The National Center for Civil and Human Rights

Chief Operations Officer

Atlanta, GA

Salary: $175,000 - $200,000

BACKGROUND

The Organization

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is a museum and cultural institution dedicated to advancing civil and human rights through exhibitions, education, dialogue, and civic engagement.

Located in downtown Atlanta, the birthplace of the civil rights movement, the Center connects the history of civil rights in America to today's global human rights challenges, inviting visitors to understand their own role in shaping a more just future.

After a $58.7 million expansion, including two new wings, the Center reopened in November 2025 with six new galleries, one updated gallery, a café and 50% more programming and event rental space. The expansion substantially increased the Center's physical footprint, programming capacity, and potential reach. The next challenge is to translate those assets into sustained audience growth, earned revenue, exceptional visitor experiences, and stronger institutional performance.

As the Center enters its next chapter, we are seeking an entrepreneurial, analytical and experienced Chief Operations Officer (COO) to lead this work.

The Position

The Chief Operations Officer (COO) is responsible for translating the Center’s vision and strategy into an integrated operating plan that drives admissions, earned revenue, audience engagement, and organizational performance.

The COO serves as the organization's chief integrator. Reporting directly to the President & CEO, the COO provides executive leadership for the Center's visitor-facing operations, and aligns Education, Exhibitions, Public Programming, Visitor Experience, Admissions, Membership, and Group Sales around a coherent audience strategy. The COO owns the Center's attendance and visitor-related revenue goals and uses data and audience insights to drive decisions and accountability.

This is a hands-on leadership role. A successful candidate will be equally comfortable developing an institutional strategy, examining a sales pipeline or attendance dashboard, working with staff to solve an operating problem, and holding teams accountable for results.

The COO partners closely with the:

• Chief Administrative Officer, who oversees our finance and budget, event space rental, facilities, security and administrative operations;
• Chief Marketing Officer, who leads brand, communications and marketing execution;
• Chief Development Officer, who leads fundraising and resource development; and
• President & CEO, who leads institutional strategy, external affairs and overall organizational direction.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Strategy & Organizational Performance

• Translate strategic priorities into operational plans with clear ownership, timelines, measures of success, and accountability across departments.

• ·       Ensure staff in Education, Exhibitions, Visitor Experience, Programming, Admissions, Membership, and Group Sales operate together to ensure an integrated audience development strategy
• ·       Partner closely with the Chief Marketing Officer to translate attendance goals and audience priorities into marketing plans.
• ·       Monitor organizational performance against objectives and recommend course corrections as needed.
• ·       Lead cross-functional initiatives that require coordination among multiple departments and oversee project management for major institutional initiatives.

Attendance Growth & Revenue Strategy

• ·       Develop and execute strategies to significantly increase annual admissions-related earned revenue.
• ·       Lead initiatives that drive individual and group admissions, memberships, educational visits, and attendance at engaging public events.
• ·       Build a high-performing admissions and sales culture with clear pipelines, targets, ownership and accountability.
• ·       Develop and continually refine pricing, packaging, promotions and audience-conversion strategies.

Programming & Audience Development

• Lead the development of public programs, signature events and seasonal offerings that advance the mission while attracting and engaging audiences.
• Ensure that education programs and resources effectively serve schools, teachers, students and other priority audiences.

·       Partner on exhibition planning to ensure that audience, operational, financial and visitor-experience considerations inform exhibition development and maintenance. NOTE:  The Center has a Director of Curation; the COO is not a curatorial role. 

Data, Analytics & Business Intelligence

• ·       Develop and oversee the Center's enterprise approach to data, analytics, and organizational performance. Ensure data integrity and consistent reporting across departments.
• ·       Establish key performance indicators across attendance, earned revenue, visitor experience, and education and ensure data systems provide an integrated picture of organizational performance, with consistent and reliable reporting across departments.

• Use audience research, segmentation and performance data to identify opportunities and diagnose underperformance.

• ·       Foster a culture where decisions are informed by evidence, visitor insights, and measurable outcomes.
  

Partnerships & External Engagement

• Ensure the team builds strategic relationships with schools, universities, tourism organizations, corporations, hotels, convention and hospitality partners, nonprofit organizations and community institutions.

• ·       Represent the Center with civic leaders, business partners, and key stakeholders.
• ·       Identify partnerships and new opportunities for collaborations that increase awareness of the Center’s offerings, attendance, and earned revenue.

Leadership & Team Development

• Build, motivate and develop high-performing, cohesive teams.
• Set clear expectations and hold staff accountable for measurable results.
• Assess organizational capabilities and strengthen teams where necessary.
• Coach and develop staff while addressing underperformance directly and promptly.
• Recruit excellent talent and build the systems and culture necessary for that talent to succeed.
• Model collaboration, urgency, sound judgment and disciplined execution.
• Be visible and engaged in the day-to-day life of the Center, including regular interaction with visitor-facing staff and operations.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

Qualifications

·       10+ years of progressive executive leadership experience.

·       Demonstrated success increasing attendance, visitors, or consumer engagement in a museum, cultural institution, attraction, performing arts venue, or comparable consumer-facing enterprise.

·       Proven experience leading revenue-generating teams.

·       Keen understanding of earned income for nonprofit organizations.

·       Strong financial and operational management skills.

·       Experience leading complex organizations through change and growth.

·       Excellent leadership, communication, and relationship-building skills.

·       Experience using data and analytics to drive strategic decision-making.

·       Experience measuring impact using key performance indicators (KPIs) and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

·       Passion for civil and human rights and a commitment to creating a welcoming environment for staff and visitors.

Leadership Skills

·       Mission-driven and commercially minded.

·       Entrepreneurial and innovative.

·       Decisive and highly accountable.

·       Collaborative.

·       Comfortable using data to make decisions.

·       Experienced in building high-performing teams.

WHO WE ARE

Work Environment

This is a hybrid position with in-person requirements of 3-4 days per week.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Salary

The salary range for this role is $175,000 - $200,000.

Benefits

·       Medical

·       Dental

·       Vision

·       Disability

·       Life Insurance

·       FSA

·       HSA

·       Voluntary Benefits

·       401(k)

·       Paid Holidays & Paid Leave

·       Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

TIMELINE AND NEXT STEPS

If you are interested in this position, please click here. All applicants will receive an email confirming receipt of their application.

We encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply even if you do not meet all of the qualifications outlined above. If you are selected to move forward for an initial screening call, we expect you to hear from us by the end of October.

Sherry Ettleson

Principal

settleson@drgconsulting.com

Submit an application HERE:  http://drgtalent.com