Museum Store Coordinator

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and Sea Center; Santa Barbara (CA); On-site; USD 34,440 - 41,328; Full time

Job summary

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and Sea Center is seeking a Museum Store Coordinator to manage retail operations and enhance guest experiences. The role involves inventory management, exceptional customer service, and supporting daily store operations.

Applicants should have a high school diploma, at least two years of retail experience, and strong communication skills. This full-time position offers a pay range of $25.00 to $30.00 per hour. Join us in inspiring a passion for the natural world!

Qualifications

• Minimum of two years of retail-related experience.
• Strong computer skills required.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Support and maintain a culture of excellent customer service.
• Assure high performance and drive sales.
• Maintain outstanding store conditions and visual merchandising standards.

Skills

Customer service

Retail sales

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Team collaboration

Education

High school diploma

Tools

Microsoft Office

Point-of-sale systems

Inventory management databases

Job description

Overview

Title: Museum Store Coordinator

Classification: Full Time, Non-exempt

Department: Guest Experience

Reports To: Director of Guest Experience

Schedule: Sunday - Thursday

Wage Band: Coordinator / Assistants Level 2

Pay Range: $25.00 - $30.00 per hour*

Mission: The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History inspires a thirst for discovery and a passion for the natural world.

Position Summary: The Museum Store Coordinator helps bring the Museum experience to life through engaging retail operations, outstanding guest service, and creative merchandising. This position supports the daily operation of the Museum Store, including inventory management, online sales fulfillment, merchandise purchasing support, and staff coordination. As a leader on the sales floor, the Coordinator sets the standard for customer service, drives productivity, and helps create a welcoming environment for guests, members, and supporters.

Essential Requirements: include below under Qualifications.

Note: This description retains the original language and scope of responsibilities and qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Guest Experience — Supports and maintains a culture committed to excellent customer service, ensuring each visitor has a courteous, pleasant, and efficient initial contact with the Museum.
• Ensure fellow staff are performing essential tasks and demonstrating the Guest Experience Values.
• Maintain store policy materials and ensure updates are communicated throughout the team; recommend policy changes and improvements as needed.
• Interact extensively with the public by greeting and welcoming guests, answering questions, providing information about the Museum, exhibits, programs, and special events, promoting visitation, and serving as a Museum representative at various exhibit posts.
• Field incoming telephone calls, including routing calls, taking messages, and resolving inquiries.
• Demonstrate a professional demeanor while working with guests, trustees, donors, vendors, volunteers, and staff, both in person and by phone. Work cohesively with multiple divisions and departments as a flexible and collaborative team member.
• Support Admissions by collecting admission fees and selling memberships.

• Retail Store Operations — Serve as a role model for professionalism and high performance while driving sales and providing exceptional customer service, including assisting customers with purchases, cashiering, and encouraging repeat visitation.
• Become an expert on current merchandise, product offerings, and inventory levels.
• Maintain outstanding store conditions and visual merchandising standards, including ensuring displays are clean, organized, stocked, and visually appealing.
• Maintain a neat, orderly, and guest-ready retail environment.
• Report on buying trends, customer needs, sales performance, and opportunities for improvement.
• Propose innovative ideas to enhance the guest experience and increase sales.
• Manage the online store, including processing online and phone orders and coordinating accurate and timely shipping.
• Process inventory shipments, create purchase orders, transfer merchandise, and maintain inventory databases by accurately entering product, pricing, and receiving information.
• Learn and utilize software systems including Shopify and Ticketure to ensure data accuracy and integrity.
• Coordinate receiving projects with Guest Experience staff, including pricing, labeling, and merchandise processing.
• Plan and support annual physical inventory counts for the Museum and Sea Center stores.
• Suspend buying plans and monitor inventory levels in coordination with the Store Buyer.
• Manage and operate retail sales at special events and pop-up stores, including the Members\' Party, Santa Barbara Wine Festival, Fall Food Festival, lecture series, and other events as needed.
• Support occasional evening, weekend, and special event operations outside of the regular schedule.
• Ensure retail workspaces remain clean, organized, and consistent with Museum operational and safety standards.

• Administration — Assist in preparing Board reports and monthly end-of-month accounting reports.
• Prepare purchase orders with appropriate budget coding for Division Director review and approval.
• Track and maintain the invoice cycle, taking ownership to ensure that bills are paid on-time and monthly statements cleared.
• Serve on Museum committees and represent the visitor perspective to help enhance the overall guest experience.
• Assist the Director with hiring activities, including candidate screening and onboarding support.
• Train new Guest Experience staff on POS systems, membership sales, operational procedures, and training checklists to ensure consistent standards and service delivery.

• Organization-Wide — Maintain clean, safe, and organized workspaces.
• Follow opening/closing procedures and uphold safety and emergency protocols.
• Supports the Museum’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion for fellow staff, guests, and the community.
• Fosters a spirit of teamwork and collaboration by actively supporting colleagues, sharing knowledge, and contributing to a positive work culture.
• Contributes to a positive guest experience by greeting and addressing any questions when encountering guests as they navigate through the Museum and Sea Center.
• Assist with other Museum educational and special events as needed and approved by the supervisor.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Essential Requirements: High school diploma and a minimum of two years of retail-related experience.
• General office, sales, and/or customer service experience.
• Strong computer skills, including proficiency with Microsoft Office, point-of-sale systems, and inventory management databases.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interact professionally and effectively with a wide variety of individuals, including the public.
• Ability to work collaboratively on team projects while also working independently and proactively.
• Strong organizational, time management, and leadership skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities.
• Responsible, goal-oriented, dependable, punctual, and reliable.
• Comfortable calling and/or emailing volunteers and staff regarding scheduling and operational needs.
• Able to maintain a high level of confidentiality in all areas of work.
• Comfortable working in a variety of environments, including outdoors.
• Must have reliable transportation to arrive at work on time.
• Must be available to work at least one weekend day per week.

• Preferred Qualifications: Interest in natural history, science, education, or museum operations.
• Experience with event coordination or vendor management.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) skills a plus.

Work Environment

• General front office, retail store environment with occasional work throughout the Museum’s facilities (galleries, conference rooms, research laboratories, and exhibit halls) and outdoors.
• Extensive interaction with the public.
• Frequent repetitive movement (typing, pricing, folding). Frequent sitting, standing, walking, bending, and climbing stairs and ladders with frequent lifting of medium loads (up to 40 lbs.).

The incumbent must be able to perform each requirement of the position as outlined in the job description. The Museum will make reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

The pay range above represents the budgeted range for a new hire, encompassing the minimum and maximum rates. Placement within this range will depend on factors such as specific skills, qualifications, relevant years of experience, and alignment with the salaries of current employees in similar roles. In most cases, newly hired employees are placed below the midpoint of the range.