Description:
The Head of Learning Innovation is the leader of the Education Department, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer. She/he/they/them will be responsible for setting the agenda for and overseeing the education portfolio or programs the Nature Museum offers (including School Partnership Programs, In-School Programs, Out-of-School Time Programs, Field Trips, Teacher Professional Development, and Caregiver Learning Resources). As learning does not just happen inside our education department, the Head of Learning Innovation must work closely with the Nature Museum’s Exhibits, Guest Experience and Engagement, Biology, Collections, Marketing, and Development teams to collaborate on how we expand and enhance learning in and outside the Museum.
The Nature Museum is seeking a Head of Learning Innovation who is:
- A visionary leader looking to enhance and expand museum education through innovative approaches
- Experienced in nature or science-focused educational programming
- Adept at leveraging digital and/or multi-channel approaches to deliver educational content
- Entrepreneurial in the field of museum learning or their current sector
- Revenue-minded with experience managing budgets
- An excellent people manager and communicator
- Passionate about education, STEM learning, and museum-based learning
- Highly collaborative and skilled at working across multiple departments
- A champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Experienced in community engagement and skilled at external partnership-building
- Familiar with social and emotional learning approaches
In this role he/she/they/them will:
- Leverage the unique assets of the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum to find new ways to reach and engage audiences with the wonders of nature and science (assets such as our exhibits, outdoor native landscaping, conservation science, and living and nonliving collections)
- Create new community connections and strategic partnerships
- Support our Advancement team to secure grant funding for new programs, as well as the scaling of successful programs
- Develop and execute innovative growth strategies to expand our reach
- Build on our education approach of inquiry-based science and place-based education
- Support our diversity, equity, and inclusion work and ensure that the Nature Museum prioritizes reaching diverse communities
- Work cross-departmentally across the museum to advance learning goals
- Present the innovative learning work of the Nature Museum to key constituents at conferences, workshops etc.