Supervisory Museum Specialist (Assistant Director of Cataloging and Digitization)

Supervisory Museum Specialist (Assistant Director of Cataloging and Digitization)

Department: Other Agencies and Independent Organizations

Location(s): Washington, District of Columbia

Salary Range: $120579 - $156755 Per Year

Job Summary: The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is in the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a national museum for the study and exhibition of African American history and culture.

Major Duties:

• This position is located in the Office of Collections, Acquisitions and Digitization and is responsible for oversight and coordination of NMAAHC's digitization and collection information management programs including museum photography, digital assets management, cataloging and collections information management in the Museum's system of record for collections, access to digital collection information and assets, rights and reproductions and participation in the Museum's digital and publishing initiatives. The Supervisory Museum Specialist will be responsible for: Cataloging and collections information management including creating and implementing standards for collections cataloguing, researching and documenting the museum object collection and creating standard digital collection records and digital surrogates. Rights and reproduction including researching rights associated with collections, creating and implementing standards for documenting rights information, arranging licenses to use restricted materials and entering rights information into TMS. Meeting regularly with digitization, digital assets management, photography, cataloging, and rights and reproduction staff as well as a variety of Museum staff. Writing or overseeing writing of formal plans, policies, and strategies for all facets of NMAAHC’s digitization and collections information efforts and oversees implementation. Assigning and reviewing work, assuring that work assignments are completed, approving leave for subordinates, recommending performance standards and ratings, and managing the department’s budget.

Qualifications: Basic Qualifications: 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, biology, or zoology. In addition to the basic qualification requirement above: Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience overseeing and coordinating digitization and collection information management programs; writing formal plans, policies, and strategies for digitization and collections information management efforts; creating guidelines and procedures for museum photography, digital assets management, cataloging and collections information management; leading, overseeing and/or motivating staff. 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. 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. 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 service appointment 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).

How to Apply: Click on the "Apply Online" button on the upper right side of the page. Please Note: You must apply for this position online through the 'Apply Online' button and submit required supplemental documents (if they are relevant to you). Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages. You may submit required documents by uploading them online during the application process. The complete application package, including any required documents, is due in the Smithsonian Office of Human Resources on the closing date of the announcement by 11:59 PM Eastern Time. If you are unable to apply online, paper applications may be accepted with prior approval of the Contact Person listed below.

Application Deadline: 2025-11-21