Director of Collection

Summary

This position is located in the National Postal Museum (NPM) of the Smithsonian Initiation (SI). The National Postal Museum is dedicated to the preservation, study and presentation of postal history and philately. The museum uses exhibits, public programs and research to make this rich history available to scholars, philatelists, collectors and visitors from around the world.

Duties

The Director of Collections Assigns projects, provides technical direction, and ensures staff are informed of and follow established operating plans, procedures, and instructions. In this position, you will: Supervise the staff of the Collections Department. Develop and circulate annual goals and benchmarks for Collections Department in the areas of preservation, collections management, accessioning, exhibiting, lending, collecting, digitizing, and providing increased access to the collection. Develop new protocols and processing for capture, storing, and providing accessibility to digital collections, as well as creating new protocols and procedures for digitizing NPM's collections. This includes analyzing, developing, and implementing best practices for digitizing NPM's collection. Serve as the principal advisor to the Director on all complex collections management issues including accessioning (gifts bequests transfers purchases exchanges etc.), deaccessioning, conservation, preservation, security, environmental protections etc., and communicates with museum stakeholders or potential donors on collections management activities. Requirements

Conditions of Employment Qualification requirements, including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates, must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the 'Required Documents' section for additional information. For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions viewable on OPM Website. Qualifications

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as experience serving as a senior specialist performing collections management activities in the collections department of a museum, cultural or historical organization. Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position. Do not copy language directly from the vacancy announcement, as you will be deemed ineligible for consideration. Instead, provide detailed, descriptive information about your actual experience. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week. In an effort to streamline our hiring process, SI employees whose current position of record is in the same job series 1001 and who are in a (Federal competitive or excepted service appointment) as this advertised position, are not required to submit a transcript with your application package. However, if selected, you will be required to provide a copy of your transcript before your start date in the position. Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

Education

NO Basic Education is Required for this position. How You Will Be Evaluated

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria: Ability to supervise staff in a museum, cultural or historical organization's collections department. Ability to manage an organization's collection's department specialty areas, gained through experience. Ability to manage digital collections in a museum, cultural or historical organization, gained through experience. Ability to communicate effectively orally by giving presentations or presenting verbal analyses to internal and external groups and individuals on collections management activities, gained through experience. Important Note: Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed. You may preview questions for this vacancy. Benefits

The Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program options. Please see Benefits at https://www.si.edu/OHR/benefits for a complete description. Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/ Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/ Other Information

This position is not included in the bargaining unit. Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid. Selections may be made for vacancies across the Smithsonian Institution (SI). By applying to this position, you agree to allow your application and other personal information to be shared with one or more SI hiring officials for employment consideration for same/similar positions within the location(s) identified in this announcement.