Curator

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust seeks an experienced Curator to produce high-quality exhibitions that ensure scholarly excellence, broad audience engagement, and mission alignment. Serving as a cross-departmental partner and public-facing representative, the Curator also advances the Museum’s visibility through publications, presentations, programs, and tours, and provides essential research and curatorial knowledge to the Collections & Exhibitions department. Under the direction of the Senior Curator, the Curator plays a key role in positioning the Museum as a leading educator of Holocaust and Jewish history.

Responsibilities

• Reporting to the Senior Curator, participate in the development of exhibitions from concept to deinstallation, including creating or recommending external proposals, research, and design.
• Curate and/or co-curate exhibitions that align with Museum goals, stay within budget and on deadline, and meet the highest standards of scholarship, design, accessibility, and audience engagement.
• Throughout the exhibition-making process, work with external partners, vendors, scholars, and other stakeholders, including supervising professional staff, interns and project focused consultants and contractors.
• Liaise with departments across the Museum to promote creative and effective use of exhibition and collection content to enhance messaging, storytelling, education, development, and programming.
• Assist in the development of proposals and fundraising materials for new exhibitions, including meeting with and cultivation of potential donors and funders.
• Represent the Museum at professional conferences and symposia and at MJH events, including donor tours and press events, all of which can include some weekend or late hours.
• Participate in the ongoing assessment, research, interpretation, and management of the Museum’s collection, including new acquisitions, eMuseum, and policies.

Requirements

• Advanced degree (MA or PhD) in Holocaust History/Studies, Late Modern European History, Jewish History/Studies, or a related field.
• Five to eight years of curatorial experience in a museum or comparable institution.
• Sensitivity to cultural heritage stewardship with the ability to ground audiences in Jewish culture and values.
• Excellent project management skills with experience overseeing budgets, timelines, and cross-departmental collaboration.
• Knowledge of exhibition design terminology and techniques, including hanging methods, furniture, lighting, mount-making, etc.
• Strong research, writing, interpretation and public speaking skills, with experience addressing general audiences.
• Knowledge of and adherence to collections management standards, museum best practices, provenance research, and the Curator’s Code of Ethics.
• Strong computer skills and competence with collections of databases and digital cataloguing systems, TMS experience a plus.
• Strong leadership and supervisory skills; ability to mentor junior curators and interns.
• Collaborative and collegial working style, able to partner across departments (education, conservation, development, marketing).
• Working knowledge of at least one relevant foreign language is preferred but not required (Polish, German, Russian, Hebrew, French, Yiddish, etc.).

Position Details

• Reports to the Senior Curator
• Salary compensation range $75,000-$85,000 with generous benefits
• Full-time, 40 hours a week including some evening and weekend hours, with hybrid schedule available after 90 days

The Museum of Jewish Heritage is an equal-opportunity employer. As a cultural institution that teaches about the dangers of intolerance, the Museum is dedicated to promoting diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion in its hiring practices. Information about the Museum’s work and values can be found here.

For consideration, qualified candidates should submit a resume and a letter of interest with “Curator” in the subject line to: humanresources@mjhnyc.org