** Operational Training Academy Learning Design Lead

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

Immigration Enforcement is responsible for enforcing the government’s immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, removing foreign national offenders and immigration offenders from the UK. It also aims to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain.

The Learning Design Lead sits within the Operational Training Academy (OTA) and will lead its learning-design profession, setting the strategy, methodology and standards for accessible, evidence-led learning. This is an opportunity to shape how operational capability needs are translated into consistent, high-quality and implementation-ready learning across specialist portfolios.

The Learning Design Lead will provide senior professional leadership for learning design across the Operational Training Academy. The postholder will own the OTA Learning and Development Strategy and establish the methodology, standards and governance needed to create accessible, inclusive, evidence-led and operationally relevant learning.

Working with operational leaders, policy owners and subject-matter experts, the postholder will ensure learning begins with an evidenced capability need and clear workplace outcomes. They will maintain clear accountability between operational experts, who own the requirement and technical content, and learning professionals, who determine how that need is translated into effective learning.

The role will set strategic direction for face-to-face, digital, blended and workplace learning, including appropriate use of innovation and learning technology. It will own product-lifecycle governance, including objectives, accessibility, documentation, ownership, version control, review, revalidation and retirement.

The postholder will govern and prioritise the design portfolio, line manage and professionally lead three HEO Learning Design and Development Partners embedded across operational portfolios, and flex capacity in response to priority, demand and risk. They will use performance, evaluation and assurance evidence to commission redesign and continuous improvement.

The role will represent learning design through OTA and IE Academy governance, providing authoritative advice and constructive challenge while building a cohesive, capable and inclusive professional learning-design function.

Key responsibilities:

• Own and deliver the OTA Learning and Development Strategy, professional design methodology and standards for accessible, inclusive and evidence-led learning.
• Govern and prioritise the learning-design portfolio, including learning-needs analysis, bespoke learning and significant redesign.
• Line manage and professionally develop three embedded HEO Learning Design and Development Partners, allocating and flexing capacity across portfolios.
• Partner with operational leaders, policy owners and subject-matter experts to translate capability requirements into proportionate learning responses.
• Set strategic direction for face-to-face, digital, blended and workplace learning, promoting appropriate and responsible innovation.
• Own product-lifecycle and design governance, including objectives, accessibility, documentation, version control, review, revalidation and retirement.
• Use performance, evaluation and assurance evidence to commission improvement and redesign.
• Represent the learning-design profession through OTA and IE Academy governance, providing authoritative advice and constructive challenge.

Working pattern:

This role is available on a full-time basis with the option of compressed hours working. This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 30 hours per week due to business requirements.

Travel:

Regular travel to Operational Training Academy (OTA) / training locations across the UK.

Person specification:

Essential Criteria:

• A recognised qualification at Level 4 or above in teaching, education, learning and development, instructional design, digital learning or a closely related discipline, or demonstrable equivalent professional expertise.
• Substantial practical experience of designing, creating and improving structured learning solutions, applying appropriate learning theory and instructional-design methods across classroom, digital, blended or workplace learning, including learning objectives, activities, resources and assessment approaches.
• Strong knowledge of accessible and inclusive learning design, with the ability to translate complex subject matter and operational capability requirements into clear, engaging and usable learning pathways and proportionate solutions.
• Experience of leading learning-design professionals, setting professional standards and assuring the quality, accessibility and consistency of their work.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and subject-matter experts, providing authoritative professional advice and constructive challenge to shape effective learning solutions.
• Strong strategic judgement, with experience of prioritising a learning-design portfolio and managing risks, dependencies and competing demands.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience as a teacher, lecturer, trainer, instructional designer, learning-content creator or digital-learning designer.
• Experience designing learning for an operational, regulated or safety-critical environment.

Benefits:

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
• Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.