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This is a private funded position which does not confer competitive federal status to the incumbent. The selected candidate will be eligible for the federal government employment benefits package."
The National Gallery of Art is seeking a highly experienced Chief of Communications to develop and lead its institutional communications strategy. This visionary and dynamic leader will help advance the National Gallery’s mission across the country. The Chief of Communications will provide strategic communications counsel; manage the Communications team; collaborate with peers in internal communications and marketing; and develop and implement comprehensive communications plans.
The National Gallery of Art is seeking a highly experienced Chief of Communications to develop and lead its institutional communications strategy. This visionary and dynamic leader will help advance the National Gallery’s mission across the country. The Chief of Communications will provide strategic communications counsel; manage the Communications team; collaborate with peers in internal communications and marketing; and develop and implement comprehensive communications plans.
This is a private funded position which does not confer competitive federal status to the incumbent. The selected candidate will be eligible for the federal government employment benefits package."
Strategic Thought Leadership: Develop and implement communications positioning strategies and overarching plans aimed at enhancing national recognition and institutional awareness. Partner closely with leadership in shaping the National Gallery’s narrative and identity, including developing and supporting institutional messaging, executive leadership remarks, talking points, Board relations, partner relations, and correspondence with members of the press.
Strategic Alignment: Ensure alignment of communication strategies with institutional strategic priorities, effectively translating organizational objectives into cohesive and impactful communication initiatives. Collaborate with senior leadership team members to design and execute an annual institutional communications approach aligned with the institution’s impact strategy and annual strategic goals for impact and audience reach.
Executive Counsel and Crisis Management: Anticipate and prepare for any potential reputational threats, including proactive crisis mitigation and reactive crisis communications. This will include leading media training for key staff; preparing briefing documents and leading briefing sessions ahead of key interviews or events; developing key messages and Q&As as needed. Working collaboratively across the institution, including with the Secretary General and Executive Leadership team, to create and maintain a strong crisis communications protocol.
Public Relations: Proactively lead and coordinate the National Gallery of Art’s national and global media relations efforts for exhibition and institutional campaigns; strategically manage its reputation on a global scale to maximize impact. Oversee public relations and media campaigns to tell compelling stories, raise the National Gallery of Art’s profile, and accurately position its brand, initiatives, and impact. Proactively and reactively engage with local, national, and international media to reinforce the National Gallery’s role as the nation’s art museum. Actively monitor and capitalize on emerging trends in media and public relations, including digital media and journalism. Establish processes and procedures that will enable “early warning” of potential issues that could impact the institution, or its reputation or brand.
Event Planning: Working alongside members of the communications team, coordinate and plan exhibition and programmatic press previews and press conferences, and other special events that increase institutional visibility and engage the media and key constituencies. Coordinate and facilitate media interviews with National Gallery leadership and curatorial team, as well as official visits of heads of state and other dignitaries. This includes event logistics, preparation of event scenarios, developing remarks and visual aids as needed, and staffing events as appropriate.
Strategic Management: Manage the Communications Department, including overseeing press relations and institutional communications. Establish and uphold best practices. Provide leadership and guidance to departmental staff of publicists, assistants, and interns, ensuring effective collaboration, modernization of practices, and achievement of departmental goals.
Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as a high-level ambassador for the organization; broaden awareness of the organization’s programs, events, and experts across key audiences. Establish and oversee high-profile local, national, and international communications opportunities, facilitating platforms for museum leadership to communicate strategic priorities.
Integrated Communications: Collaborate closely with the Audience Experience, Development, and Content Strategy and Branding departments to ensure key messages for exhibitions and initiatives, developed in collaboration with the Brand team, are reflected within press materials and external communications.
Budget Management and Forecasting: Forecast and manage communications and press budgets across initiatives, aligning financial resources with strategic priorities while effectively communicating the team’s needs to relevant stakeholders.
Collaborative Leadership: Serve as a central figure, liaising with leaders in external affairs, audience engagement, internal communications, brand management and marketing, content strategy, development, visitor experience and evaluation to help shape comprehensive communications strategies. Direct a range of partners, consultants, and team members to deliver a unified and responsive communications experience. Manage vendor relationships, liaise with internal colleagues and teams, and work with multiple external partners effectively to bring projects to life
Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. 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). Your resume must include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week.
Specialized experience: For this positions you must have 52 weeks of specialized experience at or equivalent to the GS-15 in strategic communications, preferably within a museum, cultural institution, or large nonprofit setting.
Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs): Maximum of two pages per MTQ.
