Hiring for a Client - CK-12 Foundation
Role & Responsibilities
CK-12 Foundation (www.ck12.org) is looking for an experienced art illustrator who is passionate about creating high-fidelity artwork, diagrams, and interactive experiences for educational software products used by students and teachers around the world.
We're looking for a designer whose primary focus will be creating illustrations and interactive content experiences, with a strong command of AI and LLM-powered creative workflows. The role requires a strong emphasis on accuracy, visual consistency, and fast turnaround. Beyond clean vector visuals, you will be expected to leverage AI tools and generative technologies to build engaging, interactive learning experiences that go beyond static imagery. You should be comfortable incorporating feedback and making precise revisions.
- Create high-fidelity illustrations, diagrams, and visual assets for Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and Math educational content, ensuring subject accuracy and brand consistency.
- Design and develop interactive micro-experiences and simulations using a combination of AI/LLM tools, generative image models, and prompt-driven workflows.
- Collaborate closely with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to understand content requirements and translate complex concepts into clear, accurate, and engaging visuals.
- Leverage AI tools (generative image models, LLM-assisted design workflows, etc.) to accelerate production, explore creative directions, and enhance the expressiveness of educational content.
- Maintain and evolve the CK-12 visual style guide — ensuring consistency across illustrations, interactives, and content videos.
- Produce and edit short-form content videos using Adobe Premiere or equivalent tools to support learning modules.
- Iterate rapidly on feedback from internal stakeholders, maintaining quality while meeting tight turnaround timelines.
- Stay current with emerging AI-powered design tools, generative technologies, and interactive content trends — and actively bring new approaches into the team's workflow.
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously, prioritizing effectively across different content domains and deadlines.
Ideal Candidate
- Strong in Art / Figure Illustration (AI + Educational Content Focus)
- Mandatory (Experience 1): Must have 4+ years of experience as an Art / Digital Illustrator, with a strong focus on creating concept-driven and interactive visuals.
- Mandatory (Experience 2): Must have hands-on experience using AI tools within the creative workflow for generating, refining, or accelerating work; should demonstrate practical application of AI in real projects rather than just theoretical knowledge.
- Mandatory (Experience 3): Must have experience creating content-driven interactive illustrations that translate complex concepts into clear, accurate visuals, preferably across science or math-related topics or similar structured domains.
- Mandatory (Skill 1): Strong illustration fundamentals including composition, human anatomy, perspective, proportions, and the ability to create visually clear and instructionally effective artwork.
- Mandatory (Skill 2): Proficiency across a broad set of design and creative tools beyond Adobe suite — including but not limited to Procreate, Figma, or equivalent; ability to work fluidly across vector, raster, and digital illustration environments.
- Mandatory (Skill 3): Must be an independent builder who uses coding/LLM tools — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or equivalent — to turn their own mocks and ideas into real, working, interactive outputs without depending on developers to implement. Should demonstrate hands-on ability to take a concept from visual design through to a functional, shippable interaction.
- Mandatory (Skill 4): Looks beyond developers to make interactive ideas real, building them in a scalable way — reusable components, systems, or templated/generative interactions rather than one-offs.
- Mandatory (Portfolio): Must showcase 2+ structured/instructional interactive projects with visible AI-assisted work (generation → refinement) and real, self-built interactions made via coding/LLM tools — not static assets/mocks for games, storyboards, or apps. Applications without visible AI work and working interactions should not be considered. Required
- Preferred (Domain Experience): Prior experience in EdTech, educational content creation, or scientific illustration; familiarity with creating visuals for learning experiences and working in AI-first or content-heavy environments.
