Associate Director, Creative Technology

About the California Academy of Sciences

Founded in 1853, the California Academy of Sciences is a globally renowned, AZA-accredited non-profit scientific and cultural institution located in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Home to a world-class planetarium, aquarium, rainforest, research institute, and natural history museum—all under one living roof—our mission is to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration.

Our living collection reflects Earth’s vast biodiversity, consisting of nearly 60,000 animals representing over 800 species. Our research collections are the largest west of the Mississippi, spanning nearly 46 million plants, animals, fossils, and cultural artifacts from across the globe and throughout history. Our diverse team includes leading biodiversity scientists, educators, storytellers, designers, and communicators who are passionate about advancing knowledge and catalyzing action through science and storytelling.

Whether you're conducting research behind the scenes or engaging the public on the museum floor, your work will help connect people to the natural world and empower them to protect it.

Organizational Culture

When you join the California Academy of Sciences, you become part of a mission-driven community that values curiosity, collaboration, and innovation, and celebrates its accomplishments together. Staff share a commitment to executing a new strategic plan that will strengthen the organization's financial foundations, cultivate a vibrant internal culture, and foster smart growth to secure the Academy’s future.

We hope you are inspired by what we do and are motivated to contribute to our mission. The Academy is looking for candidates who do great work, and we know they may come from a number of different backgrounds and experiences. We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every qualification for the position.

This position is based in San Francisco, California. The specific onsite/hybrid schedule for this position is listed below.

Position Summary

The Associate Director, Creative Technology will help shape the future of museum experiences at the California Academy of Sciences. Leading the Experience Studio’s Creative Technology function, they will set the creative and technical vision for bold new experiences—from groundbreaking immersive exhibitions and interactive environments to new experiences in the Morrison Planetarium.

This is an opportunity to shape a next-generation museum: responsive, playful, transformative, and deeply connected to the natural world. The role will focus heavily on innovation, using creative coding, AI, physical computing, real-time media, projection, spatial audio, and emerging technologies to turn ambitious ideas into unforgettable visitor experiences.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Experience, the Associate Director will build and lead a talented multidisciplinary team and partner with a broad network of technology partners. They will bring together the Academy’s deep expertise with new capabilities, collaborators, and ways of working to create a new generation of visitor experiences, while ensuring systems remain reliable, sustainable, and ready to evolve.

What You'll Get to Build

At the California Academy of Sciences, the Creative Technology team invents experiences that have never existed before, such as:

How We Work

The Experience Studio operates like a creative lab. Our team prototypes early, tests ideas with visitors, and iterates quickly, combining in-house engineering and development expertise with a curated network of creative technology collaborators.

This role has the freedom and responsibility to explore new tools, shape the technical direction of major visitor experiences, and establish the systems and practices that keep them working over time. The Associate Director is both a strategist and a maker–equally comfortable setting a multi-year technology roadmap, guiding a large-scale installation, reviewing a planetarium systems plan, and diving into code, sensors, controls, or real-time media experiments.

Position Duties and Responsbilities

New Experience Development - Primary Focus

Strategic Leadership & Team Management

Public Experience Systems & Lifecycle Management

Qualifications

Experience and/or Education:

Required and Preferred:

Skills and Abilities

Required and Preferred:

Physical Environment:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

Compensation and Benefits:The salary range for this position is $150,000 - 165,000. Actual compensation will be commensurate with the final candidate's qualifications and experience, including skills, knowledge, relevant education, certifications and aligned with the internal peer group. We believe in fair and equitable compensation practices and are committed to providing competitive salaries within the industry and market standards. The Academy offers a total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and comprehensive benefits based on the hours per week worked. Further details regarding compensation and benefits will be discussed during the interview process.

Schedule: Hybrid, 3 days / week onsite, 40 hours per week

How to Apply: Interested candidates should submit a resume and application through our Careers Page portal.

The California Academy of Sciences will give full consideration for employment to all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance (SF Police Code, Article 49).