VICE PRESIDENT - MUSEUM

Vice President - Museum

The Vice President of Museum provides executive leadership for the museum experience, ensuring the U.S. Space & Rocket Center delivers engaging, educational, and mission-aligned experiences for guests while safeguarding the institution's collections, archives, exhibitions, and planetarium programming.

This role oversees Museum Visitor Services, Planetarium, Exhibition Management, and Collections and Archives. The Vice President of Museum leads cross-functional museum strategy, operational execution, exhibit development, guest engagement, collections stewardship, and interpretive planning in alignment with the Center's mission, strategic plan, and standards of excellence.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative, data-informed executive leader with strong museum management experience, sound judgment, financial acumen, and the ability to translate institutional vision into high-quality visitor experiences and sustainable museum operations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide executive leadership for the museum division, including Museum Visitor Services, Planetarium, Exhibition Management, and Collections and Archives.
• Develop and implement museum strategies that advance the Center's mission, improve the guest experience, strengthen educational impact, and support long-term institutional growth.
• Lead planning and execution for new, refreshed, and traveling exhibitions, with emphasis on compelling storytelling, accessibility, visitor flow, interactivity, and operational sustainability.
• Ensure museum programs, exhibitions, planetarium experiences, and interpretive activities reflect high standards of scholarship, guest engagement, safety, and mission alignment.
• Use data, financial analysis, audience feedback, and operational metrics to guide priorities, allocate resources, improve performance, and enhance the visitor experience.
• Collaborate with executive leadership, Education, Marketing, Facilities, Development, Finance, and external partners to align museum initiatives with institutional priorities.
• Represent the museum with internal and external stakeholders, including the Smithsonian Institution, aerospace partners, donors, community organizations, peer museums, and professional associations.

Museum Visitor Services

• Oversee the visitor-facing museum experience, ensuring consistent, welcoming, safe, and engaging service from arrival through departure.
• Establish and monitor service standards, operating procedures, staffing models, training expectations, and performance goals for visitor services functions.
• Support ticketing, admissions, guest wayfinding, docent and volunteer engagement, crowd flow, accessibility, and front-of-house coordination.
• Partner with Facilities, Security, Exhibit Maintenance, and other operational teams to ensure public spaces, exhibits, and guest pathways are clean, functional, safe, and visitor-ready.
• Work with Marketing and Membership teams to support admissions initiatives, visitor communications, promotions, and audience development.

Planetarium

• Provide executive oversight for the planetarium, ensuring programming is educational, engaging, scientifically accurate, and aligned with the Center's mission.
• Guide the development of planetarium programming, special presentations, collaborations, and revenue-generating opportunities that enhance STEM education and visitor engagement.
• Ensure planetarium operations are properly staffed, scheduled, maintained, and supported by appropriate training and professional development.
• Support technology planning, equipment maintenance, system upgrades, and capital planning necessary to sustain a high-quality planetarium experience.
• Coordinate with Education, Marketing, and museum leadership to promote planetarium offerings and integrate them into the broader guest experience.

Exhibition Management

• Provide strategic direction for exhibition planning, design, fabrication, installation, maintenance, evaluation, and deinstallation.
• Lead cross-functional coordination among curatorial, creative, education, facilities, marketing, collections, and operations teams to deliver high-quality exhibitions on time and within budget.
• Oversee exhibit content development and interpretive planning to ensure exhibitions are accurate, engaging, inclusive, accessible, and aligned with institutional priorities.
• Establish project management practices, schedules, budgets, and decision-making structures for exhibition development and implementation.
• Assess exhibition performance through visitor feedback, attendance data, maintenance needs, educational impact, and operational outcomes.

Collections and Archives

• Provide executive oversight for collections and archives stewardship, ensuring responsible care, documentation, preservation, access, and interpretation of institutional assets.
• Support policies and practices related to acquisitions, loans, deaccessions, conservation, registration, archival management, and collections documentation.
• Ensure collections and archives work is aligned with applicable museum standards, donor expectations, legal requirements, and Smithsonian Affiliate responsibilities.
• Promote appropriate access to collections and archives for exhibitions, research, education, public programs, digital initiatives, and institutional storytelling.
• Partner with Development and executive leadership on donor relations, artifact-related opportunities, grants, sponsorships, and strategic collections initiatives.

Leadership, Budgeting, and Collaboration

• Direct, mentor, and evaluate senior museum leaders, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, professionalism, innovation, and guest-centered service.
• Lead annual planning, budgeting, forecasting, procurement, and resource allocation for assigned museum functions.
• Identify operational risks, staffing needs, capital priorities, and process improvements, and recommend practical solutions to the CEO and executive leadership team.
• Communicate clearly with staff, executive leadership, board members, visitors, donors, industry partners, and community stakeholders.
• Champion the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's commitment to education, innovation, preservation, and the celebration of human space exploration.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

The Vice President of Museum holds executive-level supervisory responsibility for assigned museum functions. Direct reports include Museum Operations, Planetarium, Museum Creative Director, and Curator. The role is responsible for aligning these teams around strategic priorities, operational excellence, fiscal responsibility, guest experience, exhibition quality, and collections stewardship.

Travel Requirements:

This role may require occasional travel for industry conferences, professional development, partnership meetings, donor or stakeholder engagement, exhibition planning, collections-related work, and business development opportunities. Travel may also be necessary to collaborate with Smithsonian affiliates, aerospace industry leaders, peer institutions, and other museum professionals to advance the strategic initiatives of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

Qualifications

Required Education:

• Bachelor's degree in museum studies, public history, history, science, education, business administration, nonprofit management, hospitality management, or a related field. Graduate degree preferred.

Required Experience:

• At least five (5) years of high-level museum management experience, preferably in a leadership role within a high-traffic museum, science center, cultural institution, visitor attraction, or related public-facing organization.
• Ten (10) or more years of progressive senior leadership experience in museum operations, visitor services, exhibition management, collections, archives, planetarium operations, education, guest experience, or related institutional leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and align creative, curatorial, operational, educational, and guest-facing functions around shared strategic goals.
• Experience overseeing budgets, revenue and expense management, forecasting, procurement, contracts, project timelines, and operational performance metrics.
• Knowledge of museum standards and best practices related to visitor experience, exhibition development, collections care, archives, interpretation, accessibility, and safety.
• Strong strategic planning, problem-solving, analytical, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage complex priorities in a dynamic environment.
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, including the ability to engage effectively with executive leadership, staff, board members, donors, partners, vendors, and the public.
• Experience working with or within Smithsonian Affiliates, science museums, aerospace organizations, or STEM-focused institutions is preferred.
• Passion for space exploration, science, education, history, and public engagement is strongly preferred.

Other Requirements:

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to stand, walk, and move throughout the facility for extended periods.
• Occasionally lift and carry up to 25 pounds for operational needs.
• May involve climbing stairs, bending, stooping, and reaching as necessary for inspections, event setup, exhibition oversight, collections-related reviews, and overall operational leadership.
• Role requires flexibility to work