MTQ 5. Please describe prior experience in the arts or non-profit fields
You are required to submit separate narrative statements for each MTQ to receive consideration for this position. Please see the REQUIRED DOCUMENTS section for complete details regarding the page limitation and formatting requirement. Applicants must carefully review the information in the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section for important information and instructions pertaining to the multi-hurdle assessment process for this position.
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.
Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. 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). Your resume must include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week.
If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses you provided in your online questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation before the vacancy closes, you may be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your evaluation rating may be adjusted accordingly.
This job does not have an education qualification requirement.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
This is a private funded position which does not confer competitive federal status to the incumbent. The selected candidate will be eligible for the federal government employment benefits package."
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Applications will be evaluated based on the quality and extent of accomplishments and experience as they relate to the Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs). This information will be obtained from the application and narrative statements. Failure to provide specific information in each of the narrative statements will result in you receiving a lower rating or disqualification. A minimum qualifications screening will be conducted by Human Resources. Eligible applicants will then be evaluated by evaluated by a screening panel composed of a diverse mix of senior executives and/or general officers selected from organizational and/or functional backgrounds relevant to this position. The panel will rate minimally qualified applicants in order to determine which candidates are considered "Superior" (top), "Very Good" (middle), or "Acceptable" (bottom) category. Generally, only the individuals in the Superior (top) category will be referred to the Hiring Manager/Selection Official for interview. Please make sure you answer all questions and follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your evaluation.
Note: the Category Rating Process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three" instead Category Rating protects the rights of qualified veterans by placing them ahead of qualified non-preference eligibles within each category. Qualified preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of their assigned category and considered before qualified non-preference-eligibles in that same category. And preference eligible applicants that meet the qualification requirements for the position and have a compensable service-connected disability rating of ten percent or more are listed at the top of the superior (top) category, except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 level or higher. Your responses should be clear and concise and show a level of accomplishment and a degree of responsibility. We use a multi-step process to evaluate and refer applicants:
1. Screen for Eligibility and Minimum Requirements: Your application must show that you meet all requirements, including any minimum education and/or experience required for this position. You may be found "not qualified" if you do not possess the minimum competencies required for the position. If your application is incomplete, we may rate you as ineligible.
2. Ranking and Rating: You will be evaluated by a screening panel composed of a diverse mix of senior executives and/or general officers panel based on your responses to the mandatory technical qualification (MTQ) requirements stated in this announcement.
3. Referral: If you are among the Superior (best qualified) candidates, your application will be referred to the hiring manager/selecting official for consideration and possible interview.
In addition to a resume, each applicant is required to submit a comprehensive narrative statement addressing each MTQ individually.
This is a private funded position which does not confer competitive federal status to the incumbent. The selected candidate will be eligible for the federal government employment benefits package."
To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:
Failure to submit any of the above-mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application.
To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section of this vacancy. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date to receive consideration.
If you have questions about this job, please contact the HR Office representative listed in the "Agency Contact Info" section of this vacancy announcement. If you need assistance in applying on-line, please refer to the How to Apply section below and explore the Federal Application Process information on the USAJobs website.
If experiencing a significant hardship which hinders your ability to apply on-line, please contact the Agency Contact listed on this announcement at least two business days before the closing date, to discuss your situation. Failure to contact us within sufficient time may result in your hardship request being denied.
The National Gallery of Art receives many applications for each job. Each application is reviewed carefully which may take a few weeks. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Application Status page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and your responses submitted to the online application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
Do not submit photographs with your application package. Documents with photographs may not be seen by hiring officials - you must remove your image from any badges, licenses, etc. If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content (e.g. SSN or DOB), your resume will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you will not be considered for this vacancy.
Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.
Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents. Adobe portfolio documents are not viewable by our agency's staffing offices.
After each step in the recruitment process, your status will be updated in our application tracking system. Once this happens, if you have elected to receive e-mail updates, you will be notified through your USAJOBS registered e-mail address. If you have not elected e-mail updates, you can review your current application status in USAJOBS at any time. Please check that your USAJOBS profile contact information is current and correct each time you apply to a job--this will ensure we are able to contact you as quickly as possible.
In addition to changing your status online, we will send you e-mail notifications at each major step in the process, to include: application received, eligible or not eligible, referred or not referred, selected or not selected.
We expect to make a selection within 30 to 90 days of the closing date of this announcement.
For Fair Chance Act Covered Positions: An agency may not request, orally, in writing, or electronically through the USA Jobs website or other electronic means, that an applicant for appointment for a position in the civil service disclose criminal history record information before the appointing agency extends a conditional offer of employment. If you believe you were asked about your criminal history improperly, contact the agency or visit https://www.opm.gov/about-us/careers-at-opm/opportunities/
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.