If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.
Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.
The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.
At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
Job Description
The Lead Skills Architect assumes broad responsibility for the creation, maintenance, and usage of the WGU Skills Library. Skills Architects are directly responsible for the development of skills collections that are aligned with applicable workforce and enduring skills and standards. The Lead Skills Architect is responsible for creating skills collections that serve as the foundation for a variety of educational program needs such as personalized pathways, career planning, industry and accreditation alignment, prior learning assessment, alternative credentialing and pathways, open loop learning, curriculum development efficiency, and student success. This individual will collaborate closely with stakeholders across a variety of roles and functions to research and incorporate tools, techniques, and best practices for implementing the WGU approach to skills architecture across the student lifecycle. The Lead Skills Architect is responsible for the success of several simultaneous projects, assessing risk, reporting progress, and communicating effectively with stakeholders to promote collaboration and accountability.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities
Manages the development and maintenance of assigned skills collections.
Advises and participates in the preparation of materials for stakeholder partners.
Consults on the implementation of skills for the development of relevant competencies and credentials.
Communicates workforce and skill data with a variety of stakeholders.
Develop and maintain relationships across the organization.
Contributes to the creation or acquisition of tools to scaffold, create, organize, tag, visualize, and store skills collections.
Participates in the development of processes, workflows, methodologies, and strategies for the creation, review, refinement, tracking, sharing, and use of skills collections within the assigned focus area.
Performs other related duties as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
At WGU, skills-based hiring is a core value of our organization because we believe that it is the most effective way to identify and hire the best candidates. By focusing on the skills and abilities that are most important for the job, we find candidates that are the best fit for the position. This helps to ensure that our employees are successful in their roles and contribute to the success of our company.
Collaboration
Problem solve with individuals of varying skills, expertise, and responsibilities.
Initiate collaboration with inter-professional teams implementing innovative strategies that improve outcomes.
Data Analysis
Discuss data and data findings with other individuals.
Determine trends and changes in the use of resources and services using data analysis.
Detail Oriented
Complete work tasks thoroughly and accurately.
Adhere to detailed procedures.
Spreadsheets
Leverage spreadsheets in organizing data.
Complete spreadsheet tasks related to structured business practices and applications.
Data Presentation
Design reports summarizing business, financial, or economic data.
Generate reports summarizing business, financial, or economic data.
Research
Determine patterns and trends based on research.
Conduct primary and secondary research for decision making.
Communications
Create trust and rapport with others.
Communicate timely, effectively, and appropriately.
Listen to other opinions with intention of understanding.
Critical Thinking
Synthesize findings of large data sets.
Gather relevant facts to form a judgement.
Data Literacy
Use data to support decision making.
Use spreadsheets and databases to analyze data.
Innovation
Create new ways to perform daily tasks that improve efficiency.
Collaborate with other stakeholders to share innovative ideas.
Identify existing connections among ideas or solutions.
CompetenciesOrganizational or Student Impact
Leads program/course initiatives to improve Key Results.
Contribute to initiatives at the university, college, or cluster level.
Problem Solving & Decision Making
Resolves problems that require broad-based consideration of variables at the program/course level.
Work is situational and highly complex, and difficulties faced require detailed information gathering and analysis at the program/course.
Acts as a technical advisor and may assist in completing tasks to achieve team deliverables.
Communication & Influence
Communicates and collaborates with fellow faculty members within and across disciplines and practice.
Drives feedback and continuous improvement recommendations to discipline/practice leadership.
Attends professional conferences and association meetings focused on the faculty member’s discipline or practice area and engaged in discourse with fellow attendees.
May contribute to WGU and college brand development.
Leadership & Talent Management
Considered program, course, or practice leader.
A source of advice, mentoring, and counsel within the applicable discipline or practice.
Leads program, course, or practice learning and quality initiatives within area of specialty.
Models best practices within specialty areas use insights to guide other discipline or practice members and produce measurable results.
Establish coverage within and between teams to meet service level agreements.
Implements workflows and optimizes team resources.
Model sound change management practices.
Job Qualifications
The qualifications listed below will be considered secondarily to a candidate's skills. Degrees, certifications, portfolios, or work samples that demonstrate skill proficiency. Experience that has allowed for skill development and mastery that is related to this role. Experience or desire to learn how to work with labor market data. Experience or desire to learn how to work with workforce development. Experience or desire to learn how to work with skills and skills-based learning design.
Minimum Qualifications
Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Education, Instructional Design, Learning Sciences, Workforce Development, Data Analytics, Information Science, or related discipline), or equivalent combination of education and demonstrated professional experience; all applicable licenses or certifications required.
3+ years of relevant professional experience designing, implementing, and evaluating projects, processes, or practices with measurable outcomes, such as curriculum initiatives, workforce programs, skills frameworks, or learning systems.
Experience leading front-end instructional design and learning needs analysis.
Experience defining learning outcomes, competencies, and assessment frameworks.
Experience partnering with program teams and developers to support curriculum alignment and implementation; does not produce course content.
Experience using data to continuously refine curriculum relevance and alignment.
Experience performing ongoing data management and maintenance activities, including data cleanup, refreshes, updates, and retirement of outdated information.
Experience conducting research, analyzing data, and supporting data-driven decision-making to improve curriculum alignment, learning effectiveness, and workforce relevance.
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience working with labor market data (e.g., Lightcast, Burning Glass, or similar sources) to inform curriculum, skills, or workforce alignment.
Experience with skills-based learning design, competency frameworks, or skills taxonomy/ontology development.
Experience in workforce development, employer-aligned education, or translating workforce needs into educational programs.
Familiarity with data analytics tools or languages (e.g., Python, SQL, SPARQL) for analysis or research purposes.
Experience with competency-based education (CBE), workforce training program development, or applied learning models.
Background in applied research, institutional research, learning analytics, or academic program evaluation.
Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Disclaimer: This Job Description has been designed to indicate the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this classification. It does not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications that are required of the employee to do this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. This Job Description does not constitute a contract of employment and the University may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.
This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.
Position & Application Details
Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.
Additional Information
Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.
Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.
Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.