The purpose of this qualitative case study was to define and describe the work of external instructional design consultants. Study participants included seven instructional designers with varied educational backgrounds and work experience who work in a variety of contexts supporting clients in the design and delivery of learning experiences. All seven participants completed an initial survey with demographic and background questions. Five participants then took part in semi-structured interviews. Collected data was coded using both deductive and inductive methods with each case considered individually before combining the data for analysis across cases. Study findings support previous research suggesting that the work of instructional designers is dependent on context. Results further indicated that external instructional design consultants regularly engage in project management, communication and collaboration, and the analysis and evaluation components of the instructional design process, all in keeping with existing literature. External instructional designers differed in that they do more sales-related work, and, in the analysis process, focus more on client needs than learner characteristics. Study participants were invested in creating high quality, engaging learning experiences, while also willing to accommodate the unique challenges facing any given client. The study findings suggested that prospective employees' instructional design knowledge is of limited value during hiring interviews; instead, participants reported being more likely to hire former educators and subject-matter experts who can be trained to do instructional design work. Two broad themes emerged from the study's findings: 1) instructional designers can be organized into instructional designer and manager roles with corresponding responsibilities; and 2) the question of how best to prepare instructional designers is a question of what knowledge and skills are needed and where those skills should be developed. These themes formed the basis of five instructional design personas that resulted from this study, as well as a proposed program for preparing instructional design professionals.