THE OPPORTUNITY
Located in the heart of San Francisco, the Asian Art Museum is home to one of the world’s finest collections of Asian art, boasting more than 18,000 inspiring artworks ranging from ancient jades and ceramics to contemporary video installations. Dynamic special exhibitions, cultural celebrations, and public programs for all ages provide rich art experiences that unlock the past and spark questions about the future.
Currently, we are recruiting for a Director of Experience Design to join our team. This is an exceptional opportunity to join an organization that values creativity, teamwork, collaboration, and inclusion and where you will be surrounded by a diverse, talented, and enthusiastic group of colleagues. The Director of Experience Design leads the creative vision, strategy, and delivery of meaningful and memorable experiences that engage visitors of diverse backgrounds with the museum’s mission and offerings. With a clear understanding of the museum’s mission, priorities and target audiences, the Director will work with various teams to define the conceptual direction for exhibitions and projects and collaborate across disciplines to ensure the delivery of compelling experiences through a variety of modalities. The Director will lead a team of Experience Designers to translate scholarship and research on Asian art and culture into clear, innovative, and multi-dimensional experience and programmatic strategies. The Director will be a visible leader in the creation of an inspirational culture, one that is built around the celebration of creativity, user-centricity, and diversity. The Director will powerfully and simply communicate principles and methods in experience and visual design disciplines and have a strong command of related disciplines, including available market research methodologies.
The Director of Experience Design regularly engages with staff, vendors, visitors, volunteers, members, and colleagues in a personable and respectful manner.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
- Alongside colleagues, structures narratives for special exhibitions and the museum’s collection and pushes systematic design work to give impact and creative edge.
- Leads and implements comprehensive and integrated experience-centric strategies; and partners with key stakeholders from across the institution to plan for and support museum’s experience-centric efforts.
- Recrafts the museum’s products to focus on experience-centered exhibitions and programs to drive new and diverse audiences and expands the understanding of Asian art and culture.
- Leads and executes project proposals, specifications, and budgets; develops and manages multiple concurrent project plans; and ensures quality and consistency across media product lines.
- Leads the creative vision projects, helping to shape and define the experience of the museum visitor onsite and virtually, ensuring quality and brand consistency across all channels.
- Leads aspects of the audience experience, from formal and informal educational and public programming, immersive exhibition planning, design, and interpretation.
- Centers the museum’s diversity, equity and inclusion in their work and team’s outcomes.
- Directs, develops, and leads teams focused on improving and enhancing the audience experience of new and existing programs and exhibitions.
- Advocates for consumer needs in the development and deployment of programs and strategies throughout the organization.
- Defines KPIs and goals, regularly monitors established metrics, and evaluates the success of all programmatic efforts; provides regular performance reports.
- Ensures all experience efforts are fully integrated with the museum’s marketing and advertising programs and ensures the Museum is leveraging analytics to optimize its efforts.
- Participates in and/or leads cross-functional teams in support of museum’s strategic priorities.
- Supports employees by ensuring they embody the museum’s visitor promise and delivers expectations. Empowers employees to make visitor-centric decisions and increases leadership’s understanding of their employee experiences and needs.
- Acts as a trusted advisor and coach to managers and supervisors, helping to build empathy and cultural competence with the goal of improving leadership and management of a diverse workforce.
- Performs other duties and projects as needed.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university, or equivalent experience, plus seven (7) years progressively responsible experience with three (3) years of management experience; or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
- Understanding of Experience Design and Design Thinking methodologies.
- Proven project management, budget, communication, collaborative, and organizational abilities.
- Proven ability to work simultaneously on multiple projects in a complex, highly demanding, and fast paced work environment.
- Demonstrated skill in media production workflow and digital asset management.
- Experience and proven ability to build consensus and work effectively within a cross-departmental team.
- Ability to respond to changing circumstances and priorities in a focused and timely manner; proactively address issues as they arise.
- Creative problem solver with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Advanced understanding of business strategies, human behavior, service, and quality improvement techniques.
- Excellent interpersonal, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to coach, mentor, and inspire the leadership capacity of diverse colleagues.
- Excellent leadership skills with the ability to set a vision and lead the team to deliver.
- Ability to understand and explain the museum’ mission-driven strategic plan initiatives in terms that resonate with staff and visitors.
- Ability, dedication, discipline, and ambition to translate vision into concrete action.
- Ability to establish and maintain effective, positive working relationships with staff, volunteers, and members of the public; promote membership activities to ethnically and culturally diverse groups and communities.
- Must be able to work nights and weekends, as needed.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Standard museum and office environment.
Computer and phone use.
COMPENSATION
The Asian Art Museum is committed to practicing salary transparency. The minimum salary for this position is $140,000 and the maximum salary is $180,000. Please note that the pay range information is a general guideline only. Many factors are taken into consideration when setting starting pay including education, experience, the external labor market, and internal equity. This opportunity includes a generous benefits package, including but not limited to:
• Fully covered medical, dental and vision insurance for employee
• 12 paid holidays (2023)
• 15 days of vacation starting
• 12 days of sick leave
• Group retirement plan starting after one year of employment
OUR DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION COMMITMENTS
At the Asian Art Museum, we are dedicated to ideating, building, and holding ourselves accountable for Diversity, Equity, Accessibility & Inclusion in everything we do. We strive to foster a culture of respect, belonging and inclusivity for all employees.
Our mission is to celebrate, preserve, and promote Asian and Asian American art and cultures for local and global audiences. We provide a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas, inviting collaboration, and fueling imagination to deepen understanding and empathy among people of all backgrounds.
Diversity of thought and experience is essential to our mission, and we are committed to recruiting, hiring, and retaining a diverse workforce. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Apply online at https://about.asianart.org/careers/. Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. Application materials will be screened in relation to the criteria described. Candidates deemed to be the most highly qualified will be invited to participate in the interview process. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete but may fluctuate depending on the role. Appointment is subject to completion of a thorough background check process.
Please note, all museum team members must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment (to be fully vaccinated, 14 days must have passed since the final dose of a two-shot vaccine, or a single dose of a one-shot vaccine was received) and provide proof, absent qualifying exemptions in accordance with applicable laws. Individuals receiving a conditional offer of employment from the museum will be provided a copy of the vaccination policy. For questions regarding this requirement, please e-mail: humanresourcesdepartment@asianart.org.
The Asian Art Museum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories (arrest and criminal histories) consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law.