Lead Narrative Designer Reports to: Director of Narrative Design
Summary/Objective Luci’s Narrative Designers are charged with championing a story-first approach to creating impactful visitor experiences for museums, visitor centers, brands, and more. As a Lead Narrative Designer, you will be a senior member of our team, responsible for implementing exhibit-related storytelling through scholarly research, interpretive planning, audience advocacy, and client communications. This role is client-facing and highly collaborative. Lead Narrative Designers advocate for project needs and are the go-to resource for content creation and visitor-centric strategies.
Luci is looking for an energetic individual who will bring enthusiasm and rigor to our team. The ideal candidate will not only be familiar with best practices in Museology and experience design, but have a hunger for pushing and redefining those practices.
Essential Job Functions Project-Specific Leadership
- Serve as a primary contact for the client on interpretive and exhibit development matters; lead workshops, pitch ideas, and respond to feedback in a clear, constructive manner.
- Conduct in-depth research into a variety of topics and distill complex information into easily communicated messaging for clients and the public at large.
- Develop and refine exhibit storylines, interpretive plans, and content outlines to align exhibit content with a project’s goals and audiences.
- Advocate for a wide range of audience needs and abilities, ensuring the experiences we design are accessible, inclusive, and impactful.
- Identify the need for freelancers, subject matter experts (SMEs), or unique processes, bringing these requests to project leadership for approval.
- Coordinate with the Project and Creative Leads to plan tasks, allocate resources, and ensure deadlines and financial targets are met.
- Facilitate public-facing and community engagement workshops and stakeholder sessions.
Client-Facing Responsibilities
- Advocate for compelling storytelling-driven experiences over didactic knowledge transfer.
- Prepare and deliver regular status updates, creative briefs, and interpretive concepts to clients and stakeholders.
- Promote awareness and understanding of the project’s vision, scope, timeline, and deliverable needs.
- Champion the “voice of the visitor” to ensure that the final exhibit solutions are accessible, engaging, and meaningful not only for the client, but for the people they serve.
Collaboration Across Disciplines
- Collaborate with 2D and 3D designers, developers, and media specialists to integrate storytelling and interpretive content seamlessly into the overall exhibit experience.
- Working alongside Creative Directors, Project Directors, and Project Managers, uphold creative excellence while meeting project budgets, timelines, and goals.
- Coordinate with external collaborators to ensure their contributions align with the project’s interpretive goals and budget.
- Contribute ideas for refining project-specific workflows and documentation to increase efficiency and quality outcomes, while deferring broader departmental process changes to higher-level leadership.
Narrative Design Team Coordination & Mentorship
- Review fellow Narrative Design team members’ work, including interpretive plans, exhibit matrices, content outlines, and documentation.
- Offer a “second brain” to colleagues through ideation workshops and internal creative reviews.
- Provide constructive feedback and escalate significant quality concerns to the Project Managers or Directors as needed.
- Offer ongoing training and support by sharing best practices in storytelling, visitor engagement, and interpretive methodologies.
Qualifications & Skills
- Bachelor’s degree in Museum Studies, History, Education, Design, or related field; Master’s Degree or other advanced degree in a relevant field is preferred.
- Professional experience in exhibit development, museum content creation, and interpretive planning (8+ years ideal).
- Excellent public speaker with strong ability to articulate ideas to clients, stakeholders, and team members; comfortable presenting work in formal/informal settings.
- Experience leading or guiding junior team members, providing clear feedback, and maintaining positive team dynamics.
- Proven ability to lead public-facing workshops and community engagement sessions with a variety of individuals and communities. ●Passion for audience-centered design, storytelling, and alternative learning methods.
- Willingness to adapt to changing project needs; able to creatively solve issues related to content, timelines, and resources.
- Familiarity with best practices in Inclusive and Universal Design.
Work Environment & Travel Expectations
- This role requires in-studio presence a minimum of three days per week at one of our three office locations in Chicago, New York City, or Seattle.
- Travel will be required for client meetings, site visits, installations, and professional development (training, conferences, etc.).