What does a museum director do?
Museum director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real museum director resumes:
- Manage FoxPro database of historical and archaeological collections locate at state parks throughout Florida.
- Lead the facility in implementing person-centered care/hospitality philosophy, electronic medical records, maximization of Medicare reimbursement, and alternative therapies.
- Lead the facility in implementing person-centered care/hospitality philosophy, electronic medical records, maximization of Medicare reimbursement, and alternative therapies.
- Assist in launching an initiative to lobby the Kansas legislators and other elect officials to increase Medicaid reimbursement for assist living.
Museum director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Museum Directors are proficient in Museum Operations, Museum Exhibits, and Community Outreach. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Museum Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Museum Operations, 22%
Evaluated and monitored accounting transactions for museum operations using Corel Suite for Macintosh.
- Museum Exhibits, 18%
Assisted Museum Director in planning, designing, and local production and installation of museum exhibits.
- Community Outreach, 11%
Developed, implemented, and managed 40 exhibitions, seven major events, and 5 community outreach grant funded programs.
- Local Community, 11%
Managed day-to-day operations at the museum as well as developing and maintaining relationships with local community and statewide leaders.
- Collections Management, 10%
Assisted with Institute of Museum and Library Services funded digital collections management project.
- Museum Store, 8%
Managed day-to-day operations of new/start-up museum store staff and special events.
Most museum directors use their skills in "museum operations," "museum exhibits," and "community outreach" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential museum director responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a museum director to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators must explore minutiae to determine the origin, history, and importance of the objects they work with." Additionally, a museum director resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "created and ran excel macros on ceramic artifacts providing statistical analysis data. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of museum directors is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday museum director duties, as "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators work regularly with the general public." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "directed overall museum operations and implemented living history tampa, fl 33680 interpretive techniques to improve guest experiences. "
Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for a museum director to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what museum directors relies on this skill, since "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators store and easily retrieve records and documents." How this skill relates to museum director duties can be seen in an example from a museum director resume snippet: "chaired the club sports advisory board and led the clubs sports association attended and presided over all organizational negotiations and meetings. "
The three companies that hire the most museum directors are:
- University of Vermont2 museum directors jobs
- Emory Healthcare1 museum directors jobs
- Emory University1 museum directors jobs
Compare different museum directors
Museum director vs. Historical manuscripts curator
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a museum director are more likely to require skills like "museum operations," "museum exhibits," "community outreach," and "local community." On the other hand, a job as a historical manuscripts curator requires skills like "data entry," "cultural history," "historical context," and "general maintenance." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, historical manuscripts curators reach lower levels of education than museum directors. Historical manuscripts curators are 7.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Museum director vs. Historic sites supervisor
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, museum director responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "museum operations," "museum exhibits," "community outreach," and "local community." Meanwhile, a historic sites supervisor has duties that require skills in areas such as "gift shop sales," "cultural resources," "blog posts," and "historic properties." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, historic sites supervisors achieve lower levels of education than museum directors. They're 7.3% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Museum director vs. Curator of photography and prints
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a museum director is likely to be skilled in "museum operations," "community outreach," "local community," and "collections management," while a typical curator of photography and prints is skilled in "permanent collection," "historical research," "curate," and "lightroom."
Curators of photography and prints typically earn lower educational levels compared to museum directors. Specifically, they're 17.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Museum director vs. Curator of education
Types of museum director
Updated January 8, 2025
