Director of Audience Engagement - Full-Time - $66,400 - $75,000 Annually

Are you looking to be part of an innovative team of professionals dedicated to telling South Carolina's diverse stories? As the storytellers of South Carolina, the South Carolina State Museum (SCSM) staff share the rich natural history, cultural diversity, innovative spirit, and artistic creativity of the state through the museum’s permanent collections, educational programs, exhibitions and digital resources.

This is an exciting moment for the State Museum as it embarks on a $75 million dollar Capital Campaign to revolutionize the museum experience for our visitors and expand our educational impact state-wide. This collaborative project will allow the museum to share more of its extensive collection of over 1.1 million objects and specimens and renew over 150,000 square feet of with updated permanent exhibitions and immersive multimedia experiences highlighting the important stories of people and communities throughout South Carolina’s history. Through these new spaces and engaging explorations of objects, the museum will offer our guests the opportunity to connect with each other and the many communities that call our state home. 

The museum is seeking a Director of Audience Engagement. This role, reporting to the Chief Engagement and Content Officer, will oversee the day-to-day aspects of public engagement, volunteer program, and educational programs including the SCSM Planetarium and Observatory. 

Come be a part of our team “reimagining” what the South Carolina State Museum can be for our next generation of visitors, students, and scholars. 

The Director of Audience Engagement leads visioning and tactical planning in direct support of institutional goals and in service to the Museum's audiences. Creates the direction for and supervises the planning and operations of Pre-K-12 education, educator professional development, volunteer management, public programming and the planetarium and observatory. Serves on the Museum's senior executive team. Manages full-time managers and program leads as well as part-time staff, interns, fellows and volunteers. Applies innovative solutions to make organizational improvements and formulates effective strategies for the Audience Engagement team and the Museum. 

Job Responsibilities: 

EDUCATIONAL "PROGRAMS AND PRODUCTS: Oversees the development, implementation and evaluation of Pre-K 12 programs and products. This includes online teacher resources: in-person field trips, virtual programming and teacher professional development, outreach, public programming and planetarium and observatory operations. 

STAFF MANAGEMENT: Supervises a department that includes full and part-time staff, fellow(s), interns, and volunteers. Establishes responsibilities, goals and priorities. Provides training and oversight of good customer service within the department’s responsibilities in service to the Museum's audiences. Departmental goals and priorities are developed with staff and are communicated and reinforced regularly. Departmental work and opportunities are distributed equitably and in alignment with staff positions/levels. Annual performance plans are consistent with position descriptions and plans, mid-year reviews and appraisals are realistic, specific, measurable, reflect employee input, directly support SCSM goals and are completed on time. Staff are held accountable and are recognized for their performance and conduct consistently and fairly. Staff have the resources and support to do their jobs effectively. Provides reasonable accommodations as appropriate. Ensures that the department is an ethical, positive and respectful environment, free of favoritism, harassment, and unsafe conditions. 

STRATEGIC PLANNING: Member of the Museum’s Senior Executive Team reporting to the Chief Content and Engagement Officer. Employee works with and receives direct supervisory guidance from the Chief Engagement and Content Officer to develop strategic plans for audience education and engagement aligned with museum strategic aims and priorities. Employee supervises and has decision-making authority for day-to-day management of the education and engagement programs and team. Employee works in close collaboration with the Director, Curatorial Affairs, and the Director, Collections Management as senior leaders of the museum’s Engagement and Content Department. Creates and manages budgets and effectively uses internal and external resources to inform planning. Communicates and coordinates planning with other SCSM departments and external partner organizations to leverage resources, build partnerships and secure funding. Planning includes research and evaluation to ensure that initiatives and products are audience appropriate, decisions and practices maximize ROI, content is accurate, and outputs meet accredited museum standards. Departmental goals and products are developed and implemented in compliance with all SC state and SCSM policies and processes. Contributes to the stewardship of key stakeholders for the Museum and Foundation. 

EXHIBITION INTERPRETATION: Oversees interpretive planning and educational content of exhibitions. Serves as a member of the Exhibition Development Team and on specific exhibitions as interpretive planner as assigned, overseeing appropriate audience engagement strategies, ties to Pre-K-12 SC State Educational Standards, and accessibility best practice. 

VOLUNTEER PROGRAM: Oversees the volunteer program for the museum, including development and implementation of recruiting, training, scheduling, evaluation and recognition. Ensures that volunteer programs and activities support the educational goals and priorities of the museum. Works collaboratively with the Human Resources Department Representative(s) to ensure volunteer management procedures align with SCSM and State HR policies and procedures.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in education, museum studies, management or related field
• 5-7 years of supervisory experience in a museum or other educational/cultural organization.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Knowledge of best practice and current trends in informal education, audience development, educational technology and programming, accessibility in a museum/educational setting
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of management and organizational concepts.
• Ability to analyze needs and resources
• Ability to recommend and communicate solutions effectively.
• Must be able to work some weekends and evenings.
• Must be able to travel overnight.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds

Preferred Qualifications:

• A Master’s, Ed.D, or PH.D. in education or an academic discipline related to Museum content.

Additional Comments:

• Must possess excellent organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to exercise judgement and discretion in applying and interpreting policies and procedures.
• Experience problem solving and priority-setting.
• Knowledge of management and organizational concepts.
• Ability to analyze needs and resources
• Ability to recommend and communicate solutions effectively.