Current Opportunities

The Jewish Museum:

The Jewish Museum serves people of all religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds through world-class art exhibitions ranging from ancient to contemporary. Founded in 1904 and located on New York City's Museum Mile, the Jewish Museum aspires to be the global leader at the center of Jewish culture.

The Museum maintains a unique collection of nearly 30,000 works of art, ceremonial objects, and media reflecting the global Jewish experience over more than 4,000 years. The Museum's thought-provoking, innovative, and intellectually stimulating exhibitions and education programs serve a wide range of audiences, including families, teens, students, educators, and visitors with disabilities. As an identity-based institution, the Museum plays an important role among cultural institutions, challenging all forms of bigotry and discrimination and promoting understanding among wide audiences. The Jewish Museum invites applicants of all backgrounds to consider joining the Museum in its work.

The Jewish Museum is committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all and to promoting a positive work culture that celebrates difference, challenges prejudice, and ensures fairness. Integrity, collegiality, and excellence are central to the Museum's values. These values, along with an institution-wide commitment to Diversity, Equity, Access & Inclusion (DEAI), are embedded in the Museum's strategic plan and will be the focus of a comprehensive DEAI action plan, of which the Chief of Staff will be an essential steward.

The Position:

The Jewish Museum seeks an entrepreneurial Chief of Staff to serve as a trusted right-hand to the Director, enabling her to efficiently manage a wide range of priorities and constituents, including internal and external stakeholders, the Jewish Museum Board of Trustees, staff, funders and external partners. This is a highly strategic and facilitative role that requires excellent written and verbal communication skills, natural self-motivation, flexibility, strong analytical ability, and the highest level of attention to detail.

The ideal candidate will be able to anticipate needs and directives before they arise and ensure that the Director is well prepared for each day and its unique set of challenges/opportunities. In addition to all-encompassing support of the Director, this is a highly collaborative role in which the ideal Chief of Staff will nurture trusting, communicative relationships with the other members of senior staff and serve as a clarifying presence in a complex environment.

Responsibilities Include:
The job duties of this position are fluid and evolving, but generally encompass the following primary responsibilities:

1) Preparing and facilitating critical path meetings. These include face-to-face meetings and calls with Trustees, donors, the senior leadership team, and other internal and external stakeholders. The Chief of Staff is responsible for ensuring the Director’s time is leveraged effectively, by engaging the right participants, setting the agenda, and ensuring the Director is well prepared.

2) Proactively identifying issues and supporting effective communication. The Chief of Staff elevates issues about which the Director should be aware, and, conversely, represents the Director’s position in a myriad of contexts. By keeping both the Director and senior leaders informed of issues and initiatives, the Chief of Staff plays a critical role in the efficient flow of information across the Museum.

3) Drafting communications on behalf of the Director. The Chief of Staff must be a skilled and direct writer who can emulate the Director’s “voice” for a large volume of communications, including remarks at special events, meeting talking points, and materials for various speaking engagements involving internal and external audiences.

4) Serving as Board Liaison. The Chief of Staff will get to know each of the Museum’s Trustees and will ensure that the needs of Trustees are handled with utmost care and big-picture view. The Chief of Staff plays a leading role in ensuring that Trustees stay properly informed and in preparing Board ofTrustee and Board committee meetings, including helping to set engaging agendas, coordinating speakers, managing content and materials, and with the Director’s Executive Assistant, ensuring that Board meetings and events are properly scheduled, handled and attended.

5) Facilitating special Director-initiated projects. While many Director-initiated projects will find homes among the division leaders and their staffs, others will more appropriately reside within the office of the Director and be facilitated by the Chief of Staff. Projects may range from overseeing a Board retreat, to convening thought leaders on various cultural and curatorial initiatives, to supporting critical building initiatives relating to capital campaign planning.

6) Tracking and monitoring progress related to the Museum’s Strategic Plan and Diversity, Equity, Access & Inclusion (DEAI) Plan. The Museum has just finished a strategic planning process, which outlines the Museum’s priorities over the next 3-5 years. The Museum is also in the process of finalizing a DEAI Plan, which contains goals, timelines and deliverables across all areas of the Museum. The Chief of Staff will play a critical role in the success of these plans, by ensuring that Departments stay on track and that key stakeholders stay informed and aware of progress and obstacles to progress.

7) Overseeing Museum-wide metrics. The Chief of Staff will be responsible for monitoring success metrics across departments on a monthly basis, compiling a visual “dashboard” summary that allows the Museum to effectively benchmark its goals.

Qualifications and Core Competencies:

● 10+ years relevant work experience, ideally in a nonprofit or cultural organization with an understanding of corporate governance protocols and the overall cultural landscape

●Highly-developed communications skills (written/verbal), with an ability to work effectively with a highly visual thinker

● Capacity for intuitive, idea-based planning as well as data-driven implementation and analysis

● A desire to attend Museum and industry events, which may include occasional evenings and weekends

● Ability to successfully navigate multiple priorities within a fast-paced environment

● Unquestionable ethics, integrity, and trust

● A good sense of humor and a calm demeanor under pressure

● Knowledge of the art world is desirable

Send Resume with Cover Letter To:
Associate Director, Human Resources The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10128
Email: jobs@thejm.org

The Jewish Museum is committed to diversifying its staff and encourages individuals of all ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds to apply for this position. The Museum is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic prohibited by applicable law.