Starting Salary: $47,000
SUMMARY:

The Public Engagement Team is responsible for developing and delivering participatory, audience-driven experiences to guests to achieve Shedd’s mission of sparking compassion, curiosity, and conservation for the aquatic animal world. The team is also responsible for developing and facilitating, in collaboration with partner departments and vendors, engagement trainings that build the skillsets of their staff members and volunteers, so we can create a seamless, joyful, and engaging Shedd experience no matter the staff member guests encounter. These trainings are part of a workforce development strategy to help develop team members across Shedd to advance into engagement or learning-centered roles.

The Public Engagement Specialist uses creativity, instructional best practices, and evaluation data to design, implement, and evaluate programs and training to align with the institutional strategic objectives and the mission framework. This position will design programs and training as part of a portfolio to enhance learning and engagement opportunities for school groups, families, and general guests. Programs encompass a variety of types of experiences, ranging from small-scale, unscripted conversations to small-group animal engagements to large-scale presentations. The Public Engagement Specialist has experience in interpretation, engagement strategies, program development, and training. This position collaborates with other departmental and organizational team members to implement Shedd-wide programs, projects, and experiences. Additionally, the Public Engagement Specialist regularly delivers established and new programs. The position requires a strong ability to learn multiple program outlines and apply improvisational techniques to dynamically engage audiences. Tailoring content to various audiences and rapidly adapting and evolving to guest and aquarium needs are important skills, as is the ability to connect with diverse audiences with cultural competency. Qualified individuals will have experience in improv, theatre, and/or informal education settings, as well as demonstrated program development experience.

Time Commitment:

• Approximately 40 hours per week.
• The schedule for this position will be Sunday-Thursday or Tuesday-Saturday.
• This position may require work on evenings, weekends, overnight hours, and holidays.
• This position must be able to work at Shedd Aquarium and in offsite locations.

The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Demonstrate commitment to Shedd’s vision, mission, and values
• Develop and implement programs and training utilizing evaluation results, science standards, and current educational trends and research
• Work closely with the Public Engagement Program Manager to develop an overarching program suite and strategy
• Work closely with Public Engagement Training and Development Manager to develop and facilitate training
• Stay current on relevant best practices (instructional strategies, content areas, etc.)
• Utilize resources such as live animals, technology, and other tools
• Lead program and training development phases to ensure goals and objectives are being met and communicate the status of projects effectively
• Collaborate with community partners and Shedd audiences on program prototyping and piloting, ensuring that diverse audience voices are part of the program development process
• Use diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive (DEAI) practices in program design
• Work closely with the Research and Evaluation department on evaluation plans in alignment with strategies for reaching program and learner goals
• Continually incorporate assessment data in program planning and facilitation
• Collaborate with aquarium-wide teams to execute programs, projects, and events
• Help lead program training and certification process for team members
• Keep scripts, outlines, and other program documents up to date to reflect interpretation best practices, blocking adjustments and content updates
• Maintain program resources, materials, and spaces
• Learn and facilitate multiple scripts and outlines featuring a variety of Shedd’s 32,000 animals, tailoring content to a variety of audiences
• Proactively interact with guests, animal care team members, donors, etc.
• Dynamically engage guests about the aquatic world throughout the aquarium
• Work near animals, adhering to established protocols
• Serve as a leader to other staff and volunteers for guest interaction and knowledge
• Attend training workshops as scheduled, lead training elements and workshops as needed
• Assist with and lead onboarding and training with new team members
• Collaborate closely with leaders to set goals, develop skills, and receive and integrate feedback for professional growth
• Serve on interdepartmental teams
• Other duties as needed or assigned

QUALIFICATIONS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree in science/environmental studies, education, museum studies, or a related field or equivalent experience
• Minimum 2 years of experience teaching, preferably in an informal setting
• Experience delivering programs to a variety of audiences in a museum, zoo, or aquarium setting preferred
• Minimum 1 year of experience designing learning experiences and training
• Experience with culturally relevant science education practices and instructional strategies preferred
• Experience working in team-based environments
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) preferred

LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION SKILLS:

• Ability to read, write, speak, and comprehend English fluently.
• Ability to effectively present information to and collaborate with colleagues and guests alike.
• Ability to execute excellent public speaking skills and science teaching aptitude.
• Ability to maintain good vocal control with the ability to speak publicly for many hours each day without loss of voice.
• Ability to comfortably interact with the public and animal care staff.
• Ability to read and comprehend complex instructions given from written and oral sources.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

• Ability to understand basic mathematical relationships and formulas.

We strongly encourage people of color, LGBTQ community, veterans and active duty military, parents, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from all cultural backgrounds to apply. Shedd Aquarium is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone to our team.

If you need a reasonable accommodation at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know. In your application, please feel free to select which pronouns you use (For example – she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs).