Summary The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum expands the story of America through the often-untold accounts and accomplishments of women - individually and collectively - to better understand our past and inspire our future. The museum’s goal is to create space for women's history on the National Mall in Washington, DC, deepen our nation's stories, and inspire conversation, connection, and change. The museum’s ultimate vision is a more representative history, a more collective future. Duties The Museum Curator is responsible for selecting, preserving, maintaining, and managing SAWHM's digital assets.
In this position, you will:
- Conduct scholarly research by analyzing and reviewing digital content, collections, exhibitions, and educational materials.
- Provide scholarly review of original works (i.e., publications, articles, essays, video/audio, interactive experiences).
- Envision how digital assets fit together as a system and connect with in-person exhibitions and programming.
- Lead, support and integrate special digital engagement projects in addition to special programs, exhibits, events and workshops.
- Collaborate with colleagues to produce original digital content and multimedia features, using innovative and emerging digital technologies.
- Oversee contractor's work, write statements of work (SOW) to ensure deliverables are within program budgets and cost estimates and timely.
- Provide support to the Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs by contributing imaginative and practical ideas.
- Advise leadership on near- and long-term direction and planning for digital strategy through research and engagement goals of digital programs.
- Supervise a small number of positions to include assigning projects and tasks, providing work direction, preparing performance plans, and completing performance appraisals.
Qualifications
Basic Education Requirement:
Degree: museum work; or in an applicable subject-matter field.
OR
Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
OR
Four years of experience that provided knowledge comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of the 4-year course of study as shown in A above.
In addition to the Basic Education 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 researching, analyzing and reviewing digital content, collections, exhibitions and educational materials at a museum or cultural institution to conceptualize and execute projects, in-person exhibits, and digital experiences; performing original scholarly research and reviews content for quality control; collecting and researching assets; planning, producing, and implementing original digital content that engages scholarly and public audiences; overseeing contractors including writing statements of work and managing budgets; advising leadership on long-term digital engagement strategies; and representing a museum or public institution publicly such as scholarly conferences, meeting, workshops, and in the media.
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.
Education This position has a positive education requirement. Unofficial transcripts are required.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
Qualification requirements, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the 'Required Documents' section for additional information.
For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website. How you will be evaluated Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:
- Skill conducting scholarly research and defining topics of genuine significance to support the Museum's mission and audience engagement strategy.
- Knowledge of determining feasibility of topics for publications and exhibitions and considering the appropriate scope of the topic.
- Ability to engage, educate, inspire, and connect with scholarly and public audiences through output of intentional content coordination, exhibitions and programming.
- Ability to shape visitor's digital experiences and align with the Museum's mission and digital strategy using digital content management tools.
- Ability to write statements of work (SOWs) and develop program budgets and cost estimates.
- Skill providing different ways to tell the Museum's digital approach and collaborating with departmental heads on resource development.
- Ability to work independently, resolve conflict, and provide oversight, guidance, and direction to subordinates.
BASIS OF RATING: Once the announcement closes, your application will be automatically evaluated and rated by the system and a Human Resources Specialist. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your application and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. The numeric rating you receive is based on your responses to the questionnaire. The score is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of this position. If, after the Human Resources Specialist reviews your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that the score you have received is not a true reflection of your qualifications and/or experience, your score can and will be adjusted to more accurately reflect the information you provided that support your abilities. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.
Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA): If you are applying for a VEOA appointment, you must be a veteran and must be honorably separated and either a preference eligible or have substantially completed 3 or more years of active service. ("Active Service" under this law means active duty in a uniformed service and includes full-time training duty, annual training duty, full-time National Guard duty, and attendance, while in the active service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary concerned.) A veteran who is released under honorable conditions shortly before completing a 3-year tour is also eligible.
Noncompetitive Appointment Authorities: The following links contain information on the eligibility requirements to be considered under a noncompetitive appointing authority:
- Primary Appointing Authorities for Career and Career-Conditional Appointments
- Hiring Authorities for Veterans
- People with Disabilities
You may preview questions for this vacancy.
Benefits
The Federal Government offers a comprehensive benefits package.
Please see Benefits at https://www.si.edu/OHR/benefits for a complete description.
Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/ Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/
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.
Other information
- This position is not included in the bargaining unit.
Recruitment Incentive: Recruitment incentive(s) may be authorized for this position. However, approval for incentives are contingent upon various availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require the incumbent to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a certain time period.
Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid.
Selections may be made for vacancies across the Smithsonian Institution (SI). By applying to this position, you agree to allow your application and other personal information to be shared with one or more SI hiring officials for employment consideration for same/similar positions within the location(s) identified in this announcement.
More than one selection may be made from this announcement.
Important Note:
Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.