Museums & Institutions; Research; Education; Non-profit

Director, Community Programs

HybridHybridInternshipDirectorPosted 29 days ago

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Required skills

Community Programs
Internships
Volunteers
High School Students
Undergraduate Students
San Francisco Residents
Education and Learning Division
Academy Leadership Team
Diversity
Equity

Nice to have

AZA-accredited
Planetarium
Aquarium
Rainforest
Research Institute
Natural History Museum

Role summary

The California Academy of Sciences seeks a Director of Community Programs to lead strategy, implementation, and assessment of programs for local communities, including internships, volunteer initiatives, and resident engagement. Reporting to the Chief of Education and Learning, this role involves collaborating across divisions, representing the Academy externally, and championing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. The Director will manage approximately 10 staff across three teams, oversee budget allocation, develop external partnerships, and implement program evaluation metrics. This position emphasizes creating transformative learning experiences that connect people to the natural world and inspire action for its regeneration.

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.

About the Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief of Education and Learning, the Director of Community Programs is responsible for the strategy, conceptualization, implementation, and assessment of programs at the Academy offered to local communities including internships for high school and undergraduate students, volunteers, and San Francisco residents. The Director works most closely with managerial leaders in the Education and Learning Division, and collaborates with teams from other Divisions such as IBSS, MarComms, Exhibits, and Guest Experience to ensure that we are catalyzing the Academy’s mission and meeting short and long goals for the Education Division. As a member of the Academy Leadership Team, this individual will participate in strategic-level decision making for the Academy as a whole, in addition to representing the Academy externally to board members, donors, and partners.

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are intrinsic to Academy culture and operations, from recruitment and retention to science and advocacy. Explore Our Commitment to Racial Equity to learn about our intentional engagement of traditionally excluded groups in an effort to spark interest in or foster pathways to scientific careers.

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.

Key Responsibilities

In partnership with the Chief of Education, devise, articulate, and implement an innovative strategy and vision for 21st century learning experiences offered to high school and undergraduate students, local residents, and San Francisco diasporas, to maximize our impact with local youth and communities, increase our position as leaders of innovative learning experiences, and meet the educational impacts set for our audiences such as increased science learning, climate and biodiversity literacy, and sustained commitment to agency for the natural world.

Creatively and strategically expand the Academy’s portfolio of community programs by providing project and staff management, along with state-of-the-art and foundational resources, structures, and expert guidance to the Social and Environmental Justice, Education Volunteer, Internship & Mentorship Education, and Careers in Science teams as they innovate new impactful ways to interpret the Academy’s mission and deliver transformative education.

Guide and support the Social and Environmental Justice team as it designs, implements, and evaluates impactful and innovative programming offered through the lens of Social and Environmental Justice, with key audiences being San Francisco local diasporas and communities, and California-based Native American youth.

Guide and support the Education Volunteer team and its portfolio of educational volunteer opportunities, including the Docent Program, Education Research Volunteers, and other approved volunteer programs.

Guide and support the Education Internships & Mentorships team, which partners with the IBSS Internships & Mentorships team and the Dean of Education to increase internship opportunities in social sciences research.

Guide and support the Careers in Science team and its programming with junior and senior high school students.

Research, evaluate, and propose new pedagogy, media, technologies, formats, tools, and modalities to create and deliver human-designed transformational learning experiences and programs for members of local communities through internships, mentorships, volunteerism, and community educational convenings.

Collaborate with IBSS and Exhibits leadership to explore, identify, and consolidate pathways to integrate Academy’s original scientific work into programming for communities and youth that is offered on the museum floor and that centers climate and biodiversity literacy and action.

Enhance the quality and modalities of authentic, transformative learning experiences in which local communities and San Francisco residents from underrepresented diasporas can participate---before, during and post-visit, creating holistic experiences that inspire individuals of all ages and backgrounds to take action towards regeneration of the natural world and about the human-nature connection.

Effectively leverage AI as a support tool for developing educational programs and for science learning.

Inspire, direct, lead, mentor, and manage approximately 10 staff from 3 distinct teams, each composed of managers and staff of various levels and experiences

Allocate and manage the budget for the department and supervise adequate management of each team’s budget, including tracking all expenses, creating spending plans, and guiding staff to adequately request and assign resources.

Collaborate with Membership and Marketing and Communications to effectively develop and market community and youth programs to help increase public awareness, participation, and support for the Academy.

Help lift the Academy’s profile and impact - locally and beyond - as an innovative educational leader by developing strong external strategic program partnerships.

