What is the average Instructional design salary?

$141K a year on average and $135K at the median, across 163 open Instructional design postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.

What is the typical range?

The middle half of the postings offer $98K to $160K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.

Which companies advertise the highest Instructional design pay?

Anthropic ($292K), OpenAI ($215K), Harvey ($160K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).

Is an instructional design a high-paying job?

The median Instructional design posting advertises $135K a year, less than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 22% below the middle of the market.

How much can you earn as an instructional design?

A tenth of the postings offer $212K a year or more; the highest open Instructional design role advertises up to $550K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.

What is the Instructional design salary per hour and per month?

The median of $135K a year is about $65 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $11,250 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $47 to $77 an hour.

Which skills pay more for Instructional design roles?

Postings that ask for Project management (+$5K, 33 postings) advertise more than the $135K median of all Instructional design postings with pay.

What does an entry-level instructional design make?

5 junior and intern Instructional design postings state pay, with a median of $78K a year ($38 an hour).

Where do these figures come from?

From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.

Instructional design Salary: $141K Average, $135K Median

Instructional design salary by level

Lead roles advertise a median of $189K, 40% more than senior roles ($135K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.

Level	Median salary	Middle half	Roles
Senior	$135K	$102K–$160K	23
Lead and above	$189K	$154K–$251K	33
No level in the title	$130K	$92K–$155K	102

Instructional design salary by location

Name	Median salary	Roles counted
🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area	$190K	28
🇺🇸California	$154K	43
🇺🇸New York, NY	$139K	22
🇺🇸United States	$137K	149
🇺🇸Chicago, IL	$106K	18

Skills that pay more for Instructional design roles

Skill	Median with it	Above the median	Postings
Project management	$140K	+$5K	33

Top-paying companies

Name	Median salary	Roles counted
Anthropic	$292K	3
OpenAI	$215K	8
Harvey	$160K	6
DataCamp	$160K	3
Databricks	$156K	3
Datadog	$136K	3
MKS2 Technologies	$135K	17
Anduril Industries	$134K	12
Box	$134K	4
Davischicago	$108K	7
Samsara	$102K	4
Qualtrics	$79K	4
NSHE	$73K	3

Highest-paying open Instructional design roles

All Instructional design jobs

VP of Learning DesignDuolingo · 🇺🇸New York, NY; Pittsburgh, PA$330K - $550KLead and abovePerformance managementWorkforce planningInstructional design11d
Education Content Marketing LeadOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$333K - $370KHybridLead and aboveVideo editingContent marketingInstructional design5w
Lead Technical InstructorAnthropic · 🇺🇸New York City, NY$270K - $365KLead and aboveLLMAWS BedrockVertex AI2mo
Workforce Development & Education Manager, Infrastructure SitesOpenAI · 🇺🇸US - Remote$176K - $326KRemoteCompTIA A+OSHANFPA 70E4w
Partner Enablement Lead, Beneficial DeploymentsAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$265K - $320KLead and aboveSlackMarketing attributionInstructional design3w
Head of Customer Self-Service Onboarding, SalesBlock · 🇺🇸Bay Area, CA, United States of America$207K - $311KLead and aboveCrypto custodyPOS systemsInstructional design5w
Learning and Development DirectorDruva · 🇺🇸Santa Clara, CA$212K - $297KLead and aboveWorkforce planningInstructional designLMS3mo
Director, Technical Sales EnablementCodeRabbit · 🇺🇸San Francisco$250K - $290KHybridLead and aboveProduct marketingInstructional design5d
Sr. Director, Sales TrainingDefinium Therapeutics · Remote$250K - $280KRemoteLead and abovePerformance managementInstructional design6w
Senior Director, Global Head of Learning & DevelopmentSharkNinja · 🇺🇸Needham, MA, United States$220K - $265KLead and aboveInstructional designProject management3mo
Director, Customer EnablementCrusoe · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA - US$215K - $250KLead and aboveKubernetesMLOpsConfluence3mo
Technical Enablement ManagerEndor Labs · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$190K - $250KSnowflakeMongoDBCI/CD11d
Partner Enablement LeadBaseten · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $250KHybridLead and aboveGCPAzureMachine Learning4w
Associate Director, Operational ExcellenceTango Therapeutics · 🇺🇸Boston, MA$164K - $246KLead and aboveSix SigmaClinical trialsInstructional design4w
Quantum Computing EngineerMKS2 Technologies · Remote$200K - $230KRemotePythonJavaC++2mo
Technical Enablement ManagerSocket · 🇺🇸United States$160K - $220KRemoteGoPythonFigma4w
Recruiting Operations SpecialistSierra · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$165K - $220KInstructional design5d
Senior Manager, Sales EnablementShopMy · 🇺🇸New York, NY$160K - $220KSeniorGongInfluencer marketingInstructional design5mo
Manager, CX Knowledge & EnablementHarvey · 🇺🇸San Francisco$144K - $216KHybridInstructional design4w
Certification ManagerClickHouse · 🇺🇸United States$169K - $212KRemoteSQLGCPAzure7w

Questions about Instructional design pay

What is the average Instructional design salary?: $141K a year on average and $135K at the median, across 163 open Instructional design postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
What is the typical range?: The middle half of the postings offer $98K to $160K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
Which companies advertise the highest Instructional design pay?: Anthropic ($292K), OpenAI ($215K), Harvey ($160K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
Is an instructional design a high-paying job?: The median Instructional design posting advertises $135K a year, less than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 22% below the middle of the market.
How much can you earn as an instructional design?: A tenth of the postings offer $212K a year or more; the highest open Instructional design role advertises up to $550K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
What is the Instructional design salary per hour and per month?: The median of $135K a year is about $65 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $11,250 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $47 to $77 an hour.
Which skills pay more for Instructional design roles?: Postings that ask for Project management (+$5K, 33 postings) advertise more than the $135K median of all Instructional design postings with pay.
What does an entry-level instructional design make?: 5 junior and intern Instructional design postings state pay, with a median of $78K a year ($38 an hour).
Where do these figures come from?: From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.

Instructional design salary: $135K median