Job title: The Palestinian Museum Director
Location: the Palestinian Museum, Birzeit
Reports to: the Museum’s Board of Directors, represented by its Chair.
Deadline: August 20, 2023
The Palestinian Museum Director reports to the Museum’s Board of Directors, represented by its Chair. The Museum’s General Assembly is composed of Taawon, represented by its Chair of the Board of Trustees.
Position: The Director is responsible for the overall performance of the museum and its day to day activities. S/He will provide strategic leadership and management expertise and will have overall responsibility for the Museum’s programmes, scholarship, staff, budgets, fundraising, marketing, communications and facilities. Working closely with the Chair and Committee Heads of the Board of Directors, and with the Museum’s Senior Management Team, the Director will shape the curatorial, creative, scholarly, education and outreach programmes to deliver on the Museum’s mission. S/He will define and implement local and international marketing and public relations strategies to raise the profile of the Museum and strengthen community relations, locally and in the Diaspora. S/He will develop and implement short and long range financial plans and sound financial controls, in accordance with existing policy.
It is expected that the Director will be an inspiring leader as well as an able administrator who will:
Tasks and Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership and Management
- Work with the Board to establish the Museum’s overall direction, including strategic plans and action plans, and oversee their implementation to achieve the vision and mission of the Museum, serving as ex-officio of each committee.
- Define and lead the intellectual core of the Museum.
- Be responsible for leading the development and overseeing the implementation of the overall output of the Palestinian Museum, including research, public communication and curatorial programming.
- Cultivate a strong and transparent working relationship with the Board and ensure open communication about the measurement of financial, programmatic, and impact performance against stated milestones and goals.
- Ensure ongoing local programmatic excellence, programme evaluation, and consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications, and systems; recommend timelines and resources needed to achieve the strategic goals.
- Provide inspirational leadership, support and direction to staff and ensure the continued development of a professional and efficient organization; - Establish effective and transparent decision-making processes that will enable the Museum to achieve its short and long term goals.
- Actively engage, energize and strengthen relations with advisory committees, with Taawon, and other partnering organizations, funders, NGOs and volunteers. - Promote a culture of excellence across the Museum’s activities and at all levels within the institution.
- Ensure effective systems to track progress, and regularly evaluate programme components, so as to measure successes that can be effectively communicated to the board, funders, and other constituents.
- Set key performance indicators and report on progress periodically.
Development, Partnerships and Communications
- Formulate and oversee comprehensive development, marketing, and branding strategies that will ensure consistency throughout the organization and enhance revenue from donors, foundations, government agencies and corporations to support programmes and operations.
- In collaboration with the Board, lead fundraising activities; determine short-term and long-term development needs in the context of the museum’s strategic goals; proactively cultivate individual and institutional supporters.
- Build partnerships locally and in new regions with various parts of the Palestinian Diaspora, establishing relationships with potential funders and political and community leaders.
- Oversee the development of the Museum’s communication plans including web presence, social media and external relations with the goal of creating a strong brand; act as the Museum’s principle public spokesperson. - Provide inspirational community leadership to enhance the visibility of the Museum as a platform for cultural, social and civic engagement amongst the widest possible audience. - Represent the Museum through public programmes, lectures, and presentations.
Strengthening Infrastructure and Operations
- Establish and maintain high standards of professionalism and ensure that all programmes and public affairs are conducted in accordance with applicable legal requirements and the international ethical standards of a not-for-profit public institution. - Develop and implement the institutional framework for the full operations of the Museum including organizational structure, salary scale, policies and procedures, performance measurement and reporting.
- Direct the management of full-time and part-time staff, volunteers and consultants, in the day-to-day operations, and set the direction to ensure compliance with local laws, grant requirements, and accepted accounting principles
- Provide support, training and development opportunities to Museum staff including mentoring and coaching, ensuring a positive, open and creative work environment.
- Facilitate cross-departmental collaboration and strengthen internal communications with staff throughout the organization; create and promote a positive work environment that supports consistency throughout the organization’s strategy and operational methods.
- Oversea the Museum’s fiscal integrity, financial planning and budgeting and ensure that financial controls and procedures are in place to safeguard transparency and accurate reporting, including the functions of audit, internal and external, and risk management.
- Present for Board approval three-year rolling and operating budgets, quarterly reviews and regular progress reports against approved annual budgets.
- Oversee the safe and secure operations and maintenance of the Museum’s physical plant.
Programme Development
- With the support of the Museum’s team, develop a strategy for the exhibitions, collections and publications to achieve the vision and mission of the Museum.
- Host traveling exhibitions and partner with peer museums to programme new exhibitions.
- Present to the Board for approval a five-year programmatic plan and oversee its implementation. - Oversee the Museum’s public programs and community outreach to ensure integration of the - exhibition and education objectives; encourage technological advances and innovative initiatives to address the political context.
- Embrace technology to aid the museum in capturing international audiences and Palestinians in the Diaspora.
The Individual The ideal Director will have or be the following:
Qualifications and Experience:
- Embrace the Palestinian Museum’s and Taawon’s vision and mission to further the progress of Palestinians, preserving their heritage and identity, supporting their living culture and building civil society.
- Have an enthusiasm for arts and culture and the ability to convey their value to all from scholars to the indifferent.
- Be a seasoned manager with a track record of directing operations.
- Hold a BA, MA, MSC or ideally an advanced degree in the arts or humanities
- Have at least 10 to 15 years of overall professional experience prior to joining the Museum, ideally in the cultural non-profit sectors.
- Have strong written, presentation and communication skills and experience as a spokesperson and relationship builder.
- Have significant fundraising, marketing/branding and fiscal management experience.
- Have strong commitment to and experience in the professional development of staff; with a successful track record of recruiting and retaining a diverse team.
- Fluency in spoken and written Arabic and English.
Personal Characteristics The ideal candidate should be:
- A charismatic, politically astute, financially savvy and inspirational leader whom others would wish to follow.
- A diplomat who can build consensus, generate enthusiasm and nurture a nascent institution.
- A problem solver who can understand the challenges of working under military occupation and directing a staff of diverse knowledge and skills.
- A collaborative, open-minded and consultative individual; one who listens well, can bend when necessary and yet be firm and decisive.
- A person of integrity who is self-confident without arrogance. You can apply for this position online here. Application deadline is Sunday 20 August 2023. Incomplete applications will not be considered.