Develop and maintain these external partnerships with organizations and donors that will support the community and youth engagement strategy of the Academy and our attendance and utilization goals.

Develop and implement success metrics and evaluation tools to assess the alignment of designed programs with Transformative Education, measure learning goals set for community and youth audiences, and desired external impact.

Identify and materialize opportunities for growth for the department’s staff in order to increase their expertise and knowledge on niched areas and expose them to new emerging trends.

Act as a thought partner with the Director of Events, Director of Science Operations, and Manager of Academy Volunteers, on strategy level decisions regarding programming and experiences as educational volunteerism, internships, mentorships, and convenings.

Follow all Academy safety regulations and complete all People and Culture (PACT) assigned trainings

Support the Academy’s mission, vision and Academy-wide initiatives

Other duties as assigned

Minimum 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 the essential functions.

Education and/ or Experience:

The ideal candidate will possess a combination of the following education and/or equivalent experience

BA/BS; preferably in science and/or environmental education, and 14+ years’ experience.

Preferred MA/MS in science, science communication, informal education, museum-based education, youth programming or the equivalent of 12+ years’ experience.

Minimum of 7-10 years experience in designing and delivering informal science and action-focused education, including a minimum of 2 years’ working experience in programs that deliver informal educational programming to community and youth audiences.

Combined minimum of 7-10 years’ supervisory, leadership experience over teams of informal educators and public-facing staff and volunteers at a zoo or aquarium (AZA accredited institution) or at a science center or museum.

5+ years’ managing volunteers and/or volunteer programming.

3-5 years’ experience in securing funding for public programming through grant writing and/or donor solicitations.

3-5 years’ experience in developing and cultivating multi-organizational partnerships focused on family or general public science or environmental learning.

2-3 years’ of special event and/or festival programming experience desired.

Skills & Abilities:

Expert in developing innovative and engaging science content and solutionary-based learning experiences for all ages for use by museums, aquariums, z planetariums and/or other informal science learning organizations.

Passionate and skillful conceptualization and design of programs that center communities and individuals, particularly those historically marginalized.

Demonstrated knowledge and track record of working with San Francisco-based communities and youth, with a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities to engage with these audiences.

Expert in developing learning experiences that integrate complex science within accessible content, experiences, and interactions that strengthen the human-nature connection and increase commitment to agency and stewardship.

Excellent leadership skills and commitment to positive team dynamics including developing leadership and growth opportunities within teams.

Demonstrated experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating exciting in-person programs that merge informal science with action-oriented information, targeted for all ages and types of audiences.

Ability to review content for all the public, through a scientific lens to confirm accuracy and rigor, and to provide feedback on structure and content when needed.

Outstanding budget management skills for individual teams and department level operations, including creating financial projections for proposed projects and programs.

Ample knowledge of, and demonstrated implementation of, progressive science interpretation, science communication, and solutionary-design approaches for public, volunteer, youth, and internship programs.

Excellent communication skills: employs tact and diplomacy to communicate complex issues to highly diverse audiences.

Demonstrated commitment to safety, specifically in regards to working with youth and volunteers.

Ability to develop, operationalize, and implement program strategy.

Nimble problem solving skills that combine a strong understanding of what motivates volunteers and staff and the ability to address staff performance issues in a proactive, supportive, kind, and discreet manner.

Excellent organizational, detail and time-management skills, including demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and on deadline, with the ability to coach other staff members from any level in this area.

Impeccable writing skills and significant experience with grant writing and donor report writing.

High computer proficiency in Google Suite, MS Office, Adobe Acrobat.

Ability to creatively contribute ideas to developing immersive, interactive, cutting-edge experiences

General working knowledge of and experience using generative AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Lovable (or other vibe coding tools), Gamma, Figma (presentations), etc.

Desired/ Preferred:

Bilingual (spoken and/or written) in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, or other non-English language preferred.

Background in social sciences research.

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. The physical expectations described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential duties of the position of this job. Ability to safely work in both outdoor and indoor environments that may include stairs, uneven paths, ladders or lifts, and secure access areas. This position requires extensive time on the museum public floor which includes: frequent travel across concrete floors and bark while transporting materials, intervals of time outdoors in varying environmental conditions, extensive public speaking often in noisy environments, and exposure to high levels of noise. Employees must be able to lift, carry and pull up to 30 pounds with or without assistance. Must be able to perform repetitive motions 50% of the time.

Compensation and Benefits:The salary for this position is $155,000.00. 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: Full-time, hybrid (3 days onsite and 2 days remote), 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).

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Director, Community Programs

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