Museum Specialist (Natural Science)

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 The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a major bureau of the Smithsonian Institution that is responsible for the acquisition, curation, and preservation of collections of objects and specimens of natural history, which tells the history of the planet and a record of human interaction with the environment and one another.

Experience related to the operation or management of a museum or similar collection of valuable objects.

Examples of qualifying specialized experience include collections management, registration, cataloging, research, preservation, restoration, or conservation of collections of museum material, or other experience related to the position to be filled.

Most positions require a particular subject-matter specialization, e.g., aeronautics, anthropology, art, geology, history, natural science, technology, natural science, biology, or zoology.

In addition to the basic qualification requirement above: Experience: You must have one year of full-time experience at the GS-7 grade level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system that is close or similar to the operation or management of a museum or similar collection of valuable objects.

For this position, specialized experience is defined as performing physical and digital collection management work in a natural science environment related to registration, cataloging, loans, curation, as well as specimen and storage preparation.

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 Education: Two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent degree related to the position may be substituted to meet the experience requirements.

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.

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.

In an effort to streamline our hiring process, SI employees whose current position of record is in the same job series (1016) and who are in a Federal competitive as this advertised position, are not required to submit a transcript with your application package.

However, if selected, you will be required to provide a copy of your transcript before your start date in the position.

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

Major Duties:

The Museum Specialist is involved in various technical aspects of collections and data management, curation, and research support, including the transportation, preparation, registration, preservation, storage, and the utilization of specimens in the National Collections within the natural science specialization.

In this position, you will: Perform independent assignments and collections management support duties, using museum guidelines, prepares correspondence and creates records for loans, acquisitions, and disposals of collection items as directed.

Prepare collection items as traditional museum study collection items within the natural science departments.

Provide physical and/or digital access to collections for users according to departmental guidelines.

Assist in the logistics of moving parts of collections in and out of the Natural History Buildings, and other associated collections facilities.