The Top 15 Instructional Design Skills You Need in 2026
By Devlin Peck · Updated
Part of the Become an Instructional Designer guide
The most in-demand instructional design skills in 2026 are Articulate Storyline, eLearning development, AI-assisted design, communication, and applied learning theory. This ranking comes from my own survey of instructional design hiring managers, and I'll share the full numbers below.
Whether you're following my full guide to becoming an instructional designer or you're already in the field and deciding what to build next, this list will show you which skills to prioritize. If you're brand new, start with what instructional designers actually do so the skills below have context.
What makes a good instructional designer?
A good instructional designer combines learning science, technology skills, and consulting judgment to build training that changes what people can actually do. Effective instructional design starts with the learner's real-world performance and organizational goals, not with content, and that focus is what separates strong designers from people who can make pretty slide decks.
The characteristics of good instructional design leave evidence in the work: clear objectives tied to real problems, activities that let people practice, and materials that respect how human memory works. The 15 skills below make up the toolkit for producing this kind of work consistently.
What skills do hiring managers actually look for?
Hiring managers weight demonstrated skills, portfolio work, and interview performance over degrees. In my ID Hiring Manager Report, 44.6% of hiring managers said they prefer candidates with a bachelor's degree and 39.6% emphasized a master's degree, which means you can absolutely land the job without either degree if your body of work proves that you can do it.
Beyond skills, hiring managers care most about your experience, your portfolio, mock project assignments, and how well you interview. That last one needs you to prepare for it deliberately: these instructional design interview questions cover what you're likely to face.
Here is how hiring managers ranked the skills themselves. According to Devlin Peck's ID Hiring Manager Report, these are the percentages of hiring managers citing each skill as important:
| Skill | % of hiring managers citing it |
|---|---|
| Articulate Storyline (top-3 tool) | 75.2% |
| Applying ID theory and science | 71.3% |
| Communication | 69.3% |
| Understanding ADDIE | 67.3% |
| eLearning development | 64.4% |
| Writing learning objectives | 54.5% |
| LMS skills | 54.5% |
| PowerPoint | 38.6% |
| Visual design | 35.6% |
| Prefer applicants who use AI tools | 34.7% |
| Business acumen | 11.9% |
I'm running a new edition of the survey in 2026, so expect updated numbers soon.
For broader context, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 11% employment growth for training and development specialists from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations, with a median annual wage of $65,850 as of May 2024. Demand for these skills isn't slowing down.
One more thing before the list. People often ask me which skills are overrated and which are underrated. On paper, the underrated ones are business acumen, consulting, and performance improvement; in other words, communication skills with a problem-solving focus. And the standard take is that eLearning development is overrated, which I actually disagree with. Back when I was doing freelance client work earlier in my career (and still to this day), being able to build prototypes quickly and put something real in front of clients helped me close projects, charge higher rates, and build better rapport with SMEs and stakeholders. The "overrated" skill is actually underrated if you're a good developer.
What skills does an instructional designer need?
A modern instructional designer needs 15 core skills, and they fall into three groups: tools and technology skills (1 through 3), core design craft (4 through 10), and career-multiplier skills (11 through 15).
Here's the full list:
- Articulate Storyline
- eLearning development
- AI skills: prompting, AI-assisted design, and quality control
- Communication and stakeholder skills
- The ability to apply ID theory and science
- Adult learning theories
- Writing strong learning objectives
- Managing cognitive load
- Learning management systems
- Visual design
- Data literacy and learning analytics
- Project management
- Storytelling and scenario design
- Problem-solving and critical thinking
- Business acumen and performance consulting
1. Articulate Storyline
Articulate Storyline is the most in-demand authoring tool in instructional design: 75.2% of hiring managers in my report named it one of the top three tools and technologies IDs should know. If you learn one authoring tool, make it this one.
