Clarification from the agency

Open to current Smithsonian Institution employees with Federal career/career-conditional status or eligibility only. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

In this position, you will:

• Conduct in-depth scholarly research in American art history, with a focus on portraiture, leveraging specialized expertise and integrating various subdisciplines within the broader field of study.
• Contribute to shaping the national collection by highlighting inclusive and meaningful stories of individuals who influenced America, through strategic acquisitions, meticulous collection care, and enhancing public access to the museum’s holdings
• Design and curate engaging, thought-provoking exhibitions, including accompanying catalogues and other written materials, utilizing the permanent collection and creating temporary displays that support the museum’s strategic objectives.
• Oversee and provide leadership in the Curatorial Department, ensuring the effective management and coordination of departmental activities and responsibilities.

Conditions of employment

• Requires career/career-conditional status or eligibility.
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

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

Individual Occupational Requirements

Basic Requirements:

1. Degree: museum work; or in an applicable subject-matter field.

   OR

2. Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

   OR

3. Four years of experience that provided knowledge comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of the 4-year course of study as shown in A above.

In addition to the basic qualification requirement above:

Experience:

Grade 13: 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:

• Researching art history, curating exhibitions, and identifying acquisitions;
• Developing presentations on art and history for public programs; AND
• Managing collections, exhibitions, preservation, and publications.

Grade 14: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal Service.  For this position, specialized experience is defined as:

• Researching art history, curating exhibitions, and identifying acquisitions;
• Developing presentations on art and history for public programs;
• Managing collections, exhibitions, preservation, and publications; AND
• Leading and supervising staff, including conducting performance evaluations.

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.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

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:

1. Knowledge of Historical and contemporary art in a specific area (painting and sculpture, photographs, time-based media, Latin/Latinx Art, and prints and drawings) to identify potential acquisitions and properly document new accessions.
2. Knowledge of art history to research American historical and contemporary portraiture, document collections, develop exhibitions, and publish research according to scholarly standards.
3. Ability to curate museum exhibitions to examine lives of historical or contemporary figures, or to explore other relevant cultural themes for broad public audiences.
4. Ability to perform on cross-departmental teams for exhibitions, education, and other projects.

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.