Overview:    

Located on Olympia’s East Bay waterfront, the Hands On Children’s Museum is an award-winning cultural institution and popular early learning destination for families throughout the Northwest and the nation. As a national Museum for All, Hands On served 325,000 annual visitors pre-pandemic, with more than one-third served through a variety of free and low-cost Access programs.

Our mission is to stimulate curiosity, creativity and critical thinking skills through rich, interactive learning experiences. We believe that all children deserve respect and the opportunity to learn regardless of their ability to pay which is why the Museum works hard to serve more than one-third of its visitation through a robust suite of Access programs.

Voted a “Best Place for Kids” for more than a decade, the Museum offers a state of the art LEED Gold facility with 150 indoor exhibits, a half-acre Outdoor Discovery Center and nature play space, Arts Studio, a MakeSpace for tinkering and inventing, café and gift shop, and award-winning education programs including camps, workshops, preschool, parenting classes, field trips, community outreach and family support programs.

We are seeking a talented and energetic Community Engagement Manager to develop and grow relationships with school and community partners and to provide leadership for the Museum’s outreach programs. This Full-Time position reports to the Assistant Director, Visitor Services and the Senior Education Manager, with a core schedule of Monday-Friday 9-5, with occasional evening or weekend programs and museum events.

Qualifications:    

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree preferred.

• 3-5 years’ experience in educational environments. Supervisory and training experience required.

• Must aspire to meet the highest standards in program quality.

• Communicate and work effectively with other team members, various museum departments, community partners, children, and families.

• Washington State Driver’s License. Must be willing to complete special training for a 12-passenger van.

• Ability to obtain First Aid and CPR certification.

Knowledge, Skills and Talents:

• Familiarity with the tenets of the maker movement, Washington State Science & Learning Standards, learning theory, and formal and informal education techniques for children under 12.

• Experience teaching students from preschool through late elementary.

• Demonstrated experience training, mentoring and supervising staff.

• Excellent attention to detail while setting priorities, meeting deadlines, and flexibly solving problems in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.

• Ability to work in a team setting where a high degree of daily communication is required. Must care about and value viewpoints of other team members with different areas of responsibility.

• High level of energy, enthusiasm, flexibility, and patience.

• Good administrative skills including computer program familiarity, correspondence, record keeping, filing and e-mail applications.

• Supportive and caring of other staff, visitors, and organizational mission.

Workplace Values

Achieving our mission requires great people who actively demonstrate our core values.

Job Responsibilities:    

• Manage the Museum’s annual outreach effort including community programs, afterschool programs, HO2U assembly programs and other community program efforts in coordination with the Senior Education Manager and Assistant Director of Visitor Engagement. Responsibilities include annual planning, budgeting, staff management and training.

• Develop and implement comprehensive outreach training program for staff to ensure professional delivery of off-site programming.

• In conjunction with the Education Department leadership, adapt STEAM maker curricula and align with State Standards for use in off-site settings.

• Nurture existing relationships and develop new relationships with collaborative partners, such as schools, out-of-school programs, youth-serving organizations, and libraries.

• Identify opportunities to expand existing relationships to enhance Hands On’s brand and footprint in the community.