Director of Collections

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) seeks a Director of Collections, an individual with a Ph.D. degree or equivalent experience, and the ability to provide a vision for the development, growth, enhancement, direction, and management of the Museum’s vast and diverse natural and cultural collections.

NHM is the largest natural history museum in the western United States and home to one of the world’s most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history. These collections are world-class in size, quality, and research importance, and they sustain award-winning research, education, and exhibit programs. Included in the collections are more than 35 million specimens and objects, some as old as 4.5 billion years. These collections encompass those at the main Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, the world-famous La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, and the historic William S. Hart Museum in Newhall, as well as collections maintained at several off-site facilities.

Reporting directly to the Vice President of Research & Collections, the Director of Collections will assist and advise the leadership of Research & Collections on policy development and implementation. He or she will guide collections plans, funding initiatives, strategic growth, digitization efforts, inventories, space allocation, and performance metrics. The Director of Collections will work closely with (but not directly supervise) the curatorial and collections staff, the registrars, conservators, and database managers to oversee a wide-range of collections activities and programs aimed toward making the Museum’s collections more relevant to research and education while increasing their accessibility and use. The successful applicant will have excellent communication skills, a talent for collaboration across disciplines, and the ability to engage and excite both our colleagues and public audience through the relevance of our collections. This position will also be responsible for maintaining and strengthening NHM’s presence in key professional and governmental networks, and for establishing active internal NHM collaborations and cross-departmental initiatives.

The qualified candidate will have a strong background in collections care, management, digitization, and records documentation. He or she will have experience in generating external funding via competitive grants and/or other external sources to support collections. Experience in conducting collections-based research would be an advantage, as would an interest in creative ways of engaging the public in collection support initiatives (e.g., citizen science collections-based activities).