Chief Operating Officer (Atlanta)

High Museum of Art is pleased to partner with DRG to conduct this search.

Background

Located in the heart of Atlanta, the High Museum of Art is acclaimed for its extensive and diverse programming, and its commitment to accessibility and engagement. With more than 300,000 square feet of light-filled spaces designed by noted architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, and a growing collection that exceeds 19,000 items, the High Museum is widely recognized as the Southeast’s leading art museum. As the High approaches its 100th anniversary in October 2026, the Museum continues to gain national and global recognition.

Guided by Director Rand Suffolk and an exceptional team and Board of Directors, the High strives to provide exhibitions and educational programs that challenge and inspire the Museum’s diverse audience of regional and global visitors.

To support the Museum as it continues to strive for excellence, the High seeks a Chief Operating Officer (COO) with strong operational, logistic, and partnership building skills to help guide the impact of the leading cultural institution of the American South. The COO will operationalize the Museum’s commitment to providing access to dynamic and compelling visual art and programming for all.

About the High Museum of Art

The Museum has been intentional about listening to feedback from the Atlanta community while seeking to captivate both the High’s local and global audiences. Since 2018, the Museum leadership has added nearly five thousand objects to the permanent collection, intentionally acquiring works that reflect the High’s current and prospective audiences.

The organizational values of Inclusivity, Collaboration, Connectivity, and Growth inform the High’s engagement with patrons, the thoughtfulness of its exhibitions, and its internal culture. This framework is grounded in a commitment to Atlanta’s diverse community.

Working closely with the Director and other senior leaders, the COO will be charged with developing the systems that support the work of the High Museum, allowing the High to fully engage in its purpose and commitments to Atlanta and beyond.

The Opportunity

The COO will be a leader of integrity, entrusted with overarching operational responsibilities. Strategic and tactical, fluent in data and trends, the COO will play a significant role in the High’s growth and scaling. The COO will be the thought leader in organizational matters, leading efforts for process improvements. The Chief Operating Officer will be a skilled communicator and convener, facilitating collaboration that supports the Museum’s path forward.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop a strong, effective partnership with the Director that ensures strategic, anticipatory management of the Museum and its programs.
• In consultation with the Director, forge and implement the museum’s long and short-range strategic planning efforts to develop multi-year budgets, evaluate progress of museum activity against established goals and relevant benchmarks, and ensure plans are revised and updated as necessary to respond to market conditions.
• Seek out and bring best practices of museum strategic operations to ensure the continual improvement of the High.
• In tandem with the Director and CFO, institute rigorous, best-in-class processes in budgeting and financial planning and analysis, cost management, program improvement metrics and/or policy changes. Create strong integration and collection of data and lead a cross-departmental team to understand how data can be used strategically to meet revenue and programmatic goals.
• Optimize technology across the organization to enhance and streamline museum-wide workflow and identify technological solutions to automate and/or improve finance and accounting functions.
• Guide senior leadership in designing and integrating strategic, multi-year planning and goal setting to achieve desired results and support the High’s objectives.
• Provide proactive, creative and effective leadership around increased earned revenue, ensuring the maximum financial contribution of all revenue-generating activities of the High including the store, rental activities, admissions, membership and parking operations while reflecting the institution’s mission and high standards.
• Serve as a strategic partner to the Chief Financial Officer to interpret budget strategies and short and long-term goals into operation and program expenditure budgets as well as collaborate on reforecasting and refining multi-year philanthropic revenue projections.
• Lead the Director of People Success to support and enhance human capital management efforts around staffing, training and overall organizational culture.
• Ensure that all operational aspects of the High are aligned with overall objectives and reflect the institution’s core artistic and educational values; uphold high standards for integrity, accuracy, productivity, professionalism and cooperation in the workplace.
• Implement and streamline process optimization and role definition, positioning the museum more appropriately for sustainable growth.
• Expand applied data to introduce management analytics at all levels.

The ideal candidate possesses the following professional and personal qualities, skills and characteristics:

• Professional Experience: The COO will have at least 10 years as a senior operations or administrative leader in an organization of similar size and budget.
• Operational Acumen: The COO will be a tactical visionary and creative finance leader with strong quantitative and analytical skills. The COO will transition seamlessly between the “big picture” and minutiae. This leader will bring a high level of intellectual enterprise with a collaborative, creative and service-oriented mindset.
• Organizational Efficiency: The COO will proactively bring innovative ideas to the Director around identifying and implementing new earned revenue opportunities that fit within the mission. The COO must have proven experience in budgeting, strategic forecasting and planning, and in overseeing the risk management of a complex organization. The COO will be skilled at presenting information in a clear, confident fashion to a range of constituents with varying levels of expertise.
• Building Relationships and Leading Through Influence: The COO will have strong executive presence, engender confidence and lead with authority. The COO will be skilled at quickly establishing rapport and cultivating relationships across all levels of the organization and with Board members. Highly articulate and a deft communicator, the COO will easily convey the High’s successes and opportunities with passion and intensity in written and verbal formats in both formal and informal situations.
• Trusted Partner: The COO will foster trust and collaboration among team members and possess the ability to manage through change with flexibility and poise. This leader is an individual with unquestioned integrity, ethics and values; someone who can be trusted with highly confidential and sensitive information.
• Results-oriented: The COO will have the skills to provide leadership for a new institutional chapter following a period of significant growth. As the key strategic partner to the Director, the COO will be a sound problem solver with excellent reasoning skills, able to conceptualize and analyze problems and solutions in a proactive, constructive, creative manner that will result in improved performance across the organization.
• Passion for the Mission: The COO will bring a passion for the work of the High. This is a leader who understands, and embraces, how the financial and operations functions of the High align to support the museum’s mission.

How We Work

Organizational Structure

The Chief Operating Officer reports to the Director of the High Museum of Art. The COO is part of the senior leadership team which includes the Deputy Director of Philanthropy, the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Communications Officer, Chief Curator, Deputy Director of Collections and Exhibitions, and the Eleanor McDonald Storza Deputy Director for Learning and Civic Engagement. The COO maintains strong collaborative relationships across the Woodruff Arts Center and works closely with the High Museum’s Board of Directors.

The COO oversees the engineering and security teams for The Woodruff Arts Center campus.

The COO role will be expected to work on-site at the High Museum in midtown Atlanta. The team can work remotely one day a week, either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

$275,000 - $300,000 based on experience.

• The High Museum of Art offers a competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial security, and work-life balance, including:
• Generous paid time off, including holidays, vacation, personal days, and sick days.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• Life insurance, short- and long-term disability,
• Employee Assistance Program 403(b) retirement

Timeline and Next Steps