instructional designer
Instructional designers develop instructional material for training courses using multimedia technology and authoring tools. They aim to create instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skills more efficient, effective, and appealing.
instructional designer instructional designers develop instructional material for training courses using multimedia technology and authoring tools. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include cognitive psychology, web programming, learning management systems, task algorithmisation, instructional strategies.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £34,396 a year for Teaching professionals n.e.c. (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £28,753 to £43,208 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2319). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only instructional designer, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Frequently asked questions
What does instructional designer do?
Instructional designers develop instructional material for training courses using multimedia technology and authoring tools. They aim to create instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skills more efficient, effective, and appealing.
What skills does instructional designer need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include cognitive psychology, web programming, learning management systems, task algorithmisation, instructional strategies, authoring software. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace instructional designer?
Our AI-durability model gives instructional designer a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.