Senior Exhibit Content Developer

Exploring, explaining and sustaining life since 1853.

The California Academy of Sciences seeks an innovative and energetic Senior Exhibit Content Developer to join the Academy’s outstanding Exhibit Studio. You’ll develop original concepts for captivating exhibits and visitor experiences, research and create accessible scientific content, and produce interactives and media. This position reports to the Associate Director of Exhibit Content Development, and collaborates with scientists, educators, artists, technologists, and other internal and external partners. Who are we looking for? You’re someone who can champion your ideas and build on the ideas of others. You love immersing yourself in complex science… and emerging with a memorable storyline. You thrive in a team environment and build rapport with colleagues. You enjoy writing clear, delightful sentences; dreaming up unconventional ways to communicate science without words; or helping find the perfect soundtrack for a short video. You have experience as the content lead on complex projects in museums, exhibit design firms, or other education-oriented settings.

- Serve as the lead exhibit developer on assigned exhibit projects. - Develop, articulate, and advocate for compelling interpretive strategies for new exhibits. Establish exhibit goals, objectives, and key messages. - Complete literature reviews, visitor research, theme and topic development. - Collaborate, communicate progress, and coordinate work with cross-functional teams of project managers, designers and developers, subject matter experts, collections staff, educators, and others. - Act as an effective liaison between Exhibit Studio and scientific staff, partnering with Academy scientists to highlight their research in exhibitions. - Facilitate content review by internal and external experts and incorporate feedback. - Research and interpret scientific information, images, objects, and technologies. Develop concepts and content for delivery through text, visual media, interactives, and audio. Includes writing lively text for labels and scripts; editing, revising, fact-checking, and proofreading; researching, selecting and helping to secure specimens, artifacts, images, video, and other educational resources. - Advocate for audience-centric exhibit experiences that make science fun, engaging, and surprising for people of varied backgrounds. - Design and conduct evaluations at specified points in exhibit development process to ensure that projects achieve goals and objectives. Includes working with teams to develop prototypes and test with audiences, and summarizing findings and recommendations. - Follow and contribute to the Academy’s exhibit development process and complete work in a timely manner to meet schedules and budgets. - Mentor junior exhibit staff, interns, and volunteers. - Participate in professional development opportunities to stay informed of trends in the museum field, learn from and share knowledge with colleagues, and build relevant partnerships. - Follow Academy safety regulations. - Perform other duties as assigned.

**Qualifications:** - An individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily to be successful in this job. - Representative knowledge, skills, and/or abilities are listed below. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. **Education and/or Experience:** We’re looking for applicants with the following education and/or equivalent experience: - Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, environmental studies, museum studies, or related field. - 5+ years (7-10 preferred) of experience in exhibit development for informal science or similar setting and thorough understanding of exhibit development process and design principles. - Demonstrated experience in science writing for diverse public audiences. - Demonstrated experience developing highly interactive exhibits. **Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:** - Excellent verbal and written communication skills. - Gifted storyteller and science communicator who writes clearly, concisely, and imaginatively. - Ability to work successfully in a team environment as well as independently. - Ability to balance multiple projects and meet deadlines. - Ability to develop thematic structure for exhibits and use a variety of methods and techniques to communicate concepts to general audience(s). - Ability to create exhibit content that is intellectually and emotionally engaging. Exhibits should have a “fun” or “Wow!” factor that will drive attendance to the Academy. - Ability to read and understand scientific literature. - Knowledge of exhibit evaluation methods in informal education settings. - Knowledge of conservation factors and proper presentation of artifacts. - Detail-oriented and accurate. - Comfortable using Microsoft Office, collaboration tools such as Evernote, Box, Google Apps, and others to create, manipulate and share documents, spreadsheets, images, and other digital assets. Some familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite is a plus. **Language Skills:** - Ability to read and interpret floor plans and elevations, safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. - Ability to speak effectively before groups or individuals. - Ability to write persuasive reports and correspondence. **Physical Demands & Work Environment:** - The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. - Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. - While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, sit, walk, and reach with hands and arms, and talk or hear. - Must be able to perform repetitive motions 75% of the time. Must be able to lift 20 lbs.