Learning Design Specialist (7324 & 7175)

About us

Our mission is: Leadership, Standards, Performance. This guides our work with individuals, forces, and policing partners towards our vision. We exist to support police officers, police staff and volunteers to deliver the best service to the public. Only through high quality leadership, consistent standards and continual performance improvement can everyone in policing reach their full potential. Our mission guides our work with individual, forces and partners towards our vision.

We are uniquely placed to work both with national policing organisations and local forces to support frontline officers, staff and volunteers in their day-to-day roles.

A new National Police Service (NPS), will bring together existing national policing bodies under a single organisation with a clear mandate. The Police Reform White Paper, published in January 2026, confirmed that the College will move into the NPS "in its entirety", ensuring that the leadership, standards and performance work the College has led since 2012 will continue within the NPS.

We offer a supportive and inclusive environment for people to thrive through our extensive flexible-working policy, employee wellbeing support, family friendly policies,, and status as a disability confident leader.

For further information visit our ‘Work for us’ page.

The role

Are you interested in becoming part of a talented and dedicated team of learning design specialists?

We have two permanent learning design specialist roles available within the learning design team.

Our team are committed to creating training products for classroom delivery by specialist police trainers both in the UK and overseas.

The team are based across the UK and are predominately home-based workers however design specialists will be expected to travel for projects and departmental meetings as required.

Vetting

The role requires vetting level NPPV3 and SC and you may need to complete further vetting forms if you do not already have this level.

To succeed in this role, you will bring excellent communication and engagement skills, experience in creating professional creative classroom learning materials, and a commitment to supporting the policing profession.

You will have a genuine passion for learning, with a commitment to continually increasing your knowledge of policing and applying these insights to design innovative, high-quality adult learning solutions that make a measurable impact.

Your work will help ensure that police officers, police staff and volunteers have the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver the highest standards of service to the public.

As a learning design specialist, you will be involved in every stage of the design process across a range of learning products — from researching, designing, planning, evaluating, and handing over final products to trainers for delivery. You will contribute to both the enhancement of existing learning products and the creation of new programmes aligned to the National Policing Curriculum.

These programmes are delivered both in the classroom and through our internal learning platform, supporting the professional development of police officers and staff to serve and support the public. You can find out about some of our work on the College of Policing website.

While our work can be high-profile and fast-moving, with tight deadlines and competing priorities, you'll be part of a welcoming and supportive team. We regularly connect online and face-to-face to share expertise, learn from one another, overcome challenges and recognise our achievements.

Success in this role depends on your ability to build strong partnerships and work collaboratively with policing professionals, academics and subject matter experts. By developing a deep understanding of complex policing issues, you will create engaging, evidence-based learning solutions that are relevant, impactful and tailored to the needs of police professionals. You will also effectively manage projects, tracking progress, mitigating risks and ensuring high-quality delivery.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Sifting

An initial sift based on the technical skill “Demonstrable experience of creating blended learning solutions which utilise a range of learning methodologies appropriate to adult learners” may be held if a large number of applications are received. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The initial sift will be assessed against a minimum benchmark score of 4. Where necessary, we may increase the minimum selection criteria to support the effective management of the recruitment process. In such circumstances, only candidates achieving the increased benchmark score at the initial sift stage will progress to a full sift assessment.

Vacancy reference: 7324 & 7151

Anticipated interview dates: Between 9th to 15th December 2026.

Interview Location: MS Teams

The closing date for this vacancy is 17th November 2026.

The role is available as a Permanent position.

This post is open to applicants who can meet the College’s nationality, UK residency and vetting requirements.

Please note that in order to work for the College of Policing you must have the Right to Work in the UK with indefinite leave to remain. Any other type of visa cannot be accepted. In addition, you will also be required to provide an address history in the UK for the preceding 5 years. Applications that do not meet these requirements will be rejected at sift stage and will not be progressed to interview.

Our vetting

If you are successful at interview, you will be required to undertake pre-employment security checks. You will be sent a security questionnaire which must be accessed within 24 hours.

Please note, these checks can take up to 10 weeks. You will only be offered a start date after the checks have been completed. If the outcome of these checks is not satisfactory, your recommendation for employment will be withdrawn.

Contact details and further information

If you would like to discuss the role in more detail please contact Claire Smith claire.smith@college.police.uk, Head of Learning Design

Due to our status as Public Servants, we are not eligible to participate in the Civil Service transfer process. Therefore, while successful candidates can transfer into the organisation on their existing terms and conditions, any move back to the Civil Service may mean that continuity of service is not automatically recognised by the receiving department, and new starter or modernised terms and conditions may apply, subject to the receiving department's policies and arrangements. However, employees who move directly to a Civil Service department without a break in service may retain continuity of service for redundancy and pension purposes.

Any previous service with local government or other external Modification Order bodies will not be carried forward or count when calculating redundancy entitlement.

The College is committed to supporting the Greening Government Commitment and reducing our environmental impact. Through our Environmental Management Plan, we promote sustainable ways of working and provide electric vehicle charging points to support greener travel choices. We also encourage employees to become Environment Champions and support our One Step Greener approach, helping to create a better future for everyone.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.