Clarification from the agency

This is a Term Appt, with an initial appointment of 2 years with the option to extend up to 3 years.

The curatorial division of European and American Art is responsible for the Gallery's care, study,  display, and expansion of a world-class collection of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts from Europe, America, and other parts of the world, from the medieval, Renaissance Baroque, 18th-century, and 19th-century periods. The 
Senior Curator of European and American Art is one of four senior curators reporting to the Chief Curatorial and Conservation Officer.

• Shape the museum’s pre-1900 European and American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts program in ways that expand the contours of historical European and American art and its relevance to contemporary audiences.
• Plan future growth and contributes to the division’s goals and strategies in areas of collection management and expansion, donor development, research, exhibitions, installations, loans, and interpretive programs.         
• Work collaboratively with curators across the Gallery to conceive and implement plans for new installations and displays of the permanent collection.    
• Embrace innovative approaches to the fields of European and American art as they impact scholarship, collections development, staff management, and audience engagement.          
• Propose, organize, and review proposals by others for major and minor exhibitions of pre-1900 European and American art both from the Gallery’s holdings and from other institutions and private collections.        
• Share or delegate collection management responsibilities for the department that aligns with own expertise. Expand and deepen the Gallery’s collections through the acquisition of works of art of the highest quality and relevance to the Gallery’s mission and collecting policies.      
• Perform and oversee advanced scholarly research on European and American art in the collection, on prospective acquisitions, in areas of special expertise, and for inclusion or examination in exhibitions, scholarly journals, Gallery publications, lectures, and symposia.                
• Collaborate with colleagues across the gallery to develop effective means of sharing scholarly information with diverse Gallery audiences; writes or reviews texts for the website, brochures, leaflets, and other Gallery publications or scholarly studies.      
• Manage personnel and resources; responsible for developing and managing budgets and the allocation of space, time, staff, and equipment.                                                      
• Perform the full range of supervisory responsibilities for subordinates directly supervised and serves as second-level supervisor for employees who report to the division’s department heads        Participate in Gallery-wide activities and meetings related to curatorial or administrative matters of concern to the curatorial and conservation divisions or to the Gallery at large.                                                

Conditions of employment

• You must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• See "Other Information" section regarding Selective Service requirements.
• Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period

Resumes must be no longer than two-pages in length. The resume must address minimum qualifications and other requirements listed in the job announcement. Beginning on September 27, 2025, job seekers can modify existing resumes stored in their USAJOBS profile or upload or build a new resume in their USAJOBS profile to meet the two-page requirement and mark a resume as searchable in the Agency Talent Portal (ATP). Job seekers must choose a resume that is two pages or less to make it searchable and apply for jobs.

Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Your resume must include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week.

Qualifications

Specialized Experience Statement: To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, candidates must possess a minimum of one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to grade level GS-15 in the public, private sectors. Specialized experience is defined as: Serving as a senior curator, responsible for the overall management, safekeeping, and integrity of Western art before 1900, with a record of achievement in art museum management, art acquisitions, collection care and development, research, publications, exhibitions, interpretation, and programs, together with the breadth of curatorial experience to create dialogues with other media and the curiosity to forge connections across collections areas who specializes in one or more of the disciplines represented by the five curatorial departments that make up the division of European and American Art (American and British, Northern European, French, Italian and Spanish paintings, and Sculpture and Decorative Arts, before 1900), for a major organization or institution.

OPM Qualifications Standard:

Individual Occupational Requirements: Museum Curator Series 1015

Associated Group standard:  Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Professional and Scientific Positions

Basic Qualification Requirements for 1015 (Museum Curator series):
A) Degree: museum work; or in an applicable subject-matter field; or

B) Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education; or

C) Four years of experience that provided knowledge comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of the 4-year course of study as shown in A above.

MANDATORY QUALIFICATIONS:

Applicants must address the following mandatory qualifications separate from their resumes. Statements must provide specific examples that address relevant experience, accomplishments and evidence that you possess demonstrated superior technical qualifications. You will not be considered for this position if you fail to submit qualification statements specifically addressing each mandatory technical qualification requirement.

Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQ): Maximum of two pages per MTQ.

1. Demonstrated knowledge and experience with the curation of art, experience in budget and staff management, strategic planning, and project management of collaborative and complex curatorial projects and initiatives.

