Reporting to the Head Preparator, Assistant Head Preparator manages a large team of expert preparators and related projects, in alignment with the museum’s strategic priorities and goals of the Collections Management department and the Collections, Exhibitions and Design (CED) division. The Assistant Head Preparator works closely with Head Preparator to plan and support the orchestration of art handling, movement, housing, packing/unpacking, and installation/deinstallation in accordance with the museum’s standards, policies, and procedures for caring for, managing, and exhibiting modern and contemporary art. They work closely with the Registration, Curatorial, Conservation and Exhibitions and Program Management departments to ensure that art handling resources are planned and available for all of the museum’s program needs.

The Collections Management Department provides collections care and access to SFMOMA’s art collections, ensuring the safe handling and storage of artwork, and maintenance of our art storage spaces including the Collections Center, SFMOMA’s dynamic research and storage center. The department is also responsible for preparing, installing, activating, and maintaining art – both borrowed and collection works – for the museum’s robust exhibition program.

The Assistant Head Preparator assists in the oversight of art preparation operations, with direct management of Museum Preparator Is, Museum Preparator IIs, and on-call Museum Preparators.

Within the first month, the Assistant Head Preparator will have become familiar with the preparator team and the activities the team is responsible for, as well as introduced to our purchasing systems, exhibition development process, and roles and responsibilities of the departments Collections Management partners with, to be able to answer questions and source information for the preparator team and make appropriate preparator assignments. Within the first year the candidate will proactively further their institutional understanding, evaluation of preparator team skills and abilities, and become a positive contributor to the successful completion of collection and exhibition based projects.