Head of Digital Platforms [Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA]

Description

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the de Young and Legion of Honor) are seeking a Head of Digital Platforms. Working with the Chief Information Officer and Assistant Director Web & Digital Production, the Head of Digital Platforms will establish a vision and implementation strategies for in-house software platforms and public digital engagement with the FAMSF collections and exhibitions. In this role the Head of Digital Platforms will guide the museum through implementation of several new systems. They will work with a variety of content managers, subject matter experts, and end users to determine requirements, draft specifications, and establish project plans that include data migration, maintenance, and feature enhancement roadmaps.

New systems for which this role will be responsible include:

• Expansion of a museum wide intranet.
• Digital Asset Management Systems.
• Museum/Collection Management Systems.

The Head of Digital Platforms additionally has the responsibility of lead software architect and lead developer for the design, development, and maintenance of current web-based applications that access museum data as well as all mobile and in-gallery digital engagement initiatives.

Current maintenance responsibilities include:

• Drupal Content Management System (CMS) for the primary FAMSF website.
• The online retail store.
• Web-based access to images of the museums’ collection.
• A globally-used database for art conservators.
• Development support for integrations with CRM systems (SalesForce).
• Working with Senior Database Administrator to build and maintain special-purpose databases and interfaces for a variety of business applications and their data, including financial (The Financial Edge), museum wide (SalesForce), ticketing (SiruisWare), online communities and collection management (4D).

Typical Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Advises management on the capabilities and limitations of current systems and recommends improvements.
2. Provides high level strategic vision and planning around the digital platforms used by the museum for collection management and digital experiences.
3. Present vision, research, analysis and planning around digital platforms and engagements with the museums to management and board members.
4. Maintaining existing software. Analysis, research, and repair of program logic and systems problems. Development and implementation solutions. Resolution of technical problems with end users in the implementation, maintenance, and modification of complex application programs.
5. Management of additional personnel and contractors for the design, development and testing of digital projects.
6. Plan, analyze, design, and implement a variety of new systems, establishing internal and external controls. Develop procedures for access and retrieval of information. Ensure program designs meet user requirements. Ensure adherence to design/program standards.
7. Manage the hosting environment for the Content Management System.
8. Maintain test and development environments. Orchestrate migration of approved software to production environments.
9. Writes, modifies, and/or runs programs to provide reports and to extract information from museum databases.
10. Provide APIs to museum data and systems for use by external developers and vendors in developing of applications.
11. Analyze and respond to service requests; determining the most cost effective approach and the appropriate staff time required to achieve needed modifications. Recommend appropriate solutions to meet user needs and project requirements.
12. Assist users and other analysts in diagnosing complex program failures. Develop recovery and backup procedures. Detect, identify, and correct software deficiencies.
13. Prepare project plans, time and cost estimates of new projects, and enhancement or changes to existing systems/applications. Coordinate integration into existing systems and procedures.
14. Coordinate and/or attend project team meetings, user meetings as needed.
15. Prepare user and technical manuals and instructions. Instructs users on new capabilities.
16. Research and evaluate new technologies, software, and hardware products. Consults with vendors regarding product functions and features. Recommends software and hardware purchases.

FAMSF offers a competitive salary and generous benefits package.

Application Deadline: Open until filled

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are the city’s largest public arts institutions and comprise the de Young and the Legion of Honor museums. The de Young, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and located in Golden Gate Park, showcases American art from the 17th through the 21st centuries, international contemporary art, textiles and costumes, and art from the Americas, the Pacific, and Africa. The Legion of Honor displays a collection of over 4,000 years of ancient and European art including Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker and houses the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts in a Beaux-Arts style building overlooking Lincoln Park and the Golden Gate Bridge.

COFAM is the Corporation of Fine Arts Museums and is the privately funded non-profit corporation which supports the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, a department of the City and County of San Francisco.

COFAM is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in all phases of employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws.

Requirements

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or a related field.

Work Experience: 5 years of experience in applications programming, with at least 2 years as a senior level programmer, or directly related experience.

Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to work collaboratively in a complex, dynamic environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strategic long range planning around technology choices, feature road maps and project and project management.
• Interest in fine arts and/or museum management.
• Experience in software design, development, and testing.
• Experience with modular architecting software systems.
• Ability to design and execute complex software projects to meet the diverse needs of a various user groups.
• Familiarity or expertise with the current suite of technologies in use at the FAMSF, including Drupal, Java, RDBMS and SQL.
• Expertise with HTML/CSS and current front end web development technologies.
• Affinity for Open Source programming projects.
• Knowledge of Java, Python, Django, Android, iOS development