The Art Institute of Chicago shares its singular collections with our city and the world. We collect, care for, and interpret works of art across time, cultures, geographies, and identities, centering the vision of artists and makers. We recognize that all art is made in a particular context, demanding continual, dynamic reconsideration in the present. We are a place of gathering; we foster the exchange of ideas and inspire an expansive, inclusive understanding of human creativity.

The Art Institute of Chicago is looking for an innovative Associate Technical Producer to join the Experience Design team. As one of the world’s great art museums, the Art Institute of Chicago welcomes over 1.5 million visitors onsite annually, over 4 million online and holds more than 300,000 works in the collection. The Experience Design studio is responsible for ensuring continuity in the museum experience as visitors move along the many touchpoints in a journey—from mobile to web to gallery experiences.

 

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Art Institute of Chicago’s Digital Experience team is currently searching for an Associate Technical Producer. We define this role as an unflappable problem solver and a technical guru—someone who can take the lead on overseeing enterprise-level software systems in a museum setting. Do you look at problems and wonder how you can automate the process? Are you interested in solving challenging technical problems? Do you like working with digital experiences like mobile apps, websites, and in-gallery experiences? Then, we are looking for you.

The Digital Experience department is a creative studio embedded in the museum. We are a team of designers, developers, and producers dedicated to human-centered design, rich storytelling, and creative code. With a digital palette that reaches from mobile to immersive, we create experiences that open portals to the museum’s collection.

 

IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL PROVIDE

Systems Administration and Support

Evaluate, setup, deploy, and support the third party software infrastructure (MDM, ASM, etc…) required to operate a fleet of in-museum iPads.

Evaluate, setup, and support Macs, PCs, digital signage, and other specialized equipment for in-museum Experience Design projects.

Support and enhance post-production, computer graphics, and media encoding workflows involving specialized software and hardware, working closely with AVS.

Manage a fleet of 25 iPads for the Learning and Public Engagement Department.

Coordinate with IS and manage outside vendors as needed for all aspects of purchase, support, and maintenance of software and hardware for the Experience Design Department.

 

Project and Product Management

Collaborate with internal staff and external vendors on technical and functional approaches, researching and selecting vendors, writing RFPs, scoping work, writing and reviewing contracts.

Fully execute feature updates: from identifying needs, to securing stakeholder buy-in and funding, to managing the development, testing, and release. This is done along with our in-house engineering team, and the Digital Production team.

Understand and remain up-to-date on best practices for creating software on platforms including, iOS, Android, OSX and Windows. Provide advance warning of updates required for our Mobile App and other software deployed around the museum.

Documentation and organization of various processes.

 

Quality Assurance

As the primary quality assurance engineer, work with internal developers to codify a testing plan and process, write and execute tests, track results, approve fixes, and ad-hoc test.

Use JIRA to report and track bugs and ongoing development.

 

Analytics and Strategy

Help maintain and report on existing analytics platforms and dashboards. This responsibility includes working cross-functionally with Marketing and Museum Strategy, as well as the Website Product Manager.

Potential to create and improve product and website analytics capabilities and dashboards.

 

Software Innovation

Collaborate with the Digital Experience team on new product initiatives, such as mobile, in-gallery, or web-based projects. Research new and emerging media and pitch, document, and/or prototype new solutions and innovations.

 

Purchasing, Budgeting, and Inventory

Make all software and hardware purchases for the department, and be closely involved with short-term and long-term budgeting, forecasting, and identifying when capital requests are needed.

Coordinate with finance, strategic sourcing, IS, and exhibition management as-needed.

Manage inventory for a subset of Experience Design’s exhibition-related equipment, including iPads, Macs, and PCs in coordination with AVS staff who maintain the complete inventory.

 

Special Projects

Supports the Studio Director and Associate Vice President of Experience Design on other projects, as needed.

 

Flexibility and wide-ranging capabilities are required. Examples include

Developing scopes for initiatives such as collection subject tagging, 3D asset development, and various department initiatives as they arise.

Gather requirements for new digital signage capabilities, evaluate and present options, and implement the solution.

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 2-3 years of experience supporting technology desired; good working knowledge of Google products, experience or interest in learning about Apple developer tools (MDM, app store, core location, xcode), and interactive hardware (touchscreens, tablets, mobile devices).
• Basic familiarity with software engineering principles.
• Strong planning, organizational, and communication skills are required.
• Demonstrated experience in technical problem solving with a broad range of emerging technologies.
• Possess basic knowledge of networked systems and web technologies.
• Have working knowledge of deployment standards for iOS Android, OSX and Windows. · Have experience with GIT, XCode, and bug reporting.

The Art Institute of Chicago is an equal opportunity, equal access employer fully committed to achieving a diverse and inclusive workplace.  We believe in a staff culture that benefits from a wide range of experience, backgrounds, and career paths, and we encourage nontraditional candidates to apply.