Senior Social Media Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Reporting to the Assistant Director, Digital Content, the Senior Social Media Manager leads the Whitney Museum of American Art's organic social media strategy, editorial direction, and community engagement across current and emerging platforms. 

This role translates exhibitions, programs, institutional priorities, and the life of the Museum into platform-native storytelling while proactively identifying the conversations, formats, collaborators, and cultural moments in which the Whitney should participate. The Senior Social Media Manager originates ideas and sets the social content agenda. 

The Senior Social Media Manager role owns social editorial planning, publishing, community management, channel development, and performance analysis. In partnership with our in-house creative team, the Senior Social Media Manager develops briefs and provides channel-specific direction for planned video and photography, while independently producing reactive and same-day social content when appropriate. The role requires strong editorial judgment, cultural fluency, audience insight, and the ability to operate confidently in high-visibility, fast-moving, and occasionally sensitive public contexts. 

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the Whitney's organic social media strategy, establishing clear objectives, editorial approaches, audience priorities, and measures of success for each platform.
• Regularly assess where the Museum should invest, experiment, scale back, or stop investing based on audience behavior and institutional goals. 
• Originate recurring formats, social-first series, event and live coverage, creator collaborations, and other editorial concepts.
• Own the social editorial calendar and prioritization process.
• Translate curatorial, artistic, and educational material into clear, compelling, platform-native storytelling without compromising accuracy, context, or artist intent. 
• Develop social briefs for planned video and photography produced in partnership with Creative.
• Establish and manage a clear cross-departmental process for sourcing, shaping, evaluating, and prioritizing social content, while proactively identifying stories and contributors.
• Exercise real-time judgment in publishing, engagement, and response on behalf of the Museum, including during high-traffic, high-sensitivity, or rapidly evolving moments. 
• Lead community management and moderation strategy
• Build and maintain relationships with artists, creators, community partners, cultural voices, and internal experts
• Identify, brief, and manage external creators, freelancers, and production support in coordination with the Assistant Director, Digital Content and other appropriate internal partners. 
• Partner with Marketing on integrated campaigns so that organic audience insight informs paid strategy and campaign assets function effectively across paid and owned environments. Use quantitative and qualitative performance data to guide editorial decisions, test new approaches, and make recommendations to Digital Content and Communications leadership.
• Actively engage with the Whitney’s audience, fostering meaningful interaction and dialogue. 
• Monitor, analyze, and interpret social media performance metrics, audience behavior and cultural trends and produce regular social media and social listening report.
• Stay up to date on emerging social media trends, new platforms and channels, industry developments, and research
• Produce regular reporting and insights for Digital Content and Communications leadership, highlighting opportunities, risks, and emerging patterns. 

• Regularly meet with Office of People and Culture /Labor Relations Director to take part in confidential meetings about the Museum’s collective bargaining with regards to allall unions representing Museum staff. Receives the Museum’s bargaining strategy, proposals and positions before they are shared with unions to develop the related communications strategy, including social media strategy, as well as internal communications, and providing expertise on communications strategy regarding negotiations and messaging proposals. 

• Direct supervision of the Digital Imaging Manager, including responsibility for work assignment and oversight, recruitment and hiring, performance management, professional development, and all other related personnel functions.

Background Requirements 

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent 
• Social media, digital marketing, or content development 
• 5-8 years' experience 

Specific Knowledge Ability and/or Skills 

• Portfolio demonstrating strong editorial judgment, platform-native storytelling, audience growth, and effective short-form video.
• Excellent writing and editing skills, with a strong command of voice, tone, and narrative structure.
• Creative, strategic thinker
• Team player who can work collaboratively with stakeholders across the Museum
• Experience with social publishing, analytics, and listening tools such as Sprout Social, Meltwater, or comparable platforms.
• Experience briefing creative teams, producers, creators, or freelancers against channel-specific goals.
• Ability to learn, work, and grow within a fast-paced, challenging environment
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Understanding of the social media ecosystem
• Experience with scheduling and reporting tools, e.g., Sprout Social, and social listening software, e.g., Meltwater
• Experience with photography, photo editing, video editing, and Adobe Photoshop a plus
• Interest in and knowledge of the arts, particularly modern and contemporary American art
• Experience supervising staff
• Able to handle sensitive and confidential information
• Strong understanding of how brand and identity systems adapt across platforms and formats

Confidentiality 
The Senior Social Media Manager has access to information about special events, upcoming Museum initiatives, and Museum financial and collective bargaining positions and negotiations strategy and is expected to exercise discretion and sound judgment in all public-facing digital communications.

Compensation & Benefits 

• Fixed compensation of $95,000-100,000 per annum
• Medical, Dental, Vision, 403(B) elections
• Generous PTO benefits
• Commuter benefits - parking and mass transit
• Admission to world-renowned museums across the city and nationally
• Pet insurance and discounted membership for Citibike

If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are dedicated to considering a broad array of candidates. Whether you’re new to arts and culture administration, returning to work after a gap in employment, simply looking to transition, or take the next step in your career path, we will be glad to have you on our radar. Please use your cover letter to tell us about your interest in the arts and culture space and what you hope to bring to this role. 

About the Whitney
The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for 86 years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists themselves, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today.

EEO Statement
The Whitney Museum of American Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Museum does not discriminate because of age, sex, religion, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, partnership status, veteran status, gender (including gender identity), sexual orientation, or any other factor prohibited by law. The Museum hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. The Museum encourages all qualified candidates to apply for vacant positions at all levels. This description shall not be construed as a contract of any sort for a specific period of employment.
Job Posting Updated October 13, 2026

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