Museum Curator

Summary You will serve as a Museum Curator with the National Park Service Intermountain Region, Flagstaff Area National Monuments Division of Resource Management located in Flagstaff AZ. This is a Career/Career-Conditional appointment with a full-time work schedule. All applications submitted by 11:59 (EST) on the closing day will receive consideration. Responsibilities Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Oversees all museum operations, establishes program priorities, and ensures that activities comply with National Park Service (NPS) and professional standards. The collections managed may span a range of disciplines, including archeology, ethnology, history, archives, biology, geology, and paleontology. Acts on behalf of the superintendent regarding museum-related matters and maintains effective relationships with relevant groups, agencies, individuals, and the public. Participates in professional and management events to exchange information and promote stewardship of the park. Provides consultation to park divisions and, when appropriate, engages with cultural groups such as tribes to ensure compliance with applicable laws, NPS policies, and preservation requirements. Develops and implements museum programs and plans in accordance with NPS accountability requirements, including NPS-28, NPS-77, the NPS Museum Handbook, and other relevant guidance. Collaborates with cultural and natural resource personnel to address compliance and preservation issues involving historic structures, archeological sites, and natural resources. Contributes to documentation and planning under Section 106 and Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and related NPS policies. Conducts collections research as needed. Reviews staff projects, recommends approvals to park managers, and assists other units with collections management issues. Negotiates cooperative and interagency agreements and serves as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for related projects. Develops plans, schedules, project statements, scopes of work, cost estimates, and funding proposals. Tracks expenditures and prepares accomplishment reports. Recommends acquisitions consistent with the scope of collections statement and available funding, encourages donations, and deaccessions unneeded holdings in accordance with NPS policy. Accessions and catalogs objects, verifies collection records, conducts annual inventories, and maintains required documentation. Maintains collections data in Service-wide systems, prepares reports, provides reference services, and analyzes inventory and monitoring information. Oversees collection use for research, loans, and reference services; enforces applicable policies and evaluates research requests. Works with the records manager to classify official and unofficial records and directs management of park archives, including maps, photographs, plans, data, papers, and resource records. Conducts scholarly, technical, and applied research to expand knowledge, support preservation, and fulfill educational and public service responsibilities. Research products may include articles, reports, exhibit materials, labels, publications, and responses to public inquiries. Research museum objects to establish identification, authenticity, catalog information, dates, provenance, historical and scientific data, legal information, and preservation requirements. Supports visitor services and develops interpretive and educational programs utilizing museum collections. Supports curatorial training programs, develops and teaches courses, and participates in professional meetings and seminars related to museums and historic preservation. Requirements Conditions of Employment Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service. Direct Deposit participation required. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit You are required to wear a uniform and comply with uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided. You may be required to travel overnight away from home occasionally. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes. You may be required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority. You may be required to travel overnight away from home. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes. You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work. Probationary Period: As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probation period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest. This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Additional Requirements located under qualifications Qualifications Requirements Continued... Qualifications: All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 10/29/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications: Basic Educational Requirement AND Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying. Individual Occupational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following: Degree: Museum work; or in an applicable subject-matter field. You must submit transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. -OR- Experience: 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. To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to: accessioning and cataloging objects related to significant historical events, annual inventorying of collections, providing recommendations for long term preservation, recommending acquisitions according to the scope of collections, or maintaining information in a collections management database. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- Education: Successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. You must include transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience as listed above. To combine experience and education, first take the number of months of full-time work experience and divide by 12. Multiply the resulting decimal by 100. Then take the number of graduate credit hours completed and divide by 18. Multiply the resulting decimal by 100. Add the two percentages together, they must equal or exceed 100 percent. You must include hours per week and transcripts. Volunteer 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. Education This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: Additional Information Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement. A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected. The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay. All DOI employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, or other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. Additional ethics prohibitions can be found here, DOI Ethics Prohibitions | U.S. Department of the Interior. Physical Demands: The work requires mental alertness, better than average manual dexterity, and mobility. Although primarily sedentary, inspections and operations evaluations involve activities demanding a certain amount of exertion such as walking, climbing, crawling, lifting of heavy objects, bending, stooping, and reaching. Working with collections can involve prolonged exposure to hazardous materials and equipment. Working with lighting systems, environmental control systems, and alarm systems can involve exposure to electrical current and the use of power tools with physical hazards. Work entails the ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Work environment: Most of the work is performed in an office and storage or laboratory facility. Frequent visits are made to the library, visitor center, and other museums in the park. The incumbent makes occasional field trips to the backcountry. Some travel to other facilities and museums, as well as to training and professional meetings is required. The duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.