Storyline 360 gives you an intuitive interface for building interactive learning experiences that run on any device. IDs use it to create:
- eLearning courses
- Simulations
- Assessments
- Practice activities
It's powerful enough for complex, variable-driven interactions but approachable enough that you can build your first project within days. That combination is why it remains the industry default.
Check out this video where I show you how to learn Storyline:
2. eLearning development
eLearning development is the craft of turning designs into working digital learning experiences, and 64.4% of hiring managers look for it when filling a role. It covers building courses, modules, and interactive activities, plus testing them for usability and effectiveness.
Strong development skills mean you understand your learners' needs, then build experiences tailored to them using current tools and techniques. It also means testing your work: does it function on every device, does it track correctly, and does it actually teach?
Accessibility is now part of the baseline, too. That means readable color contrast, keyboard navigation, screen-reader-friendly structure, captions on video and audio, and alternative text on meaningful images. Hiring managers increasingly expect candidates to design inclusively by default, and learners who rely on assistive technology will notice immediately if you didn't.
As I mentioned above, development is the skill people love to call overrated. My experience says otherwise: the ability to put a working prototype in front of a stakeholder changes the entire conversation. A slide deck describes your idea whereas a prototype proves it.
3. AI skills: prompting, AI-assisted design, and quality control
AI skills are no longer optional for instructional designers. Even in my last hiring manager survey, 34.7% of hiring managers said they prefer applicants who use AI tools, and that number has only increased since then.
Four AI skills matter most:
- Writing effective prompts. The quality of AI output depends heavily on the context and clarity you provide. Vague prompts produce generic training; specific prompts with audience, constraints, and examples produce usable drafts.
- Using AI across the design workflow. Drafting storyboards, generating scenario dialogue, producing placeholder media, and summarizing SME interviews are all faster with AI in the loop.
- Quality-controlling AI output. AI will confidently produce content that violates learning science: walls of text, objectives nobody can measure, feedback that tells instead of coaches. Your judgment is the filter.
- Building AI-powered practice experiences. Conversation simulations and AI coaches are the highest-visibility application of AI in learning right now, and they photograph well in a portfolio.
As of 2026, I use Claude Code for all of my development work. And when I evaluate someone's AI skills, the bar I care about is time-to-prototype: how quickly can they build working software or artifacts that meet the requirements, and how well and how fast can they evaluate the output and feed corrections back to the AI to get needed results?
Speed and judgment are king.Devlin Peck
I go deeper on the specific AI skills worth building in this video:
A quick disclosure-flavored aside: one of the fastest ways to demonstrate AI skills in a portfolio is to build a practice simulation, and my company devlin.ai exists for exactly that. You describe a scenario in plain English and get a working AI-powered simulation that embeds in Storyline, Rise, or any LMS. Try it right here:
4. Communication and stakeholder skills
Communication is the top-rated soft skill in the field: 69.3% of hiring professionals called it crucial when evaluating a candidate. Instructional design is a collaborative job, and your output is only as good as your conversations with SMEs, stakeholders, and teammates.
You need to articulate a project's goals clearly, ask SMEs the questions that surface what learners actually need, and push back diplomatically when a stakeholder requests something that won't work.
Writing is the other half of this skill. You'll write storyboards, scripts, on-screen copy, and plenty of emails to people whose time is scarce. Being able to explain complex concepts in plain language is one of the most reliably valuable things you can do in this career.
5. The ability to apply ID theory and science
Applying instructional design theory is the single most-cited knowledge skill in my report: 71.3% of hiring professionals consider it a top-three skill, and 26.7% think it's exactly where current applicants fall short. There is a lot of opportunity here if you can articulate your process well.
Applied theory lets you:
- Identify learning objectives that are measurable, achievable, and relevant
- Create instructional materials that meet learners' needs
- Design learning activities that are engaging and effective
- Create environments that are conducive to learning
The key word is apply. Hiring managers don't want a definition of constructivism; they want to see a project where a theory drove a design decision.
