Job Description

Senior Manager, Marketing & Audience Development, IS-1101-13

Application Deadline: 12 November 2026

Department: Smithsonian American Art Museum

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Washington, DC

Reporting To: Office Head, Audience & Collections Engagement

Compensation: $121,785 - $158,322 / year

Description

OPEN DATE: October 22, 2026

CLOSING DATE: November 12, 2026

POSITION TYPE: Trust Fund

APPOINTMENT TYPE: Temporary, Not-To-Exceed 5-Years

SCHEDULE: Full Time

DUTY LOCATION: Washington, DC

Position sensitivity and risk:

Non-Sensitive/Low Risk

Who May Apply:

Open to all qualified applicants

What are Trust Fund Positions?

Trust Fund positions are unique to the Smithsonian. They are paid for from a variety of sources, including the Smithsonian endowment, revenue from our business activities, donations, grants and contracts. Trust employees are not part of the civil service, nor does trust fund employment lead to Federal status. The salary ranges for trust positions are generally the same as for federal positions and in many cases trust and federal employees work side by side. Trust employees have their own benefit program, which may include Health, Dental & Vision Insurance, Life Insurance, Transit/Commuter Benefits, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, Annual and Sick Leave, Family Friendly Leave, 403b Retirement Plan, Discounts for Smithsonian Memberships, Museum Stores and Restaurants, Credit Union, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (Child Care), Flexible Spending Account (Health & Dependent Care).

Conditions of Employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Check and Subsequent Background Investigation for position designated.
• Complete a Probationary Period.
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer.
• The position is open to all candidates eligible to work in the United States. Proof of eligibility to work in U.S. is not required to apply.
• Applicants must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

OVERVIEW

This position serves as Senior Marketing Manager and will be responsible for marketing, including audience development, lead generation, brand awareness, and marketing analytics for SAAM. The incumbent helps set and execute department strategy; translates audience insights into actionable audience growth and engagement plans; establishes consistent performance measurement practices; and provides day-to-day leadership to ensure work is well-coordinated, on schedule, and aligned with organizational priorities.

The incumbent reports to SAAM’s Head of the Audience and Collections Engagement (Engagement) department and serves as a key Engagement representative in cross-departmental and Smithsonian-wide initiatives, as assigned, including stepping in for the Head of Engagement when needed.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supervises staff including assigning duties, conducting performance plans and appraisals, and approving leave and time and attendance requests.
• Coaches and develops staff; sets clear expectations and decision pathways; strengthens cross functional collaboration; and supports workforce planning, onboarding, and coverage to maintain continuity of department operations.
• Spearheads lead generation development activities including websites, email, social, search, out of home and digital advertising, in collaboration with Marketing & Creative team staff.
• Develops and implements a plan to expand lead generation and brand awareness through owned and paid media channels in conjunction with outside consultants.
• Manages relationships with outside marketing, media and creative consultants.
• Drives a test-and-learn roadmap across channels and uses performance insights to optimize mix, targeting, and spend to increase qualified leads and downstream conversion.
• Identifies new audience segments through data analysis, data modeling and testing tools and incorporates findings in marketing planning and other lead generation efforts.
• Develops new strategies and budgets to test new audience segments.
• Ensures audience segmentation approaches, and planning practices are consistent, well documented, and scalable; and partners with stakeholders to align targeting decisions with broader engagement, and audience experience priorities.
• Works with museum staff to develop marketing plans for museum and special exhibitions including recommends and manages approved marketing budgets for areas of responsibility, ensuring that assigned projects are managed on time and within designated budgets.
• Identifies and implements reporting and analytics for all aspects of SAAM marketing, including post-campaign reporting as well as analysis and reporting of key performance measurements and results.
• Oversees creation and distribution of monthly marketing reporting to assess results and inform future marketing plans.
• Establishes KPI definitions, reporting cadences, and quality-control practices to ensure analytics are reliable, decision-ready, and used to drive continuous improvement and prioritization across audience, acquisition, and retention efforts.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

Education (if positive education is required) and Experience: To qualify for this position, applicants must possess a bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from an accredited four-year college or university and/or 6-10 years of related experience (described below); or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience required for this position is as follows:

• Knowledge of marketing, data management, and data analysis concepts and practices sufficient to support strategic planning, execution, and evaluation of marketing and audience development activities.
• Knowledge of methods for analyzing and interpreting performance data to inform decision making, improve outreach effectiveness, and support organizational goals.
• Knowledge of business and operational principles related to managing projects, resources, and processes within a professional marketing environment.
• Knowledge of Salesforce CRM, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, data visualization tools (Tableau), and digital analytics tools (Google Analytics).
• High-level proficiency with Excel, word processing, and presentation software (PowerPoint).
• Knowledge of web content management (CMS).
• Skill with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Skill with exceptionally strong analytical skills.
• Skill with exceptional organization and project management skills, with ability to handle multiple priorities, manage budgets, and meet deadlines.
• Knowledge of the DC area & its regional population.
• Skill being a high energy level, proactive, efficient, accurate, organized team player.
• Skill with possessing professional maturity, which includes extreme ownership and responsibility for outcomes (not just tasks), thriving in ambiguity, emotional regulation and self-awareness.
• Skill being mission driven.
• Skill having at least 3-5 years of leadership or supervisory experience.

Education completed outside the United States must be deemed equivalent to higher education programs of U.S. Institutions by an organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. This documentation is the responsibility of the applicant and should be included as part of your application package.

Any false statement in your application may result in rejection of your application and may also result in termination after employment begins.

Join us in "Inspiring Generations through Knowledge and Discovery."

Resumes should include a description of your paid and non-paid work experience that is related to this job; starting and ending dates of job (month and year); and average number of hours worked per week.

What To Expect Next: Once the vacancy announcement closes, a review of your resume will be compared against the qualification and experience requirements related to this job. After review of applicant resumes is complete, qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager.

Relocation expenses are not paid.

The Smithsonian Institution provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation should contact weinwurmd@si.edu. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. To learn more, please review the Smithsonian’s Accommodation Procedures.

The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer. To review The Smithsonian's EEO program information, please click the following: https://www.si.edu/oeo