Learning Experience Designer

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 

Educate!, a fast-growing and award-winning social enterprise, is seeking a Learning Experience Designer to join our team. The right candidate for this role is a strategic and experienced Learning Designer with a strong background in education. They are energized by the opportunity to contribute to education reform and are driven to ensure our programs create lasting impact for students and youth. The ideal candidate brings a blend of expertise in instructional design, teacher training, and business-related skills, combined with a passion for creating engaging and memorable presentations.

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:

Business Studies Subject Resource Design - 50 %

• Design Content for program and advocacy materials aligned with Government Education Reforms and based on end-user feedback. This would include but would not be  limited to: Draft Schemes of Work, lesson plans, case studies, and projectsTeacher Training activities and materialsAssessment guidelines for teachers & schools.
• Participate in and support the design and facilitation of government engagement workshops, such as multi-stakeholder dialogues, learning experiences and co-design workshops, to influence government policy.
• Create, update and manage the design tracker to ensure all content team members deliver within stipulated timelines and design process flow
• Ensure ongoing enhancement of policy, curriculum, technical standards, and other frameworks based on feedback from government engagement and evidence-based practices.
• Work closely with government subject matter experts, teachers, and other stakeholders to gather input and feedback on content requirements and effectiveness.
• Write clear, concise, and engaging business studies content that facilitates practical learning and promotes student understanding and retention. Ensure materials are age-appropriate and culturally relevant.

Secondary Teacher Training & Support - 30%

• Design Business Studies teacher training and peer-learning materials including lesson plans, textbooks, workbooks, and digital content aligned with the Tanzanian educational standards.
• Design and develop general teacher training materials including sessions on how to manage large classes, reduce corporeal punishment, use of technology in the classroom, peer learning, etc
• Lead a large team of trainers across the country to coordinate 15-20 trainings per year (often out of Dar es Salaam)
• Develop peer-learning strategies to support thousands of teachers to implement project based learning.
• Review performance metrics and evaluation data to spot blockers to teacher implementation and design trainings that address these blockers
• 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 improve teacher support
• Develop motivation/incentive strategies to drive teacher adoption of competency-based teaching methods.  

Learning & Improvement Coordination - 20%

• Design and conduct user-research to get a deeper understanding of the pains, best practices, and skills requirements of Business Studies teachers
• Design and support the implementation of rapid experiments 
• Observe Business Studies teacher implementation to generate new insights 
• Utilize instructional design principles to create materials that cater to various learning styles and abilities, ensuring inclusivity and accessibility.
• Lead retrospective sessions post-workshops to assess what went well, what didn’t, and how future workshops can be improved.
• Develop clear next steps and action plans from workshop outcomes to inform and enhance future designs and materials.
• Establish a robust feedback loop to continually refine and elevate the quality and impact of materials and workshop designs.
• Provide a leadership role in quality assurance, ensuring that all materials are thoroughly vetted and meet the highest standards of accuracy, clarity, and effectiveness.

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 Tanzania

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

PLEASE NOTE THE ABOVE BENEFITS DO NOT APPLY TO TEMPORARY, CONTRACT OR INDEPENDENT CONSULTANTS. 

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.