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Role hub · Instructional Coordinators

Instructional Designer: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of instructional designers earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$77,440
Hourly
$37.23
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Instructional Designers develop instructional material, coordinate educational content, and incorporate current technology into instruction in order to provide guidelines to educators and instructors for developing curricula and conducting courses. The median pay is $77,440 a year ($37.23 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a master's degree (60% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$77,440
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
227,760
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Master's Degree
60% of workers

Data Government data groups this job as Instructional Coordinators (O*NET-SOC 25-9031.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Key facts

Instructional Designers at a glance

  • Instructional coordinators in the United States earned a median annual wage of $77,440 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a master's degree as the typical entry-level education for instructional coordinators in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of instructional coordinators in the United States to grow 1.6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 23,100 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimates that 38.8% of instructional coordinators in the United States had the ability to telework in 2025, a preliminary estimate of whether the job allows it, not a count of remote jobs.

    Source: BLS Occupational Requirements Survey, 2025 preliminary

Explore the role

Every page for Instructional Designers

SalaryInstructional Designer salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomeInstructional Designer how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeInstructional Designer resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsInstructional Designer interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

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The work

What instructional designers do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Observe work of teaching staff to evaluate performance and to recommend changes that could strengthen teaching skills.
  2. Plan and conduct teacher training programs and conferences dealing with new classroom procedures, instructional materials and equipment, and teaching aids.
  3. Interpret and enforce provisions of state education codes and rules and regulations of state education boards.
  4. Conduct or participate in workshops, committees, and conferences designed to promote the intellectual, social, and physical welfare of students.
  5. Advise teaching and administrative staff in curriculum development, use of materials and equipment, and implementation of state and federal programs and procedures.
  6. Advise and teach students.
  7. Recommend, order, or authorize purchase of instructional materials, supplies, equipment, and visual aids designed to meet student educational needs and district standards.
  8. Update the content of educational programs to ensure that students are being trained with equipment and processes that are technologically current.
Job requirements

What the job requires

Data BLS figures for instructional coordinators (SOC 25-9031), 2025 preliminary BLS Occupational Requirements Survey.

Telework available
38.8%
of workers had the ability to telework
Workday sitting
75.9%
mean share of the day required to sit
Most common strength level
Sedentary
60.5% of workers
Can pause work
92.8%
of workers could take short, unscheduled breaks
Self-paced workload
43.7%
of workers set their own workload
Employer-changed schedules
29.4%
of workers had schedules changed by the employer week to week

On TryHired lists: Remote careers · Desk jobs.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.

Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all instructional designer jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).

  1. Educational services; state, local, and private79.2% of all jobs in this occupation · +1.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $81,300
  2. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals6.4% of all jobs in this occupation · +1.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $91,760
  3. Social assistance4.1% of all jobs in this occupation · -1.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $60,780
  4. Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations2.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +6.2% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $68,140
  5. Professional, scientific, and technical services1.2% of all jobs in this occupation · +12.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $88,730
  6. Management of companies and enterprises0.6% of all jobs in this occupation · +4.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $76,920

Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.

Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Learning StrategiescoreInstructingcoreWritingcoreSpeakingReading ComprehensionActive ListeningMonitoringSocial PerceptivenessCoordination

Knowledge areas: Education and Training, English Language, Administration and Management, Mathematics, Computers and Electronics, Customer and Personal Service.

Tools and technology

Software instructional designers use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Articulate StorylineComputer based training softwareIn demand
  • Learning management system LMSComputer based training softwareIn demand
  • TechSmith CamtasiaVideo creation and editing softwareIn demand
  • Adobe After EffectsVideo creation and editing softwareHot technology
  • Adobe Creative Cloud softwareGraphics or photo imaging softwareHot technology
  • Adobe IllustratorGraphics or photo imaging softwareHot technology
  • Adobe InDesignDesktop publishing softwareHot technology
  • Adobe PhotoshopGraphics or photo imaging softwareHot technology
  • Extensible markup language XMLEnterprise application integration softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft VisioProcess mapping and design softwareHot technology
  • Oracle PL/SQLData base management system softwareHot technology
  • Adobe CaptivateComputer based training software

Also called: Curriculum and Instruction Director, Curriculum Coordinator, Curriculum Director, Curriculum Specialist, Education Specialist.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.