Associate Director, Curatorial

Job Title: Associate Director Curatorial

Reports to: Chief Collections Exhibitions Officer

Department: Curatorial

Supervises: Supervises 2-3 staff members

Work Schedule: 40 hours per week 5 days per week hybrid work eligible. This role requires some weekends and evenings to support MOPOP events.

Salary: $110000 - $120000

Position Summary

Essential Job Duties (other duties as assigned)

Exhibition Development

Lead and support MOPOP exhibitions (on-site and traveling) from concept through post-opening operations

Collaborate with Curatorial Exhibition Design Planning Collections Exhibition Fabrication Video Marketing Advancement Facilities and other teams throughout exhibition development processes

Lead or contribute to interpretive framing and storytelling aesthetic direction graphic approach exhibition layout interactive strategy and media integration

Develop exhibition content across various mediums including themes concept materials presentations didactic text digital interpretation media narratives and visitor-facing experiences within exhibition spaces and digital platforms

Manage or contribute to exhibition-related budgeting vendor coordination contract review and traveling exhibition planning

Support long-range exhibition planning and institutional curatorial initiatives in collaboration with the Chief Collections Exhibitions Officer

Collaborate with Curatorial Collections Exhibition Design Planning and Exhibition Fabrication teams on the exhibition calendar including long-term exhibition rotations gallery refreshes annual initiatives and artifact swap planning

Support exhibition installation deinstallation gallery continuity and post-opening stewardship efforts as needed

Conduct oral history interviews and support institutional storytelling initiatives related to exhibitions and collections

Department Leadership

Provide day-to-day leadership and management of the Curatorial Department translating institutional and exhibition priorities into clear departmental goals workplans and expectations.

Directly supervise Curators and additional Curatorial staff including coaching performance management goal setting mentorship workload management and professional development.

Oversee allocation of curatorial assignments and exhibition leadership opportunities balancing organizational priorities staff capacity development opportunities and equitable distribution of work.

Establish and maintain effective departmental workflows communication practices documentation and knowledge sharing.

Ensure consistent standards for curatorial scholarship interpretive quality accessibility storytelling and visitor experience across the exhibition portfolio.

Foster an inclusive accountable collaborative and intellectually rigorous departmental culture.

Partner with the Chief Collections Exhibitions Officer on departmental planning staffing resource needs and long-range curatorial priorities.

Represent Curatorial in cross-functional planning and strengthen partnerships with Curatorial Exhibition Design Planning Collections Exhibition Fabrication Video Marketing Advancement Facilities and other teams.

Cultivate and maintain relationships with artists scholars lenders donors community partners and peer institutions in support of exhibitions and institutional priorities

MOPOP Community

• Support our internal culture which inspires and empowers our staff to live our mission to its highest standards.
• Contribute to a consistent customer service standard across all departments.
• Work to ensure customer service is ingrained at the core of the team and is reflected outward to our guests and other staff.

Preferred/Desired Qualifications

Minimum 8 (eight) years of curatorial or exhibition development experience in a museum or related cultural institution

Demonstrated experience leading large-scale exhibitions and managing complex exhibition initiatives

Minimum of three (3) years of managerial experience

Strong knowledge of exhibition development interpretive planning collections stewardship media integration and museum standards

Excellent organizational communication writing presentation leadership and collaboration skills

Experience with traveling exhibitions donor engagement budgeting grants contracts and institutional partnerships preferred

Familiarity with collections management systems exhibition software and digital interpretation platforms preferred

Commitment to anti-racism work and DEIA-centered curatorial practice

Broad knowledge of popular culture including music film fashion gaming fandom science fiction fantasy horror and social movements

Benefits

This full-time position includes Medical/Vision insurance Dental insurance 3.08 hours of accrued Vacation per bi-weekly pay period Seattle Sick/Safe up to 8 Company Holidays paid throughout the year EAP 401k plan with vested match schedule once eligible and subsidized transportation benefits for Orca Pass or parking.

Why MOPOP

Were really glad youre thinking about joining the team at MOPOP! We believe pop culture is a universal language capable of building connections across a range of people no matter our differences in race religion gender age sexual orientation ability education socio-economic status ethnicity country of origin or any other characteristic that makes us who we are. For more than twenty years we have been showcasing how music film fashion video games sports and more spark those connections and create a lasting cultural impact.

MOPOP provides both a physical space and an emotional and intellectual opportunity for people from any background to explore find and build community and recognize their own creative potential. This applies not only to our guests but also to our staff be it in designing an educational program to engage the next generation of creators trying to reach a new audience with a marketing initiative preserving an artifact in our collection or providing excellent customer service to a visitor. If this sounds like something youd be into wed love to hear from you!

MOPOPs Mission and Commitment to Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility

Our mission is to activate the world-shaping power of pop culture through participative experiences discovery and play. We believe pop culture connects us and that it is powerful complex alive and who we are. MOPOP is actively committed to ongoing learning in the areas of diversity equity inclusion and accessibility (DEIA). In partnership with our community we hope to also develop safe spaces for their application. This includes taking steps to continue increasing our awareness of institutional -isms as well as uncovering and undoing the ways they show up in museum culture. We recognize this is a process that requires intentionality energy and resources and we are developing a DEIA framework that can cultivate a work environment and museum experience that is truly welcoming for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We believe that having staff interns and volunteers with diverse backgrounds enables us to better meet our mission and encourage BIPOC women and LGBTQIA2S individuals to apply. We acknowledge that our work to build safe spaces and better systems for traditionally marginalized groups is ongoing and will require constant vigilance and expect all MOPOP employees to be part of our DEIA journey.

Please email if you need reasonable accommodations during the application or hiring process.

Dont meet every single requirement

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At MOPOP we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you are excited about a role but your past experience doesnt align perfectly with every qualification in the job description we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the candidate we are looking for!

Required Experience:

Director