Exhibitions Jobs (NOW HIRING)

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a thriving cultural center for the Bay Area. We cannot imagine life without art; it inspires and connects us every day. Now more than ever, these connections matter and are aligned with our values.
Inclusive: We strive to be a museum of many voices in dialogue.
Passionate: We believe working with art is more than a job or trusteeship - it's a way of life.
Brave: We are committed to approaching our work with courage and a sense of adventure, always ready to explore new perspectives.
Empathic: We aim to act like a person, not an institution.
SFMOMA is a place for the infinitely curious to explore, support, and experience the art of our time. We believe that modern and contemporary art can influence the way we think, view the world, and embrace the many voices and perspectives around us. We aspire to foster an environment that elicits joy, nurtures a sense of belonging and purpose-where difference is seen as a strength, and every one is appreciated for their whole self.
Schedule: Full Time, 35 hours/week, at least three days working onsite
Reporting to the Director of Exhibitions and Program Management (EPM), the Project Manager II, Exhibitions oversees and drives workflows for exhibition and display activity. This position requires strong critical thinking and leadership skills and the ability to evaluate and make independent decisions about competing priorities that support the Museum and the Collections, Exhibitions, and Design (CED) Division's overall strategic objectives and plan.
The Project Manager II, Exhibitions is responsible for managing the integration and flow of all cross-functional and strategic projects for the CED Division, and specifically Exhibition and Gallery programs. The Project Manager II, Exhibitions works directly with multiple departments and external partners to realize the museum's display programs.The position is a vital partner to colleagues in Collections, Exhibitions and Program Planning, Design, Digital Experience, Marketing and Communications, Curatorial, and Education and Community Engagement in realizing integrated collections stewardship, collaborative collections research, and dynamic programming.
This is a high-volume, highly collaborative role that manages multiple concurrent initiatives with competing deadlines. The successful candidate is skilled at prioritizing work, adapting to evolving priorities, and maintaining accuracy and attention to detail while balancing a substantial and dynamic workload. This role requires on-site participation during assigned installations and, although rare, may also include occasional evenings and weekends during critical times.
At 30 days, incumbent will gain a general understanding of their role within the structure of the Museum. Within the first quarter, incumbent will have a more comprehensive grasp of the systems and processes critical to their position in the organization and will be managing some projects/processes independently; and by the end of the first year, incumbent will be managing assigned projects with minimal supervisory oversight.
Responsibilities & Duties
Team Leadership

• Delivers and implements new solutions and procedures to facilitate art stewardship and human and environmental sustainability to engage, inspire and reward audiences so that visitors feel compelled to return and recommend the museum to their family and friends.

• Encourages an inclusive, rewarding, and inspiring workplace, where innovation, discovery, and constant learning cultivate a deep sense of belonging and shared responsibility within the Exhibitions Project Management team.

• Builds and fosters a culture of safety, inclusivity, and equity.

• Supports employee personal and professional growth.

• Works in a healthy and flexible management style that understands and adjusts to staff needs and complex projects and supports strategic pursuits and sustainable workloads.

• Nurtures collaboration and partnerships across teams with fluid communication and respect for diverse expertise essential to an art museum.

• Supports effective and efficient communication and workflows, prioritizes activities, and ensures that teams have the resources they need to do their jobs.

• Models empathy and understanding, communicates clearly, and explains the benefits of changing practices and behavior.

• Works with managers to lead and support teams through healthy conflict resolution.

• Promotes a culture of excellence by being a solid source of positivity and motivation for the team.

• Supervises the Project Manager I, Exhibitions position when assigned, and is responsible for clearly defining the museum's policies and performance expectations.

Strategic Support

• Promotes and demonstrates a commitment to the museum's strategic focus with processes and guardrails to ensure we move towards the same goals and pivot away from activities that do not support that strategy.

• Recommends key opportunities and strategies for the advancement of project management best practices within the department and aligns practices with project teams across the organization.

• Establishes streamlining opportunities, promoting internal and external synergies.

• Evaluates project risks regularly, proactively identifying and resolving potential project roadblocks.

• Collaborates with other EPM Team members to design a cohesive, broad lens of projects across the Collections, Exhibitions, and Design Division.

• Forecasts, with requesting departments, project requests in advance of each fiscal year and provides high-level planning while strategizing priorities and workflow.

