Career Opportunity

3544-Curator III - Curator of Conservation

Recruitment: RTF0157903-01135053

Published: July 15, 2025

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal.

About:

San Francisco International Airport (SFO), an enterprise department of the City and County of San Francisco (CCSF), has approximately 1,700 CCSF employees and strives to be a diverse, equitable, and inclusive employer.

SFO’s mission is delivering an airport experience where people and our planet come first and our core values are Safety and Security, Teamwork, Excellence, Care, and Equity. Learn more about careers at SFO.

For more information about SFO, visit www.flysfo.com.  Follow us on X and Facebook.

Established in 1980 by the Airport Commission, SFO Museum’s mission is to delight, engage, and inspire a global audience with programming on a broad range of subjects; to collect, preserve, interpret, and share the history of commercial aviation; and to enrich the public experience at San Francisco International Airport. The Museum has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1999 and retains the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport. The Museum operates more than twenty-five sites throughout the Airport terminals, including fourteen galleries that exhibit a rotating schedule of art, history, photography, science, and cultural exhibitions. Among the sites is the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, which houses a permanent collection of more than 150,000 objects related to the history of commercial aviation. For additional information about SFO Museum, please visit www.sfomuseum.org.

Role description

Curator III Curator of Conservation (SFO) (157904)

Specific information regarding this recruitment process is listed below:

• Application Opening: Tuesday, July 15th, 2025
• Application Deadline: This job announcement may close at any time after 5:00 p.m. PT on July 28th, 2025; interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.
• Compensation Range: $103,168 - $125,502
• Fill Type: Permanent Exempt (PEX)
• Hours: Full-time
• Recruitment ID: PEX-3544-157904 (RTF0157903-01135053)
• Appointment Type: Permanent Exempt, Category 14: This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer.

3544 Curator III, Curator of Conservation

Under the direction of the Curator in Charge of Registration, the 3544 Curator of Conservation works closely and collaboratively with colleagues in the Museum’s curatorial, registration, museum collections, and preparation departments to perform conservation treatments and to provide guidance and policies for object care, handling, and storage.  This position also advises on the construction of new museum spaces and monitors and advises on exhibition mounts, lighting and climate conditions. This position works closely with the San Francisco Arts Commission to maintain permanent artworks from its collection displayed at SFO. This position also works with all levels of Museum staff; coordinates with various departments within the Airport; and has regular communication with outside individuals and organizations.

As a team member of SFO, you will embrace SFO’s core values and SFO’s Racial Equity Action Plan.

Duties will include but will not be limited to:

1. Reviews objects from the permanent collection and objects received for loan and creates treatment proposals and treatment reports as necessary;
2. Provides guidance and procedures for object care, handling, and storage;
3. Updates SFO Museum’s emergency plan annually;
4. Contributes to exhibition design by recommending specific materials, positioning objects to better protect from light exposure, setting climate ranges for cases and reviewing mounting methods;
5. Provides input on case design, lighting design, HVAC, and other design and environmental considerations for proposed and current Museum spaces;
6. Identifies and prioritizes collection objects for conservation and/or storage rehousing with Collections Management;
7. Reviews potential donations or purchases to inform curatorial recommendations for acquisition;
8. Collaborates and consults with the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) and SFO Museum’s registration team to monitor and maintain SFO’s Public Art Collection and when appropriate provides cleaning and conservation treatments;
9. Serves as a liaison with conservation contractors for SFAC projects;
10. Works with the Museum Director and contractors to review potential new acquisitions for the Public Art Collection;
11. Maintains inventory of conservation materials and maintains the condition and cleanliness of SFO Museum’s conservation facility;
12. Trains new staff and interns in proper art handling, movement and storage; may supervise interns and contractors;
13. Performs other functions and related projects as assigned and related to the 3544 Curator III.

Note: this position requires after-hour shifts 5-10 times a year for maintenance and cleaning of the Public Art Collection.

How to qualify

Minimum Qualifications:

1. Education: Possession of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in the fine arts, art history, decorative arts, design, history, library science, museum studies, natural history, science, technology, or other closely related disciplines;

AND

1. Experience: Five (5) years of museum experience.

Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirement by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.

One year full-time employment is equivalent to 2,000 hours (2,000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40 hour work week). Any overtime hours that you work above 40 hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment.

Desirable Qualifications:

1. Experience in planning and executing variety of complex conservation treatments and experience with a wide range of collections;
2. Experience in managing multiple projects; liaise and communicate effectively with multiple stakeholders;
3. Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, including Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel;
4. Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with supervisors, curators, volunteers, assistants, Museum and Airport staff, outside agencies and the public;
5. Demeanor suited to a fast-moving and dynamic environment;
6. Demonstrated concern for detail, accuracy, and neat execution of work with strong written and verbal communication skills.

Verification:  Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements .

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training, and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline.

Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

Selection Procedures:  The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements.  Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to interview.  Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates.  If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited for an interview.

NOTE:  Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement through all of the steps in the selection procedure.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Security Clearance:  Candidates for employment with the San Francisco Airport Commission are required to undergo a criminal history record check, including FBI fingerprints, and Security Threat Assessment in order to determine eligibility for security clearance and may be required to undergo drug/alcohol screening. Per Civil Service Commission Rule Section 110.9.1, every applicant for an examination must possess and maintain the qualifications required by law and by the examination announcement for the examination. Failure to obtain and maintain security clearance may be basis for termination from employment with the Airport Commission.

What else should I know?

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

How to Apply:

All job applications for the City and County of San Francisco must be submitted through our online portal. Please visit https://careers.sf.gov/ to begin your application process. No other methods of application will be accepted.

• Select the “I’m Interested” button and follow the instructions on the screen.

Computers are available for the public (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) to file online applications in the lobby of the Department of Human Resources at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor and at the City Career Center at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 110.

Ensure your application information is accurate, as changes may not be possible after submission. Your first and last name must match your legal ID for verification, and preferred names can be included in parentheses. Use your personal email address, not a shared or work email, to avoid unfixable issues.

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Upon successful submission, applicants will receive a confirmation email from notification@careers.sf.gov. Keep this email for your records. If you do not receive it, your application was not submitted successfully.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Recruitment Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the Ben Cen via email at lebin.cen@flysfo.com.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.