Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs

Full Job Description

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo.

This position is located in organizationally in Collections and Curatorial Affairs, Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, Smithsonian Institution (SI).

More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal Service.

For this position, specialized experience is defined as activities such as managing the curatorial functions of a history museum or similar cultural entity; overseeing research, exhibitions, collections development and public service; formulating goals and priorities and ensuring they are achieved; evaluating staff performance; performing scholarly research; determining acquisitions and deaccessions; overseeing curators, guest curators, and others in developing and implementing museum exhibitions, publications, and related programs.

Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position.

Do not copy language directly from the vacancy announcement, as you will be deemed ineligible for consideration. Instead, provide detailed, descriptive information about your actual experience.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience.

Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week. Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications.

For a full explanation of this option please see the Qualification Standards.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S.

accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement. Major Duties:

The Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs leads and supervises the Museum's historical research, collections, and archives functions.

The incumbent defines and serves as the leader of scholarly research efforts to reveal new discoveries about women's history in America and to share them with the public.

In this position, you will: Lead all historical research and interpretation for the Museum, develop and articulate the Museum's research agenda, illuminating the history of women in America.

Ensure the Museum advances knowledge and make discoveries that will be of interest to the wide range of SI audiences.

Ensure the intellectual products and public facing assets of the museum adhere to the highest level of scholarship, as well as remain of exceptional interest to the wide variety of American audiences.

Supervise a staff including recruitment and selection, retention, employee development, performance management, awards, and disciplinary action.

Assign work to department staff consistent with SI and Museum policies and supervise its final implementation.

Be interviewed by specialist press and national media (print, radio, television, and web) to provide context and factual accuracy to historical topics related to women in America.

Respond to letters of inquiry on historical topics from the public, researchers, and scholars.

In collaboration with the Museum Director, the incumbent leads the Museum's work to design and develop a long term digital and physical collections strategy, identifying key themes and types of collections that are of most help in advancing discovery in women's history in America.

Write and secure approval for the Museum's collections policy in accordance with SI guidelines.