Clarification from the agency

Current Smithsonian Institution Internal Employees/Agency Employees Only may apply including current Smithsonian Institution employees with Federal career/career-conditional status or eligibility. More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

The Supervisory Museum Curator is responsible of curatorial oversight of the national space programs collection and historical subject area.

In this position, you will:

• Perform all major aspects of a supervisory position to include human resources management.
• Serve on the Space History Department and NASM-wide committees, acts as an advisor to and train fellows and interns as required.
• Acquire, maintain, and develop a balanced collection related to national space programs.
• Serve as a consultant and expert advisor in matters relating to space programs and technologies, with technical expertise in the identification of items and collections.
• Perform exhaustive research to address problems in identification and authentication. Required to make authoritative determination on obscure and unusual objects.
• Perform documentary research and conducts studies of relevant artifacts. Coordinates exhibit, audiovisual, fabrication teams and contractors to write and revise scripts used to present items, artifacts and objects displayed in institutional exhibits.
• Offer papers and lectures on subject matter areas related to museum collections and liaisons with Smithsonian bureaus, federal agencies, universities, research institutions, aerospace industrial, and professional associations.

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

Basic Qualifications: (Transcript must be provided)

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: 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 systematic independent research on the history of spaceflight in a global framework as measured by the production of peer-reviewed publications, including books and journal articles.

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.

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:

• Ability to perform overall personnel management of employees to include personnel actions, hiring decisions, assign and review work for completeness, conduct meetings, provide employee training and development.
• Ability to consult with academia, research centers, and historical societies on a variety of topics centering around the field.
• Ability to serve as a final/technical authority in all decisions related to the National Air and Space Museum collections.
• Ability to communicate as an SI spokesperson or representative to external entities seeking insight, understanding, and guidance pertaining to aeronautics and aerospace.
• Knowledge of research and operational work performed by institutional personnel meets the Smithsonian and National Air and Space Museum policies and procedures in communicating information both internally and externally.
• Skill in exhibition design, content, and the messaging used to educate visitors on displayed collection items.
• Ability to perform work that effects NASM’s mission in managing its collection of items and artifacts, outreach efforts to educate the public, academia, and research organizations in providing creditable historical context related to the history of aerospace and aeronautics.

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.