Lead Learning Designer - ESL/EFL Curriculum for Korean Speakers

About us

Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language.

Learning a language can change a life by opening doors to new cultures, careers, and communities. Two billion people around the world are actively trying to learn a language, but the best way to learn (one-on-one tutoring) is hard to access at scale and hasn’t been meaningfully improved in decades. Speak is building a human-level, AI-powered tutor in your pocket: a conversation-first experience that lets learners actually speak, get instant feedback, and progress through carefully designed lessons. The result is a complete path from beginner to confident speaker across multiple languages.

Speak first launched in South Korea in 2019, where Speak has now become the number one language learning app, and we now serve learners across many markets and 15+ languages. Speak is one of the world’s leading AI companies, with over $150m raised in venture investment from OpenAI, Accel, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and more, with a distributed team across San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana.

About this role

We’re looking for a full-time Lead Korean ESL/EFL Learning Designer to join Speak’s Learning & Curriculum team and shape high-quality English-learning content for the Korean market.

As the primary owner of our Korean-English curriculum, you’ll craft high-impact content that resonates with Korean learners and drives growth in one of Speak’s most important markets. You’ll partner closely with Marketing, Product, and Korea Market teams as the key curriculum representative for Korea—helping shape campaigns, audience-specific content, and market-facing initiatives.

You’ll bring together pedagogy, creativity, and cultural insight to craft world-class lessons and test innovative content ideas. If you’re energized to solve key learner challenges Korean EFL/ESL learners face, work at the leading edge of edtech innovation, and have meaningful ownership in a strategic core market—we’d love to meet you.

What you’ll be doing

• Own the Korean-English curriculum and high-priority content projects end-to-end — delivering high-quality learning experiences through clear planning, proactive communication, and strong execution.

• Use strong editorial and pedagogical judgment to consistently ship content that feels fresh, modern, culturally attuned, and effective for Korean EFL/ESL learners and is aligned with Speak’s brand philosophy

• Collaborate with Marketing, Product, and Korea Market teams to shape a cohesive, hypothesis-driven Korean EFL/ESL content strategy that drives measurable outcomes.

• Serve as the internal trusted expert on Korean-English learning needs, influencing decisions across Content, Marketing, Brand, and New Bets.

• Maintain high velocity and rigorous timeline ownership across all assigned projects.

• Manage and elevate Korean contractors to improve quality, consistency, and throughput.

• Experiment with and adopt AI-enabled workflows to streamline production, prototype new ideas, and improve efficiency across the Korean-English curriculum.

What we’re looking for

Must-Haves

• Native-level Korean proficiency with strong cultural intuition for what resonates in the Korean market for English learners.

• 4+ years in English curriculum or content design for Korean adult learners at an ed tech company.

• Exceptional user empathy. Deep understanding of Korean learner needs and English-learning challenges.

• Strong creative instincts and marketer’s intuition — able to understand brand philosophy and voice to craft engaging, culturally relevant content.

• Ability to ship high-quality curriculum independently and make sound decisions with minimal oversight.

• Track record of collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams (e.g., Product, Engineering, Business Operations/Analytics, Marketing). Able to drive XFN discussion and guide decisions.

• Strong technical fluency with modern tools and ability to ramp quickly on new systems.

• Content analytics intuition: able to identify which engagement and learning metrics matter and translate insights into curriculum improvements.

• Operationally strong: clear communicator on scope/trade-offs and able to manage multiple workstreams

• Based in the U.S. or Korea.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience managing contractors or junior team members

• Extensive experience launching learner content in partnership with marketing.

• Willingness to work in-office in Seoul or San Francisco

Why work at Speak

1. Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we're growing very quickly, we've most recently raised our Series C from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company.

2. Do your life's work with people you’ll love working with: we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they're growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply.

3. Global in nature: We're live in over 40 countries and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, Seoul, and Tokyo, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel.

4. Impact people's lives in a major way: Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn, and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives.

Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.