Assistant Director

Summary

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located within the Office of Collections, Division of Public History, National Museum of American History (NMAH), Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, SI. The Office of Collections stewards the national collection, working to ensure preservation and public access.

More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Current Smithsonian Institution Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only may apply including current Smithsonian Institution employees with Federal career/career-conditional status or eligibility. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

Duties

As the Assistant Director for Collections at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), you will report to the Deputy Director of Public History and you will perform the following duties:

Leads the collections management program at NMAH, charged with formulating policies, program goals, budgets and objectives, and the development of short- and long- range plans to accomplish goals, working closely with the Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curatorial Division Chairs, the Associate Director for Digital Access and Archives and in consultation with the Deputy Director of Public History.

Oversees over physical security, including disaster preparation, and collection facility planning and management.

Advises on and recommends courses of action pertaining to collections budget priorities, organizational structures, reward systems, technical staff requirements and responsibilities, staff training, space allocation, and utilization.

Plans and carries out a full range of departmental supervisory and managerial duties.

Sets annual and multi-year plans and schedules for projects accomplished in-house and by contract based on museum priorities.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Requires career/career-conditional status or eligibility.

Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

May be required to serve an 18-month probationary period for supervisors.

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 .

Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal Service. For this position specialized experience is defined as 1) oversight and supervision of museum collections staff and daily operations, 2) providing leadership to the museum on collections management, 3) the development, implementation, updating, and refinement of operational and strategic plans and policies, 4) the establishment of criteria and written guidelines for collections stewardship.

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

Education can't be substituted for experience at this grade level.

Additional 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.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

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:

Knowledge and ability to strategize, write, and implement guidelines, policies, and procedures for all facets of collections work including the preparation of grant proposals.

Mastery of the knowledge of museum collections management and stewardship principles and practices.

Expert communication skills (both oral and written) to work with staff across NMAH and SI at all levels.

Knowledge and experience in managing staff, setting work expectations, and supervision.

Ability to support organizational goals and objectives in accordance with strategic and/or operations plans.

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 detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

You may for this vacancy.

Required Documents

Your application package should include the following documents:

Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and salary for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position.

For assistance with creating a resume, please click .

Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their Standard Form (SF)-50, “Notice of Personnel Action,” that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. The SF-50 must include your position title, series, grade, step, salary, type of service (competitive or excepted in block 34), and tenure (1 or 2 in block 24). Please provide a SF-50 that shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade level. Examples of appropriate SF50s include: Appointments, Reassignments, Within-grade/range increases or Promotion actions. NOTE: Pay adjustments and award SF-50s do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable SF-50’s on their own. You may need to provide more than one SF-50. 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).

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.