Gallery Designer

Kids for the Future; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Vision insurance

Dental insurance

Paid vacation

Sick leave

Company holidays

EAP

401k plan

Orca Pass or parking subsidy

Job summary

MOPOP seeks a Gallery Designer to translate curatorial vision into immersive gallery experiences. You will blend exhibition and graphic design, shaping cohesive visual concepts from concept through installation.

The role requires collaboration with Curatorial, Exhibits, and Marketing, and emphasizes accessibility, conservation, and production considerations in a fast-paced museum environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in exhibition, interior, theatre, architectural, experiential graphic design, or related field.
• Three+ years of professional design experience, preferably with museum exhibitions or immersive environments.
• Strong portfolio translating concepts into spatial/visual experiences.
• Experience with Rhino, 3D CAD, Grasshopper, or Blender; familiarity with fabrication workflows.

Responsibilities

• Translate curatorial themes into compelling visual and spatial concepts for exhibitions.
• Develop design strategies including space planning, color, typography, lighting, and materials.
• Create sketches, renderings, scaled layouts, elevations, and documentation for fabrication.
• Coordinate artifact placement, mounting, lighting, and display with curatorial and collections.
• Collaborate with graphic designers on exhibition visuals and identity.
• Maintain documentation for fabrication, vendor bids, production, and installation.

Skills

Exhibition design

3D modeling

Rhino

Grasshopper

Blender

Adobe Creative Suite

Layout and typography

Project management

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in exhibition, interior, theatre, architectural, experiential graphic design or related field

Tools

Rhino

3D CAD

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

• Location 120 6TH AVE N STE 100,Seattle, WA, 98109-5002,United States

Description

Job Title: Gallery Designer

Reports to: Manager, Exhibitions Design

Department: Curatorial

Supervises: Does not supervise others

Work Schedule: 40 hours per week, 5 days per week, hybrid work eligible.

Position Summary

The Gallery Designer brings MOPOP’s exhibitions to life by translating curatorial vision and content into compelling, immersive, and accessible gallery experiences. Working across exhibition and graphic design, this role develops cohesive visual and spatial concepts that engage diverse audiences through thoughtful use of space, color, typography, materials, lighting, graphics, casework, and interactive elements.

In close collaboration with Curatorial, Exhibition Design, Collections, Exhibits, Video, and other partners, the Gallery Designer supports exhibitions from concept through installation, balancing creative vision with visitor experience, accessibility, conservation, production, and technical requirements.

Essential Job Duties (other duties as assigned)

Exhibition Design + Development:

• Collaborate with the Manager, Exhibitions Design, Curators, and project teams to translate exhibition themes, content, and objectives into compelling visual and spatial concepts.
• Develop cohesive exhibition design strategies incorporating space planning, color, form, typography, imagery, lighting, materials, graphics, casework, displays, and interactive elements to create engaging, intuitive, and accessible experiences for diverse audiences.
• Create sketches, renderings, scaled layouts, elevations, paint plans, mockups, and other design documentation to communicate concepts and guide development.
• Coordinate artifact placement, mounting, framing, lighting, and display requirements in partnership with Curatorial, Collections, and Exhibits, ensuring conservation and accessibility requirements are incorporated into the design.
• Conceptualize special builds and displays and coordinate materials, finishes, colors, and samples to support design development.
• Partner with the Graphic Designer on exhibition visual identity and integration of graphics within the overall gallery experience.

Project Oversight + Implementation:

• Develop and maintain coordinated drawing sets, specifications, and documentation necessary for fabrication, vendor bidding, production, and installation.
• Coordinate with internal teams, fabricators, graphic vendors, and other partners throughout production and installation, including reviewing samples and mockups.
• Develop final installation elevations and specifications identifying locations, dimensions, mounting heights, and placement of graphics, artwork, and artifacts.
• Help maintain the material resource library with an emphasis on sustainable, ethical, accessible, and museum-appropriate materials and practices.
• Ensure exhibition design work reflects MOPOP’s brand and established design standards, partnering with Marketing as appropriate.

MOPOP Community

• Support our internal culture which inspires and empowers our staff to live our mission to its highest standards.
• Contribute to a consistent customer service standard across all departments.
• Work to ensure customer service is ingrained at the core of the team and is reflected outward to our guests and other staff.

Preferred/Desired Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in exhibition, interior, theatre, architectural, experiential graphic design, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Three or more years of relevant professional design experience, preferably involving museum exhibitions, experiential environments, interior/architectural design, retail display, or similar work.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating the ability to translate concepts and narratives into compelling spatial and visual experiences.
• Strong foundation in spatial design, color, composition, typography, layout, materials, and visual storytelling.
• Experience producing scaled layouts, elevations, renderings, diagrams, and other design documentation using tools such as Rhino, Adobe Creative Suite, 3D CAD, or comparable platforms.
• Working knowledge of fabrication, print production, materials, and vendor/production processes.
• Demonstrated ability to incorporate accessibility principles and ADA considerations into design work.
• Strong project management, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and move projects from concept through implementation.
• Experience designing curated museum exhibitions or immersive/interactive environments.
• Advanced experience with 3D modeling and visualization tools such as Rhino, Grasshopper, or Blender.
• Experience collaborating directly with fabricators, vendors, and installation teams.

This full-time position includes Medical/Vision insurance, Dental insurance, 3.08 hours of accrued Vacation per bi-weekly pay period, Seattle Sick/Safe, up to 8 Company Holidays paid throughout the year, EAP, 401k plan with vested match schedule once eligible, and subsidized transportation benefits for Orca Pass or parking.

Why MOPOP?

We’re really glad you’re thinking about joining the team at MOPOP! We believe pop culture is a universal language capable of building connections across a range of people, no matter our differences in race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, education, socio-economic status, ethnicity, country of origin, or any other characteristic that makes us who we are. For more than twenty years, we have been showcasing how music, film, fashion, video games, sports, and more spark those connections and create a lasting cultural impact.

MOPOP provides both a physical space and an emotional and intellectual opportunity for people from any background to explore, find and build community, and recognize their own creative potential. This applies not only to our guests, but also to our staff — be it in designing an educational program to engage the next generation of creators, trying to reach a new audience with a marketing initiative, preserving an artifact in our collection, or providing excellent customer service to a visitor. If this sounds like something you’d be into, we’d love to hear from you!

MOPOP’s Mission and Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

Our mission is to activate the world-shaping power of pop culture through participative experiences, discovery, and play. We believe pop culture connects us, and that it is powerful, complex, alive and who we are. MOPOP is actively committed to ongoing learning in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). In partnership with our community, we hope to also develop safe spaces for their application. This includes taking steps to continue increasing our awareness of institutional “-isms,” as well as uncovering and undoing the ways they show up in museum culture. We recognize this is a process that requires intentionality, energy, and resources, and we are developing a DEIA framework that can cultivate a work environment and museum experience that is truly welcoming for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We believe that having staff, interns, and volunteers with diverse backgrounds enables us to better meet our mission and encourage BIPOC, women, and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals to apply. We acknowledge that our work to build safe spaces and better systems for traditionally marginalized groups is ongoing and will require constant vigilance and expect all MOPOP employees to be part of our DEIA journey.

Please email [e-mail] if you need reasonable accommodations during the application or hiring process.

Requirements

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At MOPOP, we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you are excited about a role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the candidate we are looking for!