Education and Program Manager en CHILDRENS MUSEUM OF PHOENIX

Description

Department: Innovation & Learning 

Status: Regular/Full-Time/Exempt 

Reports to: Director of Innovation & Learning 

Direct Reports: Camp & Experience Coordinator, Program Lead, 

Program Specialist, and Fellows/Interns & Camp Counselors/Assistants (seasonal hires) 

Summary:  

Oversees, develops and implements overall educational and operational content of Museum programming aligned with the Museum’s mission statement to engage the minds and muscles and imagination of children and the grown-ups that care about them. Acts as the Museum's lead and advocate for early childhood development and developmentally appropriate practice across departments, ensuring inclusive, positive, and impactful experiences. 

Essential Responsibilities: 

• Leadership and advocacy 

• Community engagement 

• Supervision and oversight  

• Program development, assessment, and reporting 

• Program operations and logistics 

• Budget and resource management 

Essential Duties: 

Leadership and advocacy 

• Develops early childhood learning content and professional development for staff, volunteers, and external organizations. 

• Collaborates across departments to develop and implement program and engagement curriculum throughout the Museum reflecting museum philosophy, monthly themes, donor priorities, and principles of informal learning, aligning with Arizona State Standards 

• Leads and trains staff and contracted teaching artists to facilitate cross-curricular, play-based, inquiry-driven activities for diverse early childhood age ranges throughout the Museum. 

• Models and demonstrates the character skills of kindness, curiosity, bravery, creativity, and respect that are fostered throughout the Museum, in alignment with leadership and management philosophy and the overall culture of the Museum. 

Community Engagement 

• Builds and maintains partnerships with community organizations and contractors for program support, sponsorship, and collaborative programming. 

• Acts as primary liaison forteaching artists and rotating local featured Artists, including scheduling, logistics, and exhibition installation/teardown. 

• Represents Museum in the field of early childhood education, through advocacy, training, and collaborative educational initiatives with external partners. 

• Stays current with early learning research, methods, and practices to advocate and model developmentally appropriate interactions across all Museum teams. 

Supervision and oversight 

• Direct supervision of education team, including Camp Experience Coordinator, Program Lead, Program Specialist, Fellows/Interns, and seasonal staff. 

• Supports and mentors team, staff, contracted artists, and community educators to ensure high-quality program delivery and EPIC visitor experience. 

• Co-develops and oversees projects for interns and fellows, supporting educational requirements, team objectives, and individual learning goals. 

• Oversees scheduling, payroll, and contract administration for all contracted teaching artists, educational event participants, and contracted program facilitators, ensuring alignment with program needs and budget hours. 

• Reviews and approves timecards, time-off requests, and compliance with staff attendance policies and labor regulations. 

Program development, assessment, and reporting 

• Works across departments to develop and coordinate ticketed, scheduled, drop-in, and pop-up programs facilitated by team, staff, and community members. 

• Collaborates with Development to support program concepts and commitments through grant applications and donor deliverable reporting as needed. 

• Gathers and analyzes quantitative and qualitative feedback on attendance, program satisfaction, and visitor input to inform future program development. 

• Ensures data and feedback are systematically tracked and incorporated into planning. 

• Provides regular reports to leadership and supports grant/donor reporting through detailed documentation of program reach and impact. 

Program operations and logistics 

• Ensures a balance of registered, drop-in, and pop-up programming for varied visitor types and age groups each month. 

• Manages program environments, ensuring they are organized, functional, safe, and inclusive for visitors and all program participants 

• Prepares, schedules, and supervises implementation of all programs throughout the Museum, including exhibits floors, classrooms, KIDchen, Garden, Art Studio, and scheduled program events (e.g., CARnival, Trick or Treat, Earth Day Expo). 

• Manages inventory for all program-related activities and events, and acts as ALTRU lead for program ticketing and registration. 

• Collaborates with Marketing and Visitor Engagement to promote programs, events, and ensure logistics are managed effectively. 

• Acts as Manager on Duty during scheduled programs and events that may be held off-hours or outdoors. 

• Collaborates with Visitor Engagement to support floor operations in case of staffing shortages, including cleaning, staging, and staffing visitor areas.[1] 

Budget & Resource Management 

• Assists in development and monitoring of budgets for camps and educational programming. 

• Develops and tracks annual budget to ensure all program expenses are within departmental goals and aligned with income goals. 

• Supports grant tracking and financial deliverables for sponsored programs

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education or equivalent relevant work experience. 

• Minimum two years’ professional experience in a leadership role. 

• Experience developing and facilitating curriculum for early childhood audiences; experience with children’s museums highly desirable. 

• Professional communication skills, both written and oral, with demonstrated ability to develop, write, and lead early childhood curriculum. 

• Knowledge of developmental milestones, Developmentally Appropriate Practice, NAEYC, and Arizona Academic/Early Learning Standards. 

• Experience supporting children with diverse abilities and neurodivergent learning needs. 

• Strong collaboration skills, creative, constructive and respectful approach to problem-solving in real time with others in an open work environment. 

• Able to organize work, adapt to changing priorities, and address practical challenges with limited standardization. 

• Experience managing departmental budgets contracts, and purchasing. 

• Proficient with Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Excel, Word) and willing to be trained in Blackbaud Altru. 

• Occasional after-hours and weekend work as required for program events 

• Must pass a background check. 

Physical Requirements: 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to traverse, remain stationary, express ideas and be able to communicate clearly and effectively in both written and spoken English. The employee must be able to read fine print. This job also requires the use of a computer which will be placed somewhere in the employee’s workspace. The employee must have the necessary keyboard and computer mouse skills as well as the ability to read a color monitor. The employee must transport or move boxes weighing up to 50 pounds.  

Environmental Requirements: 

Must be able to work in a well-lighted, temperature-controlled work area. May also be exposed to extreme weather conditions with constant ambient noise levels. Must be able to work in open area with other employees. Employee must adhere to current company and CDC pandemic related guidelines. 

This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job.  While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change, i.e., emergencies, changes in personnel, workload, rush jobs, or technological developments. 

CMoP provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. 

The Children's Museum of Phoenix is an at-will employer.  This means that both you and the museum reserve the right to terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason with or without notice or reassign you or change your compensation.