Senior Manager of Learning Experience Design & Curriculum Development

About Manara:
Manara is a mission-driven social impact startup focused on unlocking human potential in the MENA region and diversifying the global tech sector. We identify, train, and place the top tech talent from MENA into leading tech roles while fostering a supportive and empowering community. Imagine a platform that combines the best of LinkedIn, Udacity, and a vibrant tech community designed specifically for MENA’s brightest minds.

Role Overview:

We are looking for a Senior Manager of Learning Experience Designer & Curriculum Development to craft engaging, effective, and structured educational content for our learners to consume on our innovative online edtech platform. This role sits at the intersection of curriculum design, instructional strategy, content development, and learner experience—ensuring that our courses are deeply valuable for our audience.

You will recruit and manage subject matter experts and multimedia specialists to design and develop courses that empower learners with real-world skills, running the curriculum development machine at Manara.

Key Responsibilities

• Curriculum / Content Development:
  
  • Drive the strategy and roadmap for Manara’s curriculum/content development, deciding which learning paths to launch based on our B2B and B2G partners’ potential needs, our learners’ interests, and competitive landscape, shaping one of Manara’s key value propositions
  • Design structured, engaging learning paths and curricula for technical (software engineering) and professional (soft skills) courses.
  • Align course objectives with industry needs and learner goals.
  • Create scaffolding strategies to ensure progressive learning experiences.
  • Establish and manage standards for developing Manara’s lessons, exercises, and assessments.
  • In some cases (e.g., soft skills content), you may also write instructional content yourself, ensuring it is clear, concise, and engaging, including exercises and assessments.
    
• Instructional Design:
  
  • Apply best practices in instructional design, cognitive science, and adult learning principles to increase learner engagement and retention as well as learner outcomes.
  • Develop interactive, engaging, and effective online learning experiences using multimedia, case studies, projects, and assessments.
    
• Learning Experience Design (LXD):
  
  • Optimize learner engagement through interactive experiences, gamification, and social learning strategies.
  • Design adaptive learning solutions and personalized learning paths based on data insights.
  • Collaborate closely with a Product Manager and Data Analyst to influence product experiences, understand the results of experiments in curriculum / content design or product experience, and iteratively continue to improve learning outcomes and retention.
    
• Management and cross-functional collaboration:
  • Establish processes to run a smooth process for curriculum/content creation to produce content at a scrappy budget, high speed, and high quality.
  • Recruit and manage subject matter experts (SMEs) to translate complex topics into digestible, learner-friendly materials.
  • Manage a freelance / part-time project manager.
  • Manage the launch process for new content, ensuring requirements are shared with engineering effectively and that marketing opportunities are leveraged.

Qualifications & Skills

• Education & Experience:
  
  • Required:
    • 5+ years of work experience.
    • 2+ years of experience in curriculum development, instructional design, content creation, or LXD.
    • Experience establishing & managing processes.
    • Experience at a startup.
  • Optional but beneficial:
    • Experience in online education or edtech companies
    • Experience managing people
    • Understanding or exposure to technical / software engineering / computer science topics
• Soft Skills:
  
  • Strong storytelling and writing skills in English for educational content
  • Past experience running cross-functional collaboration (e.g., with SMEs, designers, product, and engineering teams)
  • Analytical mindset to measure learning effectiveness and optimize content.
  • Remote Work Savvy: Experience working with distributed teams across multiple time zones, leveraging async communication tools effectively.

Location

We are a hybrid remote company with colleagues based internationally in the US, Europe, and MENA, and a team based in Cairo. This role is remote but based in Cairo.

Our remote global team travels regularly to Cairo and we do 1-2 annual, company-wide meetups for everyone to get together, socialize, and co-work.