Program Officer

Do you want to go to work every day in an amazing building that displays Montana’s history?

Do you want to join an agency full of committed, inspired individuals?

Do you want to be a part of a wonderful, dedicated team of education professionals in an agency dedicated to preserving and sharing Montana’s history?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the Montana Historical Society (MTHS) might be the perfect place for you! MTHS offers a unique workplace for its employees. It’s filled with friendly and creative staff members who work together to offer the public exciting and innovative ways to experience Montana’s history.

MTHS seeks an energetic and talented person for the position of Museum Education Officer. If you believe that understanding the past is imperative to creating the future, you may find this position is a good fit. At MTHS, we are striving to make our work environment a supportive and engaging place to foster work/life balance. The person sought for this position will be a positive representative of Montana Historical Society to the public, and will embody the MTHS culture of excellence, teamwork, professionalism, and passion for the work that we do.

The ideal candidate is a motivated person who loves history, has strong program management skills, enjoys developing curriculum and interpretive programs, and embraces the position’s role in leading an office of ultimately 3 FTE tour guides.

Function: The Museum Education office is within the Outreach &amp Education Program of the Montana Historical Society. Under the direction of the program manager, this position is responsible for the museum education and tour responsibilities of MTHS. Among other tasks, the ability to exercise sound judgment, be detail orientated, have great time management skills, along with a welcoming and friendly attitude, is important to this position.

Other: The Museum Education Officer will work a 40-hour a week schedule, primarily Monday through Friday. This position is not eligible for telework. The hourly rate of this position will increase by $1.50 per hour starting July 1, 2024, in accordance with HB13. This position is eligible for a 10% pay increase during tour season from May – September when supervising at least 2 FTE.

Come join us at the MTHS where we work together to share Montana’s stories and inspire exploration!

Representative Duties:

This position will oversee the creation of a tour program for the new Montana Heritage Center, opening in 2025, as well as overseeing tours at the Montana State Capitol and the Original Governor’s Mansion (OGM). Duties include but are not limited to:

• Overseeing tour guides and volunteer docents, including all management functions: hiring, firing, performance management, discipline, scheduling and work distribution, training, and employee development.
• Working with contractors to design visitor experiences, including guided tours, self-guided tours, and audio tours for Montana Heritage Center Museum exhibits, the Original Governor’s Mansion and the state capitol.
• Creating and implementing curriculum to train tour guides using the principles of how people learn to ensure effective training and assessing trainee comprehension in a variety of ways.
• Conducting regular informal and formal performance reviews of tour guides and ensuring that programs are of high quality and appropriately targeted.
• Writing policies, procedures, and reports for the tour program and coordinating all aspects of operations.
• Taking appropriate measures to protect visitors, personnel, and the organization from risk and loss.
• Applying knowledge of interpretive research resources and current trends discussed in interpretive literature to develop programs, educational components of exhibits and to train tour guides.
• Using market research and working with stakeholders to develop visitor experience products that meet audience needs and interests.
• Conducting program evaluations and visitor surveys, analyzing the results, and proposing revisions to the program’s offerings.
• Facilitating the identification and selection of interpretive media.
• Responding to visitor complaints or concerns while demonstrating tact and diplomacy during conflict and managing conflict to a successful resolution.
• Based on the evaluations, creating and implementing improvement plans and initiate corrective actions.
• Creating guidelines for schools seeking grants from the Montana History &amp Civics Education Endowment Fund to bring student classes to MTHS and the Capitol.
• Overseeing the application process and disbursement of field trip funds to schools and tracking the fund budget.
• Using a variety of formal and informal interpretive programming techniques to engage and educate audiences.
• Fielding questions on controversial issues. Navigating through what may be difficult controversial conversations.

Advertised Physical Requirements:

This position works primarily within MTHS headquarters, with frequent trips to the Capitol and OGM. Extensive walking and standing, especially during major public events or conferences, are required as is regular lifting, carrying, and manual dexterity. The duties of this position entail extensive public interaction and include the development and presentation of programs with precise deadlines, high visibility, and the stress accompanying the responsibility of insuring that—through all educational offerings—the public is well served and MTHS’s image is enhanced.

Required Skills:

• Professional knowledge of museum/historical education theory and methods the ability to apply this knowledge to MTHSs educational offerings.
• Expertise in principles and methods of teaching and instruction for individuals and groups.
• Knowledge of proven interpretive practices, techniques, and concepts.
• Basic knowledge of history and historiography, with an emphasis on Western United States and Montana history.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective professional working relationships with a wide range of school, agency, university, political, and public individuals.
• Demonstrated skill in verbal public presentations.
• Demonstrated skill in providing tours.
• Experience in museum technology and ability to develop interpretive media to enhance visitor experience.
• Skilled in evaluation methods (including surveys, focus groups, and other tools).
• Understanding of performance management.
• Experienced in training and supervising staff.
• Ability to design and implement high-quality training sessions.
• Creative thinker, who can make quick decisions.

Required Qualifications:

• Must have a BA degree in history, public history, Native American Studies, Museum studies, education, history, or closely related field or commensurate experience.
• National Association for Interpretation (NAI) certification preferred.

Required Application Materials:

• Cover Letter
• Resume