The Royal British Columbia Museum and Archives is a major provincial and national cultural institution, charged with researching, collecting, preserving, and exhibiting the historical evidence of British Columbia. The museum exists to help society understand our natural and human history, and societal and environmental change. It is an educational institution strengthening society through cultural and scientific understanding—helping to create the society of the future. It is a house of historical and cultural evidence which is why Indigenous peoples, their knowledge systems, customs, and languages have a special place here. The Royal BC Museum focuses on three interrelated subject areas: life, society, and nature. These three themes all focus on the interaction of people with each other and the environment. The Museum has greatly increased its reach over the last five years in exciting and dynamic ways. It is a vibrant institution with leadership that builds on the past, but which is focused firmly on the future.

 

The Royal BC Museum is seeking a Vice President, Archives, Research and Collections who galvanizes and inspires its curatorial, collections care and management, and archives staff to develop engaging programming and continue to strategically build and preserve its substantial collection. The Vice President is responsible for leading the intellectual, programmatic, and international excellence of each of the departments and maintains the Museum’s highest goals for research and scholarship.

They act as the Museum’s chief curator and serve as a key member of the Museum’s executive team. The Vice President is an advocate for the entire collection and is responsible, together with other museum departments, for its care, interpretation, and stewardship.

 

As the Museum looks to the future, the Vice President aligns with the executive team and is dedicated to exploring the changing nature of museums and their relationships to the public and is firmly committed both to excellence in collections-based research, conservation, and curatorship. They lead a staff of up to 80 positions in Archives, Research, Collections Management and Conservation and the Registrar’s Office and as such, develops and leads multi-disciplinary teams to deliver and support research, exhibitions, and experiential and educational programming for all ages. They also lead the critical work, via a complex prep, pack and move plan to move archives, collections, and research to a new state-of-the-art facility in 2026.

 

As the ideal candidate, you are a credible and well-respected leader throughout the museum and archival community. Your natural leadership ability sets you apart as someone who inspires, motivates, and guides team members towards a shared vision of success. You bring significant curatorial leadership along with a a post-secondary degree in museum studies, history, archival studies, or business management or an equivalent combination of education and/or related experience. As a dynamic, values-driven leader you have the leadership skills to support the development of the directors and team members and support them through internal cultural change and facility transformation. You will bring a deep network of peers at major museums around Canada and ideally the world.

 

Applications are encouraged immediately and should be submitted online by April 26th, 2024. The annual salary range for this position is $137,700 to $168,500.09. For more information, please contact Bridget Humeniuk, Senior Consultant of Odgers Berndtson at bridget.humeniuk@odgersberndtson.com.

 

Royal BC Museum is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with the Accessible Canada Act, 2019 and all applicable provincial accessibility standards, upon request, accommodation will be provided by both Odgers Berndtson and Royal BC Museum throughout the recruitment, selection and/or assessment process to applicants with disabilities.

 

Odgers Berndtson is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all the work that we do. As part of our efforts to better understand our ability to reach as broad a pool of candidates as possible for our searches, our DEI team would like to encourage you to take a moment and access our Self-Declaration Form.