Learning Technologist (Moodle Service)

Role Title: Learning Technologist (Moodle Service)

Grade and Salary: Grade 7, £38,448 - £48,337 per annum

FTE and working pattern: Full-time (35hrs per week) Open-ended

Reward and Benefits : 33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full time staff. Use our total rewards calculator:   https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm   to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About our Team

Library, Learner and Academic Spaces is part of the Global Information Services Directorate and brings together teams delivering a wide range of academic, digital and learner support services across the University’s campuses and modes of study, supporting Heriot-Watt University’s Strategy 2035 ambitions.

These integrated specialist services support the University’s digital education ambitions and include learning technology and design, virtual learning environment development, IT training, learner advice, audio-visual support, media production and academic library services.

Within Library, Learner and Academic Spaces, the Virtual Learning Enhancement Services (VLES) team provides trusted and reliable Virtual Learning Environment services to staff and students across Heriot-Watt’s global community. The team manages the technical implementation of Heriot-Watt's virtual learning environment and integrations that enhance teaching, learning and assessment, and support academic staff, professional services colleagues and students. VLES works with colleagues across the University and with external partners to ensure that digital learning environments are effective, accessible, reliable and supportable. By aligning virtual learning environments with institutional priorities, the team plays an important role in supporting the University’s learning, teaching and digital education ambitions.

Purpose of Role

This is an exciting opportunity to play a leading role in the development and delivery of Heriot-Watt University's digital learning platforms. The Learning Technologist will provide specialist learning technology expertise and technical leadership for the establishment, implementation and continuing development of a Moodle-based learning service supporting the Scholar 2.0 programme.

The role will lead defined areas of service design and implementation and will support the migration of learning content, assessments and digital assets from the existing Scholar platform to a sustainable, supportable and scalable Moodle environment.

Working with academic colleagues, technical teams, professional services, implementation partners, suppliers and partner institutions, the postholder will translate educational and service requirements into effective technical and operational solutions. The role will make recommendations and exercise independent professional judgement within agreed institutional, architectural, security and project frameworks.

The postholder will be responsible for delivering assigned workstreams and for contributing materially to service readiness, testing, migration, documentation, staff capability development, adoption and transition into business-as-usual operation.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Moodle Service Development and Implementation

- Lead defined workstreams concerned with the establishment and implementation of the Moodle service for Scholar 2.0.
- Analyse educational, technical and operational requirements and translate them into appropriate Moodle configurations, workflows and service solutions.
- Work with internal technical teams, academic stakeholders, hosting providers and implementation partners to configure and optimise Moodle.
- Provide specialist recommendations on the selection, configuration and effective use of Moodle functionality and associated learning technologies.
- Contribute to solution design, testing, deployment, acceptance and operational-readiness activities.
- Support the implementation and testing of authentication, Single Sign-On, account provisioning, data exchange and other agreed integrations.
- Evaluate specialist educational technologies, including online assessment tools such as STACK or equivalent platforms, and recommend solutions against agreed requirements.
- Identify technical, educational and operational dependencies and escalate material risks through the appropriate governance arrangements.
- Ensure that agreed configurations and processes take account of accessibility, usability, information governance, security and service-support requirements.
- Develop and maintain the Moodle service following its transition into business-as-usual operation.

Scholar Migration

- Lead or coordinate assigned elements of the migration of learning content, assessments and associated digital assets from the existing Scholar platform to Moodle.
- Work with subject specialists and project teams to review, redesign, optimise and quality-assure migrated content.
- Design and document repeatable migration processes, workflows, quality criteria and exception-handling arrangements.
- Develop migration plans, test scenarios, acceptance criteria and technical documentation for assigned areas of responsibility.
- Coordinate and participate in system testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing and quality review.
- Analyse defects and migration issues, identify their causes and agree proportionate corrective action with technical and subject specialists.
- Monitor the quality and progress of assigned migration activity and provide clear reporting on progress, risks, dependencies and decisions.
- Recommend priorities where migration, quality, resource or technical constraints require a balance between competing requirements.
- Support service-continuity arrangements intended to minimise disruption to learners, teachers and partner institutions during migration and implementation.

Learning Technology and Digital Education

- Provide authoritative specialist advice on Moodle, virtual learning environments, online assessment and associated digital learning solutions.
- Advise stakeholders on how learning design requirements can be supported through effective use of Moodle tools, activities, workflows and assessment features.
- Work with Learning and Teaching Enhancement Services colleagues to support engaging, accessible and appropriately designed online, blended and asynchronous learning experiences.
- Apply accessibility, usability and inclusive-design principles to Moodle configuration, content migration, guidance and service processes.
- Support colleagues to make informed and effective use of the tools provided through the virtual learning environment.
- Maintain current knowledge of relevant learning technology, digital education and virtual learning environment developments.
- Evaluate emerging practice and technology and make evidence-informed recommendations for service enhancement.
- Contribute specialist expertise to institutional discussions concerning digital learning, assessment and virtual learning environment services.

