Supervisory Exhibits Specialist

Job Details

Position Overview

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the Exhibition Production Department, Office of Building Renovation & Exhibition Services (OBRES), National Museum of American History (NMAH). NMAH is home to more than 1.8 million objects and more than three shelf-miles of archival collections, preserving and sharing the greatest single collection of American history in the world.

Duties

The Supervisory Exhibits Specialist serves as the head of the Graphics Production Shop and supervises a team of full-time exhibition specialists, as well as occasional interns and contractors, who are responsible for the fabrication and installation of graphics and graphic materials for exhibitions, wayfinding, and other museum needs as well as the museum’s mountmaking services.

In this position, you will:

• Direct, supervise, and plan all work performed by the Graphics Production Shop.
• Coordinate Graphics Shop operations with Exhibition Production and OBRES units, as well as other Smithsonian offices, to ensure exhibit projects are completed on schedule, within budget, and in alignment with program objectives.
• Serve as the Project Manager for specific graphics projects as assigned. 
• Create digital images and/or text for graphic panels, posters, signs, labels, decals, and other visual media ranging from several inches to room-size murals. Operate large format roll-to-roll printers, direct print flatbed printers, vinyl cutters and laminating machines.
• Execute and conduct quality reviews of exhibit graphic production processes, utilizing a variety of materials and substrates to create and evaluate visual displays in both 2D and 3D formats.

Qualifications & Requirements

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 planning, organizing, scheduling, and communicating with clients regarding their commercial graphics production needs; coordinating fabrication work with multiple offices; and ensuring compliance with established policies, procedures, and quality standards.

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 (1010) and who are in a Federal competitive 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).

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Work is generally performed in a combination of office settings and in the field. Incumbent will be required to stand for long periods of time and/or to lift objects weighing 50 lbs. unassisted. 
• Incumbent will be required to climb up to a 12 ft ladder or use scissor lift to install, maintain, and deinstall graphic elements wearing appropriate safety gear.
• Incumbent is required to obtain and maintain COTR Level 1 certification.
• Incumbent will be required to take regular safety training.
• Work requires special safety precautions and the use of protective masks, goggles, shoes, and other necessary personal protective equipment (PPE).

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.

Evaluations

The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• Ability to supervise and lead staff effectively, using sound policies and practices to assign and evaluate work and maintain high performance in a production environment.
• Skill in customer service to facilitate teamwork, build partnerships, and effectively coordinate with internal and external stakeholders.
• Knowledge of project management principles and practices to plan, schedule, track, and execute exhibition projects, integrating budget, scope, timeline, and resources.
• Knowledge of graphic design, print processing (RIP), fabrication, and file management software to prepare, manage, and output production-ready files across multiple devices and workflows (e.g. Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign; Colorburst, etc.
• Skill in operating large-format printing and fabrication equipment to produce exhibit graphics efficiently and to specification, including roll-to-roll flatbed printers, laminators, vinyl cutters, CMC mat cutters, silicone edge graphic systems, welding equipment, etc. 

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.

Required Documents

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), and hours worked per week, for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position.

  For assistance with creating a resume, please click USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?

• Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their Standard Form (SF)-50, “Notice of Personnel Action,” that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. SI Trust employees are ineligible for Merit Promotion consideration unless you submit a Standard Form (SF) - 50, "Notice of Personnel Action", that indicates proof you previously held a 'status' position and proof of time-in-grade.  The SF-50 must include your position title, series, grade, step, salary, type of service (competitive or excepted in block 34), and tenure (1 or 2 in block 24). Please provide a SF-50 that shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade level.  Examples of appropriate SF50s include: Appointments, Reassignments, Within-grade/range increases or Promotion actions.  NOTE: Pay adjustments and award SF-50s do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable SF-50’s on their own. You may need to provide more than one SF-50. Failure to provide the appropriate SF-50(s) may prevent you from receiving consideration for this position.

How to Apply

Click on the "Apply Online" button on the upper right side of the page.
Please Note:

• You must apply for this position online through the 'Apply Online' button and submit required supplemental documents (if they are relevant to you).
• Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages.
• You may submit required documents by uploading them online during the application process.
• The complete application package, including any required documents, is due in the Smithsonian Office of Human Resources on the closing date of the announcement by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
• If you are unable to apply online, paper applications may be accepted with prior approval of the Contact Person listed below.

At the end of the application process you will be able to create and save a PDF file that contains your responses to the assessment questions. You may save this file as initial receipt of your application. After the job announcement closes, you will receive an email from the Smithsonian with confirmation of receipt.

The Smithsonian receives many applications for each job. Each application is reviewed carefully which may take a few weeks. We will send you an e-mail to update you as we go through phases of the application review process. You may also check your application status by logging into www.usajobs.gov and selecting the tab "My USAJOBS;" e-mailing [email protected]; or by contacting the Office of Human Resources Representative listed.

Additional Information:

• Tips on applying for Smithsonian jobs are available at https://www.si.edu/OHR/howtoapply.
• The Smithsonian does not pay relocation expenses.
• The Smithsonian Institution is an equal opportunity employer. Additional information can be found on our website at (www.si.edu/oeesd).