Manager, Instruction and Program Design

The Organization: Meritus College

Meritus College is a new kind of not-for-profit online college, built from the ground up to meet the needs of working adults and career-changers who’ve been overlooked by traditional higher education.

The problem is clear: only 33% of Pell grant recipients complete their degrees at two-year colleges within six years. College has become too rigid, too expensive, and too disconnected from both student realities and career outcomes. Meritus College is different. Our online, asynchronous programs and "workplace as laboratory" approach allow students to learn and apply new skills directly to their jobs, while receiving personalized support from dedicated coaches every step of the way. We focus on real-world skills and stackable credentials in high-demand fields, ensuring graduates are prepared for today's jobs and tomorrow's opportunities. Founded in 2025 with an inaugural Associate of Applied Science in Technology and Innovation degree, Meritus College is building a mainstream pathway to economic mobility—one designed not for the privileged few, but for the talented many who’ve too often been left behind.

Role Overview 

The primary mission of the Manager, Instruction and Program Design is to build the courses Meritus College teaches and to lead the team that supports learners through them. This is a player-coach role that combines two distinct responsibilities: hands-on instructional and program design and program/project management for the function’s people and work. You will design and build learning experiences yourself while leading the program designers, technology coordinators, coaches, and learner support staff who deliver and sustain them.

As Meritus College launches and builds in real time, you will own the course build process end to end, including partnering with subject matter experts and adjunct faculty to translate their expertise into competency-aligned, accessible, well-structured online courses, and holding that work to a consistent design standard. You will also be the connective point between how a course is designed and how learners actually experience it, using what coaches and support staff see in live delivery to improve the next build rather than waiting for a formal review cycle.

Just as importantly, you will serve as the program and project manager for the Instruction and Learner Support function translating priorities into plans, coordinating people and dependencies, tracking work, resolving blockers, and ensuring follow-through. This role requires someone comfortable moving between hands-on design work, managing a small multidisciplinary team, managing the function’s portfolio of work, and building the templates, standards, and workflows that do not yet exist. The Manager, Instruction and Program Design will report to the Director of Instruction and Learner Experience, and on an interim basis to the Managing Director of Curriculum & Instruction until that role is filled.