Head of Digital Collections Initiatives

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Full-time Regular 35 or more hrs per wk Full-Time Chicago, IL, US

8 days ago Requisition

Salary Range: $65,000.00 To $72,000.00 Annually

Chicago History Museum

Job Description

JOB TITLE:Head of Digital Collections Initiatives

DEPARTMENT: Collections

REPORTS TO: Director of Collections

FLSA STATUS: Exempt

JOB SUMMARY

Under the guidance of the Director of Collections, the Head of Digital Collections Initiatives leads strategy for the Museum's digital collections ecosystem, coordinating cross-departmental efforts, and overseeing the development of systems, integrations, standards, and workflows that advance the Museum's digital transformation.

The position manages and coordinates all aspects of the Digital Collections Initiatives unit, including the areas of digitization, digital asset management, and rights and reproductions, generating institutional revenue, managing the unit budget and supporting digital access to collections for internal and external audiences. The role ensures that the museum's digital assets are responsibly managed, widely accessible, and leveraged to support research, exhibits and public engagement.

This position works closely with Collections, Curation and Exhibitions, IT, Communications, Education, and Institutional Advancement to align digital initiatives with institutional priorities, secure philanthropic support and strengthen the museum's role as a leading research institution.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Manage the day-to-day operations of the Digital Collections Initiatives unit, including supervising staff, interns and volunteers and coordinating their work.
• Lead the strategic planning and governance of the museum's digital collections ecosystem, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities, best practices, available resources and long-term sustainability.
• Serve as project manager for digital collections initiatives, including Digital Futures, collaborating with relevant staff, overseeing strategy, budgets, timelines, and milestone tracking and communicating project progress to internal and external stakeholders.
• Oversee and/or support the planning, implementation, and optimization of collections-related digital systems, including digital asset management systems (DAMS), collections management systems (CMS), and public discovery platforms, ensuring they meet the needs of internal and external audiences and support collections stewardship.
• Oversee the Museum's Rights and Reproductions program, maximizing revenue while supporting research, exhibitions, publications, and partnerships, and ensuring responsible rights management; submit accounting and royalty reports as needed.
• Advise the Director of Collections in developing annual departmental goals, objectives, and budget.
• Collaborate with IT and internal stakeholders to ensure systems integration, scalability, and long-term sustainability.
• Lead the development, implementation, documentation and improvement of cross-departmental workflows for collections-related digitization, digital asset management, digital preservation and digital access, ensuring work is coordinated efficiently, consistently, and in alignment with institutional priorities.
• Establish and maintain technical standards, quality assurance practices, and governance for image capture, metadata creation, digital preservation, and digital asset management, ensuring consistent implementation across collections systems.
• Develop an institutional digitization strategy and priorities that support collections stewardship, exhibitions, digital scholarship, community outreach, and revenue-generating opportunities.
• Oversee digitization initiatives, coordinating priorities, resources, staff, and external vendors to ensure projects are completed efficiently and in accordance with established standards.
• Expand public access to digitized collections through user-friendly digital platforms and improved discovery tools.
• Develop and implement processes for collecting and analyzing internal and external user feedback and metrics to evaluate performance and inform continuous improvements to the digital collections ecosystem.
• Participate in institutional committees and working groups to represent digital collections priorities, advocating for digital transformation across the institution and promoting best practices.
• Monitor emerging technologies, standards, and best practices related to digital collections management, digital preservation, and cultural heritage technologies, recommending solutions that are practical and sustainable.
• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with technology providers, academic institutions, funding organizations, community groups and peer museums to advance digital initiatives and promote public awareness of the collection.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and service-oriented culture…