Executive Director

We seek an Executive Director to help shape Spiritus’s future, lead its team, and build the relationships that sustain its work. Working closely with the Founder and Artistic Director, you will have the authority to represent Spiritus and make independent decisions within agreed priorities and budgets. This opportunity may particularly appeal to someone with a background in the humanities who wishes to bring their intellectual interests, gifts for communication, and organizational abilities into the life of a growing Catholic arts initiative.

Your intellectual judgment will contribute to shaping projects and communicating their significance across music, history, theology, and the visual arts.

• Represent Spiritus at meetings, concerts, and cultural gatherings, serving as a principal contact for donors, institutional partners, and Church communities in New York City and beyond.
• Cultivate lasting relationships with current and prospective supporters, helping them understand Spiritus’s work and inviting philanthropic support through personal engagement and compelling proposals.
• Guide projects from planning to completion, setting clear priorities and overseeing schedules and budgets with care and sound judgment.
• Lead Spiritus’s local and international teams, drawing on their strengths and working alongside them to bring our projects to life.

Our calendar includes a small number of major events each year, alongside ongoing projects. We envisage approximately 20-25 hours a week devoted to organizational responsibilities, with the remaining time dedicated to cultivating relationships and philanthropic support.

• A strong affinity with Spiritus’s mission, a thoughtful understanding of Catholic life and culture, and an interest in sacred music and the arts.
• Excellent writing skills and editorial judgment, with the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively in correspondence, proposals, and public communications.
• An engaging presence and a talent for building relationships, earning trust, and inspiring support. Experience in fundraising or institutional partnerships is welcome but not essential.
• Sound judgment and the confidence to take initiative, with a record of bringing academic, cultural, professional, or community projects to successful completion.
• The ability to work independently, guide colleagues, delegate clearly, and manage shared priorities and resources.

We welcome candidates from a wide range of backgrounds, including music, the visual arts, museums and galleries, education, publishing, Catholic institutions, philanthropy, and public service. Recent PhDs and scholars completing advanced study in the humanities are warmly encouraged to apply, as are experienced professionals seeking a new chapter of meaningful work. Relevant experience may include organizing conferences, securing research funding, editing publications, teaching, or coordinating international collaborations.

We value demonstrated ability and achievement over a particular degree, job title, or career path. We seek someone who enjoys turning ideas into reality, bringing people together, and seeing work through, and who would embrace the freedom and responsibility to help shape Spiritus’s growth.

The starting salary is $85,000, with the opportunity for substantial increases as Spiritus grows. We want the Executive Director to share in the success they help create, with compensation increasing as their leadership builds the organization’s impact and sustainability. Candidates should be based in New York City by the start of their appointment and retain it as their home base, with regular availability for in-person meetings and events.

You may work remotely while travelling, including internationally, without using your annual leave. Evening and weekend engagements are balanced by flexibility elsewhere in the week. The role offers substantial opportunities to travel to Spiritus projects and events across the United States and internationally, particularly in California and Europe. Spiritus values time for rest, family, travel, and personal and spiritual development.

The role includes 50 working days (10 weeks) of paid annual leave each year, in addition to public holidays. Annual leave is planned around key commitments.