In addition to a resume, each applicant is required to submit a comprehensive narrative statement addressing each MTQ individually. The narrative must demonstrate the necessary level of skills, characteristics, qualities, specialized knowledge, and technical competence that would indicate successful performance in this Senior Level position. This evidence must include clear and concise examples that emphasize the applicant's level of responsibilities, scope, and complexity of assignments, program accomplishments, policy initiatives, and level of contacts. Applicants who fail to provide this narrative statement in the format requested will not be considered.

EACH MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION (MTQ) MUST BE ADDRESSED AND TITLED SEPARATELY AND MUST NOT EXCEED TWO PAGES PER STATEMENT

Do not enter "Refer to Resume" to explain your answer. Applications directing the reader to search within the application or to "See Resume" are considered incomplete and WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

Other Relevant Eligibility Criteria:

Must maintain availability for executive incident response and occasional work outside normal business hours

Requires availability for domestic and international travel up to 10%.

May be required to carry a Gallery-issued phone during non-work hours.

Your responses to the MTQs will be evaluated based on how clearly and concisely you emphasize your level of responsibilities, particularly, the scope and complexity of the programs, activities, or services managed; program accomplishments; policy initiatives undertaken; level of contacts; the sensitivity and criticality of the issues addressed; and the results of actions taken.

You are required to submit separate narrative statements for each MTQ to receive consideration for this position. Please see the REQUIRED DOCUMENTS section for complete details regarding the page limitation and formatting requirement.

Applicants must carefully review the information in the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section for important information and instructions pertaining to the multi-hurdle assessment process for this position.

While not required by regulation, agencies may require that at least 1 year of the specialized experience must be at least equivalent to experience at GS-15 (5 CFR 319.301(c)(2)).

Only experience and education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applications will be evaluated based on the quality and extent of accomplishments and experience as they relate to the Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs). This information will be obtained from the application and narrative statements. Failure to provide specific information in each of the narrative statements will result in you receiving a lower rating or disqualification. A minimum qualifications screening will be conducted by Human Resources. Eligible applicants will then be evaluated by evaluated by a screening panel composed of a diverse mix of senior executives and/or general officers selected from organizational and/or functional backgrounds relevant to this position. The panel will rate minimally qualified applicants in order to determine which candidates are considered  "Superior" (top), "Very Good" (middle), or "Acceptable" (bottom) category. Generally, only the individuals in the Superior (top) category will be referred to the Hiring Manager/Selection Official for interview. Please make sure you answer all questions and follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your evaluation.

Note: the Category Rating Process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three" instead Category Rating protects the rights of qualified veterans by placing them ahead of qualified non-preference eligibles within each category. Qualified preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of their assigned category and considered before qualified non-preference-eligibles in that same category. And preference eligible applicants that meet the qualification requirements for the position and have a compensable service-connected disability rating of ten percent or more are listed at the top of the superior (top) category, except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 level or higher. Your responses should be clear and concise and show a level of accomplishment and a degree of responsibility. We use a multi-step process to evaluate and refer applicants:

1. Screen for Eligibility and Minimum Requirements: Your application must show that you meet all requirements, including any minimum education and/or experience required for this position. You may be found "not qualified" if you do not possess the minimum competencies required for the position. If your application is incomplete, we may rate you as ineligible.

2. Ranking and Rating: You will be evaluated by a screening panel composed of a diverse mix of senior executives and/or general officers panel based on your responses to the mandatory technical qualification (MTQ) requirements stated in this announcement.

3. Referral: If you are among the Superior (best qualified) candidates, your application will be referred to the hiring manager/selecting official for consideration and possible interview.

In addition to a resume, each applicant is required to submit a comprehensive narrative statement addressing each MTQ individually.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

1. Resume - Resumes must be no longer than two-pages in length. The resume must address minimum qualifications and other requirements listed in the job announcement. Beginning on September 27, 2025, job seekers can modify existing resumes stored in their USAJOBS profile or upload or build a new resume in their USAJOBS profile to meet the two-page requirement and mark a resume as searchable in the Agency Talent Portal (ATP). Job seekers must choose a resume that is two pages or less to make it searchable and apply for jobs.

• Do not include the following types of information in your resume:
  • Classified or government sensitive information
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Photos of yourself
  • Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.
  • Encrypted and digitally signed documents
• Required Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs): Maximum 2 pages per MTQ.

2. Other supporting documents:
   • Cover Letter, optional
   • Most recent Performance Appraisal, optional
   • SF-50 Your most recent Promotion, Within Grade Increase (WRI/WGI), or Appointment/Conversion SF-50 - Notification of Personnel Action showing you are/were in the competitive service and the highest grade or promotion potential held.

Failure to submit any of the above-mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

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