• Delivers policies and procedures that are standardized and sustainable across the team.

Exhibition Management

• Directs project management for exhibition and display activities in close partnership with multiple stakeholders across the museum.

• Makes recommendations for a course of action or a series of options toward project goals while adhering to project schedules, budgets, quality, and safety standards.

• Implements project management frameworks for complex, multi-stakeholder, interdepartmental Exhibitions projects and programs.

• Manages workloads and workflows for all requests - develops schedules, identifies and negotiates resources, tracks progress, budgets, and deadlines, and communicates regularly within projects using project management software.

• Maintains the strategic calendar integrating collections and exhibitions programs, fiscal year, and multiyear planning objectives in collaboration with the Director of Exhibitions + Program Management and the Chief CED Officer.

• Develops and maintains visualization and communication of timelines, schedules, milestones, dependencies, and deadlines in consultation with the Director of Exhibitions + Program Management.

• Produces, negotiates, manages, and reconciles exhibition agreements and budgets

• Conducts project after-action reviews and creates a recommendation report to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements.

Administration

• Ensures maintenance of clean and consistent archives of final project outcomes and information and files.

• Ensures systems are in place and running to maintain appropriate logs, schedules, and records of projects and programs, including agreements, requests, and authorizations for payments.

• Facilitates effective communication, resolving discrepancies between project components, and assuring compliance with project timelines and budget alignment.

• Tracks data on projects and finds creative ways to share and apply the information for decision-making.

Qualifications & Skills

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent with course work in museum studies, collections management, art history, or studio art, preferred. Working knowledge of nonprofit museum management.

• Minimum of five (5) years of success working in museum exhibitions project management capacity managing the work of creative or multidisciplinary teams, preferably in Exhibitions.

• Demonstrated experience in coordinating and/or managing projects and staff.

• Demonstrated experience managing domestic and international touring exhibitions and working with partnering institutions in co-organization and venue capacities.

• Experience with management principles, and oversight of teams.

• Proven time management skills with the ability to organize work, set priorities, and meet critical deadlines in a high-volume environment.

• Outstanding management and supervisory skills that support, lead, and motivate employees.

• Maintains a professional and positive attitude in a creative, collaborative, team-oriented environment.

• Ability to communicate effectively with a diverse constituency

• Works effectively with a broad range of internal and external constituents to build strong relationships based on trust and positive track records.

• High levels of initiative, innovation, creativity, and flexible problem-solving skills.

• Provides a sense of focus and calm under challenging or changing deadlines in a high-volume environment.

• Exceptional judgment, professionalism, and discretion in handling confidential and sensitive situations and matters.

• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication and discrete, diplomatic, and effective professional negotiating skills.

• Excellent proficiency with Microsoft applications (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).

• Expertise with Asana or other project management software platforms.

• Ability to quickly master new tools and platforms as technologies evolve.

• Ability to prioritize projects and deadlines; strong organizational and time management skills, including handling frequent interruption and several issues at one time.

Working Conditions
This role requires on-site participation during assigned installations and, although rare, may also include occasional evenings and weekends during critical times.
$81,374 - $88,055 a year
Job posting open date: 8/3/26
All jobs posted will remain open for at least five business days.
We encourage both internal and external candidates to apply within the initial open posting period as the application close date may or may not be extended beyond that initial period. Applications will not be accepted after a posting has been closed.
Location: San Francisco, 151 3rd Street.
Benefits: PTO, Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, Pet Insurance, Life and AD&D Coverage, Disability Insurance, Mental Health and Wellness Benefits, Discount Programs, Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits, 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan, SFMOMA Membership, and more
At SFMOMA, we do not believe that any applicant can, or should, meet every qualification listed in a job posting. We are committed to welcoming applicants from all backgrounds and professional paths who are inspired to join a mission-driven, community-oriented organization grounded in inclusivity, passion, bravery, and empathy.
If this describes you, we encourage you to apply.
Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
SFMOMA is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. No person shall be discriminated against based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, age, genetic information, ancestry/national origin, marital status, disability, medical condition, HIV status, sexual orientation, veteran/military status, and any other category protected by federal or state law.
You may request reasonable accommodation if you are unable to or are limited in your ability to access job postings or provide additional information asked in the job posting.
You can request reasonable accommodation by contacting the People Team at [email protected].