6. Adult learning theories
Adult learning theory is the study of how adults learn, and hiring managers expect working knowledge of the major models: 67.3% specifically want candidates who understand the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation), the five-phase process most teams still use to structure projects.
Beyond ADDIE, the models worth knowing cold are:
- Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction
- The Kirkpatrick Model of training evaluation
- Mayer's multimedia learning principles, collected in The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning
In this video, I talk about adult learning theories and how to approach them in a practical way:
7. Writing strong learning objectives
Writing strong learning objectives is a must-have skill according to 54.5% of hiring professionals, because objectives are the spine of every project. Everything you design should trace back to them.
Learners need to know exactly what they'll be able to do after the experience. Clear objectives give the whole project a framework and make sure every stakeholder understands the intended result.
To write them, start with the stem, which sets up the format:
("By the end of this lesson, students will be able to: __")
Then start each objective with a strong action verb, and keep it measurable and meaningful. Ask yourself: how will I know if someone has achieved this by the end? Will they be able to apply it in real life?
Here's more on how to write strong learning objectives:
8. Managing cognitive load
Managing cognitive load means controlling how much information you ask learners to process at once, and it can make or break a learning experience. Cognitive load theory holds that working memory can only handle so much at a time; overload it and learning stops.
Three strategies do most of the work:
- Chunking. Break complex topics into smaller, manageable pieces so learners can focus on one concept at a time and retain it more easily.
- Cutting extraneous information. Anything that doesn't serve the objective is competing with the material that does. Deliver the essential information and scrap the rest.
- Using multimedia deliberately. Well-chosen visuals paired with narration can illustrate concepts more efficiently than text alone, as long as they follow Mayer's principles rather than decorating the screen.
If you build one habit from this section, make it this: before adding anything to a screen, ask what it costs the learner to process it.
9. Learning management systems (LMS)
LMS skills matter because that's where your work actually reaches learners: 54.5% of hiring managers in my report said knowing how to use an LMS is important. A learning management system, such as Blackboard or TalentLMS, stores, manages, and delivers learning materials directly to learners.
As an ID, you should be comfortable publishing courses to an LMS, updating them when content changes, and using the platform to administer assessments and track learner progress and performance. Organizations rely on these systems to roll out training to exactly the audiences that need it, so the designer who can handle the delivery side without help is more valuable than the one who stops at the authoring tool.
10. Visual design
Visual design is what makes your work look credible before anyone clicks anything: 31.7% of hiring managers rate it as important. That gap makes it one of the cheapest ways to stand out.
Start with the fundamentals: contrast, alignment, proximity, white space, and repetition. Contrast (in size, color, and weight) creates hierarchy so learners know where to look first. Alignment is the single most important principle for placing elements on a page. Proximity signals relationships: closely grouped elements read as related, distant ones don't. White space gives your design room to breathe instead of cramming elements together. And repetition means learners never have to relearn your layout; the same buttons, fonts, and colors carry through every screen, and you only break that consistency when the user experience demands it.
Then handle your assets well: color, type, and graphics. Choose colors for the purpose of the visual, the tone of the content, and the audience. Pick fonts that are easy to read (skip the Comic Sans) and consistent in size and style. Use graphics and animation only when they serve a learning purpose; decoration that doesn't support the objective just adds extraneous cognitive load.
Check out my video about visual design principles for eLearning here:
11. Data literacy and learning analytics
Reading completion, assessment, and behavior data, and turning it into design decisions, is what separates course-builders from learning strategists in 2026. This skill is rising fast across the industry, and it's one that many skills lists leave out entirely.
At minimum, you should understand:
- How tracking works. SCORM and xAPI are the standards that report learner activity from your course to the LMS or LRS. You don't need to write xAPI statements by hand, but you should know what data your courses can capture and how to get it out.
