigorous instructional designer with a strong grounding in learning science and assessment design: rubric design, calibrating item/task difficulty, and validity of pass/fail cutoffs
- A track record of building training or certification content that measurably improves learner readiness
- Experience designing assessments or screening tools that predict on-the-job performance, ideally in an operational or workforce-training setting
- Comfortable operating without an established playbook. You'll be building this methodology from scratch
- Data-driven: you validate and iterate on content using real production performance signals, not just intuition
Experience requirements- 5-6+ years of total professional experience
- At least 2+ years in instructional design, curriculum development, assessment/test design, or a related EdTech role
- Solid grounding in learning science and assessment design (e.g., rubric design, calibrating item/task difficulty, validity of pass/fail cutoffs)
- Bonus: background at an EdTech company or in a corporate L&D function
- Bonus: familiarity with data annotation, labeling, or data operations workflows
- Bonus: experience designing or scaling a hiring/screening pipeline
Why Encord- Competitive salary, commission, and meaningful equity in a high-growth start-up
- Clear, accelerated growth opportunities as the company scales rapidly
- Strong in-person culture: 4 days/week
- Flexible PTO to fully recharge
- Annual learning & development budget
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
- Frequent travel opportunities across the U.S., London, and Europe
- Bi-annual company offsites, twice-weekly team lunches, and monthly socials
