Learning Experience Designer, ELA Multilingual Learning
Job description
Learning Experience Designer, ELA and Multilingual Learning at Newsela.
About the role
It supports secondary ELD curriculum as a hands-on builder and central contributor.
Designers shape how products look and feel. Designers create user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and polished visuals. They test ideas with users and iterate on feedback. Design work spans research, interaction design, and visual design. Collaboration with product and engineering happens daily. Design decisions are judged by outcomes such as usability, conversion, and customer satisfaction. Most design teams keep a living design system to keep products consistent.
Key facts
What you'll do
This work ensures curricula meet language and content objectives for diverse proficiency levels.
These materials provide multilingual learners with structured, engaging learning experiences.
Assessments are designed to track progress and guide instruction for multilingual learners.
Scaffolds help multilingual learners access rigorous content without reducing expectations.
Prompt refinement improves efficiency and consistency in large-scale content creation.
Feedback guides contributors and AI outputs to meet instructional goals.
Documentation standardizes expectations for contributors and systems.
Standards expertise keeps materials aligned with current requirements for multilingual learners.
Research-based practices improve outcomes for multilingual learners.
Materials balance challenge and support to serve multilingual learners effectively.
Cross-team partnership aligns ELD and ELA for multilingual learners.
Leadership clarifies expectations and resolves issues for contributors.
Organization supports on-time delivery and clear communication.
Requirements
Hold a Bachelor's degree in Education, Linguistics, TESOL, Curriculum & Instruction, English, or a related field.
Possess a specialized degree, endorsement, or certification related to multilingual learner education, ELD, TESOL/ESL, or language acquisition.
Bring 3+ years of experience in K-12 curriculum development, instructional design, or content creation focused on multilingual learners.
Demonstrate strong working knowledge of multilingual learner pedagogy, second language acquisition, and ELD standards and frameworks such as California ELD/ELPAC, WIDA, or ELPS across the four language domains.
Show experience developing, adapting, or scaffolding English Language Arts content with an ability to apply MLL expertise within an ELA context.
Produce excellent English writing and editing, with a demonstrated ability to create polished, standards-aligned instructional content and to give clear, useful feedback to other writers.
Exhibit comfort and fluency with AI tools to accelerate high-quality content development without sacrificing pedagogical rigor.
Display strong organizational and verbal communication skills to manage multiple workstreams and prioritize in conjunction with business needs.
Nice to have
Experience with multilingual learners across both elementary and secondary grade bands, with a secondary emphasis welcome.
Prior classroom teaching experience with multilingual learners / English learners.
Experience contributing to a supplemental ELA product in an EdTech environment.
A Master's degree in TESOL, ESL, Multilingual Education, Curriculum & Instruction, or a related field.
Experience managing or mentoring contributors, freelancers, or vendor teams.
Experience with digital content authoring tools or content management systems (CMS).
Familiarity with the dual language market and biliteracy frameworks.
Practical notes
Typical interview steps
Design interviews usually include a portfolio review, a design exercise, and a team conversation. Candidates present past work and explain their process and decisions. Some loops include a live design challenge. Communication matters as much as the visual output. Portfolios are strongest when they show the problem, the constraints, and the iteration, not just the final screens. Interviewers also watch how you take feedback.
Good to know
Effective lessons use structured scaffolds, clear routines, and formative assessment to guide progress.
AI tools can accelerate drafting and prompt-based workflows while maintaining pedagogical quality.
Standards such as WIDA and California ELD provide language proficiency expectations across proficiency levels.
Professional collaboration with ELA teams ensures alignment and consistency across materials.