- Why completion rates aren't enough. "97% completed the module" tells you almost nothing about whether performance changed. Look at assessment attempts, question-level results, drop-off points, and (where possible) on-the-job metrics.
- How to present results to stakeholders. A designer who can walk into a review meeting and say "learners consistently failed question four, so I redesigned that section, and here's the before-and-after" is operating at a different level than one who reports launch dates.
Expert consensus across the field puts data fluency near the top of every rising-skills conversation, and my next hiring manager survey will measure it directly.
12. Project management
Project management is the skill of planning, organizing, and controlling resources to hit deadlines, stay within budget, and deliver quality work, and 14.9% of hiring managers say applicants need to get better at it. In practice, IDs often manage their own projects even when nobody gives them the title.
For instructional designers, that means scoping realistically, sequencing work across SME reviews and development sprints, anticipating issues before they blow up the timeline, and communicating status to stakeholders without being asked. Designers who manage projects well earn trust fast, and trust is what gets you handed the interesting work.
13. Storytelling and scenario design
Storytelling in instructional design has evolved into scenario design: building decision-making practice around realistic situations, characters, and consequences. It's one of the most powerful engagement tools available, and it's where hiring portfolios have moved.
The classic story elements still apply, pointed at practice rather than narration:
- Give it a plot. A clear beginning, middle, and end, with tension that comes from a decision the learner has to make rather than from exposition.
- Make it relevant. Base scenarios on the learners' actual work environment, with the workplace challenges they recognize. When learners can imagine themselves in the situation, the learning transfers.
- Connect to personal experience. Scenarios that echo what learners have lived through invite them to bring their own knowledge into the experience, which deepens both engagement and retention.
The strongest portfolio pieces I see follow this pattern: a realistic character, a consequential decision, feedback that shows (rather than tells) the outcome, and a chance to try again. Vivid examples, analogies, and relatable real-world situations bring abstract concepts to life in a way that bullet points or text-heavy slides cannot.
14. Problem-solving and critical thinking
Hiring managers in my study ranked the ability to solve real-world problems with instructional design as the single most important thing they look for in portfolios. Everything else on this list supports this skill.
Problem-solving in ID means starting with the end in mind: what outcome should change, what's causing the gap, and which intervention (sometimes not training at all) will close it. It relies on metrics: the data you gather tells you whether your solution worked and what to adjust. And it requires evaluating your own efforts after launch instead of moving straight to the next build.
Critical thinking is at the heart of the job, too: analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and decision-making. Be selective about sources, separate fact from opinion, and stay clear about which problem you're actually solving.
Creativity rounds this skill out. Thinking beyond the default course format, whether that means a simulation, a job aid, a role-play, or a redesigned workflow, is often what turns an okay solution into a memorable one.
15. Business acumen and performance consulting
Business acumen is the ability to ask "what business result should this training change?" before building anything. Only 11.9% of hiring managers prioritized it in my survey, so why give it a numbered spot? Because it's the skill most cited in senior-role postings, and it's central to the field's shift from order-taker to consultant.
Performance consulting means treating a training request as a hypothesis, not an order. When a stakeholder says "we need a course on X," the consultant asks what people are doing today, what they should be doing instead, and what's preventing the change. Sometimes the answer is training. Often it's a process fix, a tool change, or a management conversation, and the designer who can tell the difference becomes a strategic partner instead of a production resource.
This is the section of this list that matters most for practicing IDs, not just aspiring ones. The percentage is low today because most hiring managers are screening for builders. The designers getting promoted are the ones who think like consultants.
What other skills can help you stand out?
Beyond the core 15, a handful of lower-demand skills can differentiate you in specific niches. Here's how hiring managers weighted them in my report:
- Microsoft PowerPoint (38.6%): still genuinely useful, especially if you design instructor-led sessions. It's not glamorous, but a well-built deck remains the backbone of most live training.
- Adobe Premiere / After Effects (11.9%): valuable wherever video is central to the training strategy.
- HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (8.9%): a differentiator for custom interactions and technical audiences, and increasingly useful as a foundation for AI-assisted development.
- xAPI (4%) and LMS administration (around 3%): niche, but they pair naturally with the data literacy skill above.
None of these are required. But if you're developing materials for a technical field or consulting for software businesses, they can tip a close hiring decision your way.
How do skills differ for junior and senior roles?
Junior roles are screened for tool skills, fundamentals, and coachability, whereas senior roles are screened for judgment, leadership, and depth. Here's the split hiring managers described in my report:
| Junior ID priorities | Senior ID expectations |
|---|---|
| Articulate Storyline 360 | Deep understanding of ID models and learning psychology |
| Attention to detail and organization | Leadership and managerial skills |
| Willingness to learn and innovate | Experience solving common workplace performance problems |
| Communication and teamwork | Stakeholder and performance consulting |
| Visual presentation and storytelling | Strategy: choosing what to build and what not to |
Tailor which skills you lead with to the level you're targeting. Your instructional design resume should surface tool skills and fundamentals for junior roles, and outcomes and judgment for senior ones.
How do you improve your instructional design skills?
You improve instructional design skills by building real projects, getting expert feedback, and putting the results in a portfolio. Studying alone doesn't move your proficiency with any of the 15 skills above; every one of them improves through deliberate practice on real work.
Pick one gap
Choose a single skill where demand is high and your evidence is thin. The Skill Gap Planner above will shortlist candidates based on your stage and goals. Resist the urge to work on five skills at once; choice paralysis is the most common reason people stall.
Build a project that proves it
Design a small, finishable project where that skill is the star: a Storyline interaction for development skills, a scenario for storytelling, an AI-assisted build for AI skills. A project you complete beats a course you abandon.
Get feedback and iterate publicly
Share the work, collect critique from people ahead of you, and revise. Then put the improved version in your instructional design portfolio with a short write-up of your decisions. This loop is also how you land an ID job without experience: the portfolio becomes your experience.
If you want structure and feedback built in, that's what my school is for. Peck Academy is my licensed career school for people transitioning into instructional design: the training covers ID theory, Storyline 360, and AI skills, and students build an AI-integrated flagship project in Storyline 360 with extensive feedback, plus a portfolio website, before working with a career support specialist on resume, LinkedIn, and interviewing. An advisory committee of 10 independent industry experts reviews the curriculum to keep it current. Plenty of people make the transition through free content alone, but the school exists for those who want the support.
Frequently asked questions
What are the hard skills needed for instructional design?
The core hard skills are Articulate Storyline, eLearning development, LMS administration, AI-assisted design, and visual design. In my ID Hiring Manager Report, Storyline led all tools with 75.2% of hiring managers naming it a top-three technology, followed by eLearning development at 64.4%.
What skills does a modern instructional designer need?
A modern instructional designer needs traditional design craft (learning theory, objectives, cognitive load management) plus the 2026 additions: AI prompting and quality control, data literacy, accessibility, and performance consulting. The traditional skills are the base layer; the newer skills are what separate current candidates from outdated ones.
Do you need a degree to build these skills?
No. While 44.6% of hiring managers prefer candidates with a bachelor's degree and 39.6% emphasize a master's, most will weigh your portfolio, mock project performance, and interview over credentials. Demonstrated skill consistently beats listed education.
What technology skills do instructional designers need?
The essential technology skills are Articulate Storyline 360, at least one LMS, and AI tools for design assistance and practice simulations. Helpful extras include PowerPoint for instructor-led training, video editing, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and xAPI for advanced learning analytics.
Over to you!
Those are the 15 instructional design skills worth your attention in 2026. Pick the one gap that matters most for your next role, build something that proves it, and keep iterating from there.
And if you're earlier in the journey, the step-by-step guide to becoming an instructional designer walks you through how these skills fit into the bigger picture: portfolio, resume, applications, and interviews.