Learning Experience Design Specialist

Who We Are! 

🌍 Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more young people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined. 

At Educate! we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world’s youngest continent. 

Educate! prepares youth in Africa to learn, earn and thrive in today’s economy by: 

1. Introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary and 
2. Delivering livelihood boot camps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women.

To date, more than 500,000 youth have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and along the way, Educate! has become the largest youth employment and skills provider in East Africa.

Educate! is a team of over 300 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations, and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows. 

We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures, Livelihood Impact Fund,  Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall, CIFF and Echidna Giving. Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award, and has been highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, an Al Jazeera documentary, BBC, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work.

Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year.

Good to note: To Our Awesome Applicants! 🚀💫

We know that incredible candidates sometimes hesitate to apply if they don’t meet every requirement. If this role excites you, we encourage you to apply! 

We’re looking for passionate individuals who believe in our mission and can bring unique perspectives to our team—not just those who check every box. We value diversity and strongly encourage women and individuals from all backgrounds to apply.

Position Overview 

Do you have a passion for improving youths’ livelihoods? Are you excited by the power of human-centered design to transform lives? Educate!, a fast-growing and award-winning social enterprise, is seeking a Learning Experience Design Specialist to join our dynamic Out-of-School Youth (OoSY) product team in Uganda. The OoSY Solution Line champions Educate!'s mission to create alternative education pathways for out-of-school youth, particularly young women in rural areas. We empower them with the skills and knowledge needed for quality self-employment in the informal economy. In this role, you will play a critical role in ensuring the learning experience offered in our OoSY products (Educate! Business Academy, Skill Up & Original SEED) is truly transformative and can effectively scale to impact thousands of youth each year. 

Are you our ideal candidate?

• You believe in the power of design to solve big, hairy social and economic problems. 
• You have experience designing transformative, unique learning experiences that youth or adults love.
• You are comfortable conducting design research to get a better understanding of end-user needs. 
• You have an eye for detail and a high quality standard when it comes to the development of teaching and learning materials. 
• You know what it takes to enable learning and behavioral change for out of school youth. 
• You are a strong communicator and adept at presenting complex information to diverse audiences.

What You Will Do:

Identify and research problems affecting the LX of OoSY - 20 %

• Review performance metrics and evaluation data to spot blockers to impact
• Offer technical advice on product and LX strategy development 
• Design and conduct user-research to get a deeper understanding of the pains, jobs to be done, skills requirements 
• Shadow and observe implementation of the LX to generate new insights 

Ideate and test LX solutions to improve OoSY product - 20%

• Conduct benchmarking research using secondary resources to identify best practices 
• Design and support the implementation of rapid experiments 
• Support development of user journey maps for the OoSY products
• Create LX strategy based on product strategy and insights from different data points 

Develop curricula, training and assessment materials that support high quality delivery of the LX - 40%

• Create work plans to effectively execute all tasks
• Design high quality skills sessions and teaching and learning support materials that are appropriate for the OoSY target group and scale
• Conceptualize real world practical application activities for OoSY 
• Develop mechanisms for youth to receive individualized feedback and support 
• Incorporate feedback from peers, frontline teams, end-users and supervisors to continuously improve LX materials. 
• Develop motivation/incentive strategies to drive learning and adaptation of new behaviors. 

Prepare and develop training materials for trainers of trainers to ensure program implementation teams can effectively implement the LX - 20%

• Design and deliver high quality training of trainers of trainers to ensure the designers’ intent is clearly articulated for the implementing team.
• Collaborate with the program implementation team consistently to identify opportunities to ease LX delivery for frontline teams. 

Who You Are: 

• You have a Bachelor’s degree in Education, Entrepreneurship, Business Administration, Social Science, Adult Education, or a related field. With at least five years of professional experience in learning experience design, instructional design, human-centered design, or training design, you’ve likely worked in design-centric organizations, including social enterprises or start-ups. You also have experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research within human-centered design processes, and you possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, as well as a high level of computer literacy in tools like Google Docs and spreadsheets. 
• You fit our Five Cultural Tenets (see What is Educate! About? below); Learn more by looking at Educate!’s culture deck here 

Terms

• This position will be based in Uganda

What We Offer 💼

• A vibrant, mission-driven environment with a supportive and fun team.
• Flexibility— Hybrid work environment to empower you in your mode of work. 
• Competitive salary based on experience.
• Healthcare coverage for you and your dependents, work laptop, Internet & call stipend
• Learning & growth opportunities
• This is a Fixed term  contract with a possibility of extension based on performance

Application Process: Rolling basis, interviews happening soon!

Our Culture & Tenets(Values) 🌱

We’re ambitious. Are you? Educate! is growing fast, so new opportunities are opening up and expanding all the time. We’re inspired by people with drive, and we love to help them reach their full potential. We expect everyone at Educate! to contribute above and beyond their job description, grow their skills, and advance their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey of their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey. 

1. We put Youth First, Impact-Obsessed - We are purpose-driven, focused on impact, and prioritize what truly matters. We listen to youth, design our efforts around their needs, and ensure every dollar creates transformative experiences they value.
2. We Exceed Expectations - We take pride in going above and beyond to achieve the best results—proactively identifying problems and seeking solutions without waiting or stopping at what's requested.
3. We Are Always Learning - We are committed to seeking and applying new knowledge and ideas. We stay open-minded and continuously try new things, experiment, grow, and improve. We invest in learning for ourselves and our teams.
4. We are One Team, Many Views - We value all individuals, believe diverse ideas and open dialogue drive excellence, foster a supportive and respectful environment where everyone can freely express themselves. We work as one team and prioritize the organization's mission over personal or team interests.
5. We have the Startup Mindset - We innovate relentlessly to grow our impact, we never think “we have arrived” or “we’re done.”We constantly challenge the status quo, embrace change, and move quickly toward our vision. Unafraid of failure, we question anything that hinders progress.

Every person at Educate! — from interns to the executive director — is evaluated by how they live up to these five cultural tenets. They are at the core of how we achieve our mission and why we work as well as we do.  Educate is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who interact in our community. In creating this environment, we encourage people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and life experiences to join our diverse team. 

We’re committed to ensuring all candidates are screened for child and youth safety. As part of the process, you’ll need to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct. Educate! reserves the right to withdraw employment offers if any risks to youth are identified.