Instructional Design Specialist

Ready to make a difference as an Instructional Design Specialist? We’d love to hear from you.

Anna Freud is seeking an Instructional Design Specialist to join our world-leading mental health charity for children, young people and their families. Our mission is to close the gap in wellbeing and mental health by advancing, translating, delivering, and sharing the best science and practice with everyone who impacts the lives of children, young people and their families. More information about Anna Freud is available on our website: www.annafreud.org/about/.

Our EDI commitment

We are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and being an equal opportunities employer, whereby equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are core to our recruitment practices. All candidates who meet the job criteria will be considered for employment, regardless of ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic background, caring responsibilities and care experience.

We ask candidates to share their diversity dimensions with us to help us identify, tackle and prevent bias across the employee lifecycle. We believe a diverse workforce enhances our ability to support mental health and wellbeing, allowing us to better meet the needs of the children, young people and families we serve.

As a Disability Confident employer, disabled candidates meeting our criteria are guaranteed an interview. Applications are submitted anonymously and assessed using a fair evaluation process based on the criteria set out in our job profiles.

What we offer

We offer a range of staff benefits and you can view them all here. This is a unique opportunity to develop expertise in digital learning for mental health education while working alongside leading clinicians, therapists, and researchers. You will gain hands-on experience in instructional design, content development, and multimedia production. Anna Freud is a pioneering organisation at the forefront of mental health research and training, providing an inclusive, mission-driven environment where you can grow your skills while making a meaningful impact.

What you’ll do

The Instructional Design Specialist will play a vital role in an agile, innovative team focused on developing and delivering cutting-edge digital learning solutions for frontline clinicians and therapists. This role blends instructional design, content strategy, technology, and user experience to create engaging, evidence-based mental health training. You will contribute to the development of a market-leading portfolio of accessible, high-quality short course training in child and adolescent mental health. You will support the expansion of a comprehensive, flexible learning experience for professionals working with children and families across diverse settings. You will proactively and independently collaborate with subject matter experts to ensure content credibility. You will also foster an inclusive learning environment by embedding Anna Freud’s values of equity, diversity, and inclusion, while staying informed on emerging EdTech trends and technologies.

What you’ll bring

You will have a keen interest and background in psychology or mental health, along with proven expertise in instructional design, curriculum development, and multimedia content creation, with the ability to engage stakeholders and provide innovative solutions to learning challenges.

You will have demonstrable well-developed skills in:

• Content commissioning and curation with the ability to translate complex subject matter into engaging and accessible digital content;
• Video production and editing, using tools such Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut, or similar, for multimedia digital learning content.

You will also demonstrate:

• Expertise in curriculum development and instructional design, including structuring learning experiences and applying learning theories;
• Knowledge of online learning environments, including Learning Management Systems (LMS) and authoring tools such as Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate;
• A background in psychology or a related field to support the development of learning resources tailored to the mental health and education sector;
• A degree or postgraduate qualification in a relevant field or equivalent professional experience, with knowledge of psychology and/or mental health.

Key details

Hours: Full-time (35 hours per week); usual working hours Monday to Friday, 09:00-17:00. Flexible working is possible. 

Salary: £48,000 per annum FTE, plus 6% contributory pension scheme

Location: Hybrid working (a mixture of onsite and home/remote working). Staff are working onsite for at least 20% of their working hours, at our London site (4-8 Rodney Street, London N1 9JH). 

Contract type: Fixed-term (12 months in the first instance but with scope to extend).

Next steps

Closing date for applications: midday (12pm), Friday 11 April 2025. Please note that due to high application volumes, we may close this advert early. We encourage you to apply promptly and to keep an eye on our future vacancies for more opportunities.

Notification of interview: shortlisted applicants will be notified no later than Tuesday 22 April 2025. During shortlisting, applicants are anonymously assessed using the criteria visible in the Job Profile. Please note: due to the high volume of applications received, we will not be able to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

Interviews: will be held remotely on Thursday 1 May 2025.

How to apply: To apply online, please click on the ‘Apply’ button above. We are unable to accept CVs and kindly request no contact from agencies.

Questions?

Please email recruitment@annafreud.org with any job enquiries, or if you require assistance or experience difficulties when applying. Please note that successful candidate(s) will be asked to evidence their Right to Work in the UK post-job offer – we do not hold a sponsor license therefore we are unable to provide Visa sponsorship.