Vice President of Exhibits [The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA]

The Context

The Tech Museum of Innovation is seeking to fill the position of Vice President of Exhibits.  This role is especially critical for The Tech.  The Tech is in the middle of a capital campaign that involves the renovation of every gallery.  The VP will be called upon to complete the exhibit experiences that are already on the drawing board, and lead the way in developing new experiences.  This position will give the ideal candidate a terrific platform to help set the Tech’s direction and deepening its impact for generations to come.  The Tech seeks to be a game-changer for science centers.  It seeks to become a place that – directly and indirectly – inspires and equips people (especially low income young people) to succeed in a world driven by technology. It seeks to inspire people with the power of technology to benefit humanity. It aspires to be a place people use rather than visit.  New exhibitions should creatively reflect these goals. The Tech needs a VP of Exhibits to help lead the way.

The Role
The role of the VP of Exhibits is to guide the development of exhibit experiences that fulfill The Tech’s mission:  inspiring the innovator in everyone.  As such, the ideal candidate will have experience with, and will be enthusiastic about, creating exhibit experiences that are open-ended, require persistence, and reward collaboration.  These exhibit experiences should focus on the power of people to use technology to solve problems.  They should be robust enough to change lives.

The VP will be called upon to inspire, develop and manage an excellent exhibits team.  The ideal candidate will be an effective coach.  The VP will communicate clearly with the exhibits team, inspiring them to do good work, stay within budgets, collaborate effectively with all other departments, and to meet deadlines.

The VP will also need to work closely with the VP of Education in order to ensure that The Tech’s exhibit experiences are relevant to teachers and families.   The VP must lead the way in creating a collaborative process:  one that encourages early prototyping with the education team, and one that also keeps in mind the needs of the marketing, operations and fundraising teams.

As a key member of The Tech’s leadership team, the VP must have the capacity to manage budgets, engage in organizational goal setting, and address problems collegially, fairly and productively.   The VP must be driven by The Tech’s mission, drawn to its values and inspired by its vision.  The ideal VP will see The Tech’s exhibits in the context of those things, not as ends in themselves.

The ideal candidate will be an effective communicator at every level of the organization.  The VP will need to be comfortable with interacting with The Tech’s Board of Directors.  The ideal VP will also be comfortable with fundraising and will have had prior experience with raising revenue for exhibits.

Qualifications
The demonstrated capacity to fulfill the role described above.
5+ years’ experience working in a museum setting, preferably with both exhibits and education teams.
A great combination of competence, generosity of spirit, toughness, and humility.
B.A. or B.S. from an accredited institution.  Masters or PhD preferred.