Position: Instructional Design Consultant, Global Executive Leadership Initiative

Location: Remote, United States

Reports to: Program Manager, Global Executive Leadership Initiative

Residency Requirement: United States

About Us

The KonTerra Group exists to support the health and effectiveness of organizations and their people. With a focus on supporting organizations working in challenging environments, we develop solutions that sharpen clarity, strengthen resilience, and incorporate learning in the workplace such as short-term counseling, critical incident management services, executive coaching, organizational resilience and more. Our government, NGO and private sector clients are diligently supported by a team of seasoned professionals who are passionate about the work we do. 

The Opportunity

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) is the lead Bureau for coordinating the United States Government’s (USG) response to disasters and humanitarian assistance needs worldwide. Through extensive consultations with thought leaders (i.e., executives and senior international field leaders) in the humanitarian community, USAID/BHA has identified the need for enhanced leadership skills and commitment to common purpose that will result in collective action by cross-organizational leadership teams. The international community has also placed an emphasis on leadership as a key tenant of success in responding to crises that are increasingly complex and protracted.

Thus, the Global Executive Leadership Initiative (GELI) is being developed to challenge senior international field leaders from across international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the United Nations, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement to maximize their leadership excellence and lead more collaboratively, while simultaneously ensuring a larger number of senior field leaders respond to complex crises, contribute to wider system change, and improve performance that saves lives of crisis-affected people.

One track of the GELI is a 12-month, cohort-based program. During the 12-month program, a cohort will attend three residencies. The first residency took place virtually on October 25-29, 2021. The second took place April 4-8, 2022 in Dubai, and the third is planned for September 19-23, 2022 in Boston. These residencies are complemented by individual assessments, executive coaching and other learning opportunities. In between residencies, participants participate in “intersessions,” during which they have remote access to executive coaching, virtual sessions led by live speakers, podcasts, articles, and other learning resources. It is envisioned that alumni of the program will contribute to a leadership network across the international system.

The KonTerra Group has been selected as a prime contractor for the GELI to provide leadership, academic, executive coaching, and instructional design expertise to develop the executive-level leadership program. Under this contract, the KonTerra Group will contribute to a fully customized curriculum to senior international field leaders from across operational agencies in the humanitarian system.

We’re hiring an Instructional Designer from September 2022 through December 2022 to help design, coordinate, and develop curricula for the remaining in-person residency, intersession, and evaluation components of GELI. Candidates will ideally be able to commit to 30-40 hours a week, but a minimum of 20 hours a week is required. 

This is a contract, remote role that will perform these, and other essential duties as required:

What You’ll Do

• Integrate multiple rounds of revisions to curriculum materials (facilitator guide, participant guide, PowerPoint slide decks, handouts, agenda, and run of shows) adhering to tight timeframes.
• Review reports, evaluations, intercession notes and curricula (agendas, session designs, slide decks, handouts and pre-work) to become familiar with learning objectives and outcomes in order to identify “throughlines” and gaps in the curriculum design and material.
• Participate in the weekly team coordination and planning meeting.
• Communicate weekly via phone, video call (using Google Meet) and email exchanges to determine weekly priority tasks, deliverables, and deliverable timelines.
• Review and contribute content to KonTerra’s Final Program report, including recommendations on revisions to GELI curriculum for future GELI cohorts.

The Skills and Experience You’ll Need

• A Bachelor’s Degree in education, instructional design, leadership, organizational development or related field.
• Knowledge and skill in applying the theories, principles, methods, and practices of instructional design, curriculum development, assessment and adult learning theory for the purpose of creating, delivering and maintaining effective training programs, using a wide variety of methodological approaches.
• Demonstrated experience identifying and developing the most effective approaches, tools, techniques, and processes for designing and managing courses, programs and curricula of varying scales and durations, for a wide variety of subject matter.
• Strong experience in developing policies and processes to support curriculum development and maintenance.
• Knowledge of the training profession and experience developing tools and techniques to aid trainers to use best practices in course design, development and maintenance.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship management skills to work with others constructively in dynamic, fast-moving contexts.

Your application will stand out if you have…

• A Master’s degree in education, instructional design, leadership, organizational development or related field.
• Experience in developing leadership development programs.
• Knowledge and experience in the design and facilitation of both small- and large-group work sessions and in leading-edge approaches to this work.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with multiple stakeholders to achieve programmatic results.
• Additional relevant experience in working with humanitarian/development organizations is highly desirable.

The KonTerra Group provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.