Museum Educator

Children's Museum of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 18,000 - 26,000; Part time

Job summary

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is seeking a part-time Museum Educator to welcome families and deliver engaging, hands-on learning experiences across exhibits in the Greater Pittsburgh area. This union, hourly position emphasizes inclusivity, teamwork, and adaptable instruction for a diverse audience.

The role involves facilitating interactive programs, collaborating with education staff, and maintaining organized spaces while supporting after-hours events and outreach as needed.

Qualifications

• Requires a high school diploma or equivalent.
• College education or related teaching/arts experience preferred.
• Experience working with children.
• Excellent verbal communication and customer service skills.

Responsibilities

• Creates a warm, welcoming space for museum guests while staffing exhibits and greeting families.
• Ensures activities and materials are organized and prepared for general guests or specific age groups.
• Facilitates daily educational programs and special events across the campus.
• Staffs after-hours Education events and offsite outreach programs as needed.
• Engages in staff trainings and applies skills on a daily basis.
• Prepares museum spaces before opening and assists in closing spaces.

Skills

Dependable

Adaptable

Communication

Customer service

Education

High School Diploma or equivalent

College education or related experience preferred

Job description

Job Title:

Museum Educator

Reports to:

Floor Manager

FLSA Status:

Non-Exempt/Hourly

Classification:

Casual Part Time

Compensation:

$16.25 per hour

About the Museum

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh provides innovative and inclusive museum experiences that inspire kindness, joy, creativity, and curiosity for all learners. We forge connections with artists, community partners, and neighbors to work on behalf of children, youth, and families. We have a vision to transform education. We believe people of all ages can benefit from different types of learning experiences.

Position Summary:

This is a Union position.

The Museum Educator works collaboratively to lead fun, inclusive, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that inspire kindness, joy, creativity, and curiosity for children and families across the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh campus and throughout the Greater Pittsburgh Area. The Museum Educator works primarily with the general public and school groups, in facilitation of fun and lively hands-on educational programming in exhibit spaces. Experience working both on a team and independently with a wide demographic of guests is required to ensure a vibrant, integral, and essential element of the Museum experience. This position also requires organization, communication, positivity, and excellent teamwork skills.

Essential Job Duties:

• Creates a warm, welcoming, and inclusive space for museum guests while staffing exhibits by greeting families, engaging in play, encouraging exploration, and providing helpful information to guest inquiries.
• Ensures that activities and materials in the exhibit spaces are appropriately organized and prepared for general guests or for specific age ranges (e.g. school or camp groups).
• Facilitates daily educational programs (e.g. arts and making activities, early learning drop-in programs, fieldtrips, camps and classes, youth programming, community engagement events, and offsite outreach programs).
• Staffs after-hours Education events and offsite outreach programs as needed.
• Engages in regular staff trainings and professional developments, and applies skills and information learned on a daily basis.
• Stages and prepares museum spaces prior to museum open, and works with fellow education staff to close museum spaces at the end of the day.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Positively and accurately represents the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and its programming initiatives to the community.
• Participates in ongoing learning research and reflective practices.
• Closely monitors exhibit spaces for safety concerns, exhibit maintenance, and housekeeping needs, and communicates these needs effectively.
• Follows Museum’s safety and emergency policies and procedures.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time based on business needs and in support of the mission of Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

Job Qualifications:

Education:

• High School Diploma or equivalent is required.
• College Education or work experience in a related field (e.g. fine art, creative art, interactive media, theatrical arts, informal or inquiry-based teaching, education, etc.) preferred.

Experience:

• Experience working with children.
• Daily interest and enthusiasm for working with children, youth, and multi-generational groups.
• Strong problem-solving experience, flexible thinking, and ability to adjust expectations and actions with an open mind.

Skills:

• Must be dependable, adaptable, and a good communicator. Additional experience with families, educators, administrators, and creative peers strongly preferred.
• Commitment to continued learning for both personal and team growth.
• Excellent verbal communication and customer service skills
• Ability to remain calm and professional working with a high volume of visitors.

Physical Requirements & Equipment Usage:

• This position requires movement throughout museum spaces. Must be able to regularly position self to properly interact with visitors and activate museum experiences.
• Person in this position frequently communicates with visitors, team members, and supervisors. Must be able to exchange accurate and helpful information when facilitating museum experiences with visitors and when communicating issues to team members and supervisors.
• Must be able to move objects, and use abdominal and lower back muscles to provide support over time without fatigue. Must be able to lift or move up to 15 lbs regularly. Must be able to lift or move furniture, equipment, supplies, and other items weighing up to 50 lbs occasionally with assistance.
• Ability to use and maintain various equipment in compliance with the company’s operating safety policies and procedures, such as power tools, utility knives, art materials, etc.

The physical demands and work environment characteristics are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Work Environment, Hours of Work, and Travel Requirements:

• Weekend availability is required (at least 1 day), and evening availability is occasionally required. Scheduled shift lengths range from 3 – 8 hours per day, based on programming needs.
• Reliable travel capabilities to arrive on-site and on time for scheduled work shifts is required.
• Essential duties of this position will be performed in a museum environment and in other community-based settings, which include interaction with the public and exposure to children and families.

Clearances:

• FBI fingerprint, PA Child Abuse History Certificate (Act 33), and PA Criminal Record Check (Act 34) clearances are required.

Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh provides equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, veteran or military status, or any other characteristic or trait protected by local, state, or federal law.