Service Design, Transition and Continuous Improvement

- Make a substantial contribution to the development and implementation of the Scholar 2.0 Target Operating Model.
- Define and document support processes, service responsibilities, escalation routes, operating procedures and knowledge-management requirements.
- Develop service documentation, knowledge-base materials, user guidance and management information for assigned service areas.
- Plan and coordinate assigned aspects of Moodle software and plugin testing, including regression testing and readiness assessment.
- Assess the potential educational and operational effects of proposed upgrades or configuration changes and recommend appropriate action.
- Support the controlled transition of the Moodle service from project implementation into sustainable business-as-usual operation.
- Work with relevant teams and suppliers to establish clear, resilient and supportable service arrangements.
- Analyse service feedback, incidents, recurring problems and user requirements to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Propose and implement agreed service improvements, evaluating their effectiveness against defined requirements and outcomes.
- Contribute to service-management, change-control, release and continuous-improvement processes.

Stakeholder Engagement, Consultancy and Training

- Establish effective working relationships with academic schools, professional services, project teams, partner institutions, implementation partners, hosting providers and suppliers.
- Gather, analyse, document and validate business, educational and user requirements.
- Facilitate discussions where stakeholders have different priorities, explaining technical and educational implications and supporting evidence-informed decisions.
- Present complex technical and pedagogical information in a form appropriate to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
- Provide specialist consultancy and recommendations to project and service stakeholders.
- Design and deliver training, workshops, demonstrations, guidance and capability-development activities.
- Coordinate with relevant teams to ensure that training and support arrangements are consistent, sustainable and responsive to user needs.
- Support user adoption and organisational change associated with the introduction of Scholar 2.0.
- Represent the VLES team on relevant institutional and external working groups.
- Maintain constructive working relationships while appropriately challenging requirements or proposals that present material educational, technical, accessibility or service risks.

Planning, Governance and Resource Coordination

- Plan and manage a complex personal workload spanning project delivery, migration, testing, stakeholder engagement and operational service development.
- Develop delivery plans for assigned workstreams, identifying milestones, dependencies, resource requirements, risks and decision points.
- Coordinate contributions from colleagues, subject specialists, suppliers and project participants where necessary to achieve agreed outcomes.
- Monitor progress against agreed plans and take corrective action where delivery is at risk.
- Provide accurate and timely reports to project and service governance groups.
- Contribute specialist advice to project planning, risk management, prioritisation and service decisions.
- Use University resources responsibly and make recommendations that consider sustainability, supportability, value and longer-term service impact.
- Comply with relevant institutional policies and procedures, including those relating to information governance, accessibility, security, equality and health and safety.

Person Specification

These are the criteria on which the short-listing and recruitment selection will be made

Essential

Qualifications or Equivalent Experience

- A degree or equivalent professional qualification, or substantial relevant professional experience, in learning technology, educational technology, digital education, information systems or a related discipline.
- Evidence of relevant continuing professional development.

Knowledge and Experience

- Significant professional experience in a learning technology, educational technology, digital education or comparable role.
- Substantial experience of administering, configuring and supporting Moodle or another enterprise virtual learning environment.
- Experience of applying learning technology to online, blended or asynchronous education.
- Experience of gathering, analysing, documenting and validating complex business, educational and user requirements.
- Experience of translating requirements into effective technical, learning technology or service solutions.
- Experience of applying structured approaches to system development, configuration, testing, implementation and change.
- Experience of developing test plans, test scenarios, acceptance criteria or equivalent quality-assurance materials.
- Experience of analysing complex technical or service problems and recommending sustainable solutions.
- Experience of working across academic, technical and professional service environments.
- Experience of managing competing priorities and delivering defined outputs within a complex project or service environment.
- Experience of developing guidance, training materials, technical documentation or service procedures.
- Knowledge of digital accessibility and inclusive-design requirements relevant to digital learning.
- Knowledge of information governance, copyright and other requirements relevant to educational technology services.
- Strong stakeholder-engagement, facilitation and consultancy skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex matters to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
- Strong analytical, planning and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to exercise independent professional judgement and take responsibility for assigned workstreams and deliverables.
- Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of multidisciplinary and cross-organisational teams.
- A professional and proactive approach to service delivery and continuous improvement.

Desirable

- A postgraduate qualification in digital education, learning technology or a related discipline.
- Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology.
- Fellowship of Advance HE or equivalent professional recognition.
- Experience of implementing Moodle or migrating a large-scale virtual learning environment.
- Experience of planning, coordinating and testing Moodle software or plugin upgrades.
- Experience of assessment technologies such as STACK, CodeRunner, Numbas or comparable platforms.
- Experience of authentication, Single Sign-On, user provisioning or virtual learning environment integrations.
- Experience of developing service-management documentation, support models or target operating models.
- Experience of working with managed hosting providers, implementation partners or third-party suppliers.
- Knowledge of learning analytics and educational data management.
- Experience of cross-departmental or multi-institution service delivery.
- Knowledge of IT service-management principles or an ITIL qualification.

How to Apply

Please submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing your interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV

Applications can be submitted until 23:55 on Sunday 22 nd November 2026.

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We therefore encourage you to submit your application promptly.

About Heriot-Watt University

At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.