Exhibits Specialist (Mount Maker)

Smithsonian Institution

Washington (District of Columbia)

Remote

USD 85,000 - 111,000

Full time

5 days ago

Be an early applicant

Application generator

Don’t send a generic resume — generate a resume and cover letter tailored to this exact role.

Get past ATS filters

Job summary

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC seeks an Exhibits Specialist (Mount Maker) to design, fabricate, install, and maintain custom mounts for artifacts and museum objects at the National Museum of Natural History, ensuring safe display and preservation.

You will fabricate mounts from approved drawings, produce technical drawings, and coordinate with exhibition, curatorial, conservation, and photography staff to manage handling, installation, and deinstallation.

Job description

Department: Other Agencies and Independent Organizations

Location: Washington, District of Columbia

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the Office of Exhibits, National Museum of Natural History.

Key Responsibilities

The Exhibits Specialist (Mount Maker) is responsible for designing, fabricating, installing, and maintaining custom mounts for artifacts and museum objects at the National Museum of Natural History, ensuring their safe display, handling, preservation, and exhibition In this position, you will Fabricate mounts/brackets for specified specimens and objects from approved drawings and/or verbal instruction from the designer, curator, and conservator.

Design mounts and brackets for museum objects, producing technical drawings and diagrams for review and approval by exhibition, curatorial, photography, publication, and conservation staff. Coordinate with exhibition, conservation, and collection staff to ensure the safe handling, movement, installation, and deinstallation of museum objects.

Produce accurate castings that may require paints or intrinsic colorants, determines the best model making techniques, the appropriate materials, the correct color and a wide variety of other materials to make molds, fabricate diorama elements, lifelike models, and natural scenes to fulfill the specifications set by the exhibit designer or curator in the available time frame.

Repair and finish fragile museum exhibit components and reproduce original exhibit parts that have been broken or damaged. Repair and maintains current exhibits, including the reproduction of original exhibit components that have been damaged and the repair of chipped and/or broken pieces with plaster, wood, plastic or other materials.

Requirements & Education

This position does have a positive education requirement.

The Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program options. Please see Benefits at https://www.si.edu/OHR/benefits for a complete description.

Flexible Spending Accounts - https://www.fsafeds.com/ Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com Retirement Program - https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/

Which agency is hiring for this position?

This position is with Smithsonian Institution , Other Agencies and Independent Organizations.

What is the salary for this position?

The posted pay range is $85447 – $111087/yr.

Is this position remote or telework eligible?

This position is eligible for telework.

What security clearance is required?

This position requires a Confidential security clearance.

What is the application deadline?

Applications close on 2026-10-20.

What is the work schedule?

This is a Full-Time, Permanent position.