Retail Store Manager, Sr. - Museum jobs in North Carolina

Mobile Museum Manager at Kidzu Children’s Museum

Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill, NC is an educational, interactive museum dedicated to inspiring young children and the adults in their lives to learn through creative, purposeful play. With a focus on STEM and arts education, child health and wellness, and emerging literacy, Kidzu provides children aged infant to tween, their families, educators, and caregivers with quality physical and virtual learning environments and ever-changing educational and caregiver programs that inspire creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and community. Kidzu’s physical site houses 9,000sq ft of exhibits, designed to reflect the ethos of our community and to engage young children in exploration, collaboration, creativity, and 21st-century skill-building. From a multi-story indoor treehouse to exhibits inspired by the local farm-to-fork movement to a performance space housing multiple opportunities for dramatic play, to a literacy area highlighted by the work of local authors, Kidzu provides a wealth of experiential activities for children ages infant to pre-teen. 

Kidzu has a roster of over 100 collaborative partnerships that infuse its visitor experience with the expertise and creative spirit of our wider community. Kidzu is built upon the foundational belief that play = learning, and that play, thus learning, has no age limit. The commitment to lifelong learning is reflected in its many program offerings created for learning through play.

Planning is underway for a major Kidzu expansion and rebranding to take place over the next 5 years. This expansion will allow Kidzu to continue its role as both a community children’s museum as well as a thought leader in the museum and children’s museum industry regionally, statewide, and nationally.

In Kidzu’s efforts to have a statewide reach and be more accessible to the communities that need us the most, we recently purchased a mobile museum! “The Race for Planet X” Mobile Museum addresses current educational needs and encourages inquiry-based skill development by providing high-quality, learning opportunities. In addition, it supports teachers in their use of project-based learning in the classroom and involves students and families in the ‘fun’ of education. 

Job Summary: This position has two main components: outreach education as the lead for the Race for Planet X mobile museum, and in-house education at Kidzu Children’s Museum. The Race for Planet X is a 40’ box truck with 9 interactive exhibits inside. Two educators drive this mobile museum throughout the state during designated months of the school year. A commercial driver’s license (CDL Class B) is required to drive the mobile museum, and training can be provided if needed.

Other major components for this position will include in-museum assignments such as floor demonstrations, school group programs, evening Family STEM Nights, summer camps, special events, and more. Infectious enthusiasm, attention to detail, a strong work ethic, and a positive attitude are required to tackle the variety of job assignments. As a representative of Kidzu Children’s Museum, premium customer service is required at all times when interacting with audiences in the museum and while on outreach.

Department: Education, Programs

Reports to: Education Manager

Position Classification: Part-Time to start, with the opportunity for full-time starting in August 2024

Compensation: $21.00 -$26.00 per hour depending on experience and status of CDL License. Candidates without a CDL license are encouraged to apply, with the understanding of the requirements to undergo CDL license training upon hire, paid for by Kidzu Children’s Museum. If training is to be provided, an employment term contract will be required. 

This position has the following requirements:

Education: In pursuit of or have obtained a bachelor’s degree in education, biology, zoology, chemistry, physics, engineering, theater, or related field. Candidates with an equivalent combination of education and experience are encouraged to apply.

Experience Required: Performance or teaching experience is a must, especially with K-12 school audiences in a museum or other informal/formal learning setting.

• Integrity and the ability to carry oneself with the demeanor, and professionalism needed for the position and its interaction with others as a representative of the team and Kidzu Children’s Museum to the public.
• Ability to work offsite, independently as well as collaboratively with a team, and be expected to manage time efficiently. Must be flexible, especially in regard to issues that arise off-site and with scheduling.

Special Skills: Able to maintain a high level of organization and time management while working on multiple projects that have overlapping timelines.

• Prompt and adverse to tardiness.
• Charismatic entertainment skills; can carry an audience with confidence; can present a wide variety of content to all ages.
• Creative mind that can make any content fun and engaging for a variety of ages.
• Be comfortable and knowledgeable to perform science demonstrations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrate good customer relations skills in dealing with donors, volunteers, museum visitors, and staff.
• Demonstrated experience and commitment to working with a diverse community. 
• Bilingual communication skills are highly preferred, but not required. 
• Ability to work with a team as well as alone.

Job Responsibilities:

Mobile Museum

• Mobile Museum Program School Relations: Serves as liaison to school administrators and teachers.
• Mobile Museum Curriculum: Assists in the research, development and updating of program curriculum and content for all outreach instruction as requested.
• Program Evaluation: Assists with the evaluation of mobile museum programs and other outreach endeavors.
• Program Statistics: Tracks and records audience data for evaluation and grant reporting purposes.
• Mobile Museum Travel: Willingness to drive the mobile museum to all designated schools and events across the state of North Carolina to facilitate mobile museum programming. 
• Program Set-up/take-down: Manages off-site, on-site, and virtual operations for the program including set up and take down processes each day. Cleaning and day-to-day care of the mobile museum and educational materials.
• Educate visitors of varying ages and abilities in the mobile museum.
• Manage the supplies on the mobile museum.
• Ability to physically lift objects in weight up to 50 pounds. Climbing of ladders, stairs, and structures. 
• Coordinate with museum leadership and exhibits team for truck and exhibit maintenance and repair.

Museum Educator

• Develop and conduct educational programs and activities in a variety of formats.
• Camp sessions, floor shows, theater shows, special event presentations, outreach performances, and more.
• Keep summer camp on track with the daily schedule. Always ensure we offer a safe environment for our campers.
• Maintain a positive attitude while on the floor and interacting with visitors.
• Maintain teaching supplies, props, model specimens, etc.
• Assist in training volunteers and educators.
• Provide general backup to the education department as needed.
• Coordinate/assist with special events, mini-events, and special programming. Provide assistance backup during other museum events.
• Willing to work evenings and weekend events.
• General cleaning and tidying duties.
• Other duties as assigned.

Kidzu Children’s Museum is especially interested in candidates whose background and experience have prepared them to contribute to our commitment to engagement and inclusion of culturally diverse audiences in museums and sciences. 

General Job-Related Expectations:

• Professionalism - Employee demonstrates a positive and professional attitude and courteously deals with other staff and the general public. Employee is a team player, initiating and coordinating efforts with staff members and supervisors. 
• Responsibility - Employee uses time and materials effectively and takes pride in accomplishing assigned work. Employee makes an effort to improve work when necessary. Employee is willing to take on new approaches and responsibilities to better serve the museum. 
• Reliability - Employee is punctual and reports to work as scheduled. Employee tells supervisors in a timely manner about any situation that may require an absence. Employee coordinate schedules and plans in advance to help minimize work disruptions caused by holidays and vacations. 
• Initiative - Employee is self-directed, efficient, and resourceful. Employee often offers suggestions of ways to improve museum procedures in order to better serve visitors and make things run smoother. 

Covid-19 Vaccine Policy

Kidzu Children’s Museum requires all employees to complete their full COVID-19 vaccine series or receive a valid medical or religious exemption. Exemptions will be checked and validated by management. Anyone approved for an exemption will be subject to daily symptom monitoring, weekly surveillance testing, continued masking, and other protocols applicable to those who have not been vaccinated.

Affirmative Action Statement

Kidzu Children’s Museum is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. 

To apply, please send a Cover Letter and Resume to info@kidzuchildrensmuseum.org.

Due to the high volume of applicants, we will only contact applicants with whom we wish to schedule an interview.