Job Description
Job Description
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a senior leadership position responsible for the effective operation of MoSH across all organizational functions. Reporting to the Executive Director, the COO works across the institution to translate strategic priorities into coordinated operational plans, systems, processes, and measurable outcomes that support the museum's mission, financial sustainability, visitor experience, programs, facilities, and organizational effectiveness.
The COO provides direct departmental oversight for Event Rentals, Marketing, and Theaters. The Theaters Department includes the Giant Screen Theater and the AutoZone Sharpe Planetarium, a full-dome planetarium offering daily and special programming. In addition to these direct reports, the COO provides enterprise-wide operational leadership across MoSH, working with the leaders of all departments and organizational functions to ensure that staffing, budgets, technology, facilities, programs, communications, visitor services, and administrative systems are aligned and operating effectively.
As a member of the leadership team, the COO establishes and strengthens organization-wide operating practices, accountability, cross-departmental coordination, resource planning, and performance measurement. The position requires a collaborative executive who can balance strategic planning with hands-on operational leadership and who can identify and resolve issues that cross departmental boundaries.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
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Provide direct executive leadership and supervision for the Event Rentals, Marketing, and Theaters departments, including the leaders responsible for those functions.
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Oversee organization-wide operations and translate institutional strategy into coordinated operating plans, priorities, performance expectations, and measurable outcomes across MoSH.
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Develop and manage operating budgets for assigned departments; monitor revenue, expenses, staffing, and financial performance in partnership with the Finance team.
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Establish consistent standards for visitor service, admissions, ticketing, membership transactions, reservations, wayfinding, and front-of-house operations.
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Use attendance, ticketing, sales, audience, and visitor-feedback data to identify trends and improve the guest experience, marketing effectiveness, programming, and earned revenue.
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Oversee institutional marketing strategy, brand implementation, advertising, digital communications, website content, social media, public relations, and promotional campaigns in collaboration with internal staff and external partners.
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Ensure marketing plans support museum attendance, memberships, programs, exhibitions, theater offerings, special events, and other institutional priorities.
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Develop and maintain operational procedures, service standards, training expectations, and emergency response practices for assigned departments.
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Negotiate and manage relationships with vendors, contractors, media partners, film distributors, program partners, and other external service providers as appropriate.
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Partner with the Executive Director and all department leaders on organization-wide planning, policy development, operational systems, major initiatives, capital projects, resource allocation, and institutional decision-making.
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Serve as a visible leader during high-attendance periods, major programs, special events, and operational challenges, including evenings and weekends as needed.
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Evaluate operations across all organizational functions and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, accountability, customer service, technology use, revenue generation, communication, resource deployment, and cross-departmental coordination.
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Work with department leaders to assess staffing, technology, facilities, equipment, vendor, and resource needs and prioritize them within institutional goals and available resources.
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Facilitate cross-functional planning and problem-solving among departments, helping resolve operational issues that extend beyond the COO's direct-report areas.
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Establish and monitor organization-wide operational standards, workflows, and accountability measures that support consistent execution across departments and museum properties.
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Other duties as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
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Strong leadership and management skills with the ability to supervise multiple departments and develop effective managers and teams.
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Demonstrated understanding of visitor experience, marketing, audience development, and revenue-generating operations.
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Ability to develop and manage departmental budgets, analyze financial and attendance data, and make operational decisions based on measurable results.
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Strong knowledge of marketing strategy, branding, digital communications, public relations, and audience engagement.
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Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to communicate priorities clearly across departments and with external partners.
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Strong project management, organizational, and problem-solving abilities with the capacity to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
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Ability to build collaborative relationships and align teams with different functions around shared institutional goals.
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Comfort using ticketing, customer relationship management, analytics, scheduling, point-of-sale, and other business systems to support operations and decision-making.
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Ability to respond calmly and effectively to time-sensitive operational, guest-service, staffing, and facility issues.
\nCompany Description
Memphis Museum of Science & History (MoSH), located in Memphis, TN, is a well-established 501(c)(3) that seeks to create a community of people who share a richer understanding of one another and the world around us. MoSH consists of the Pink Palace Museum, the Lichterman Nature Center, the Coon Creek Science Center, and other historical properties. We inspire discovery through collecting, preserving, and interpreting the cultural histories and natural sciences that shape our region.
Our museum is committed to telling our story by:
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Advocating for Authenticity – Illuminate varying perspectives and uphold accurate interpretation without glossing over tough ideas.
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Magnifying Belonging – Build active audiences through outreach, co-creation, and participatory inclusion.
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Embodying Holistic Stories – Incorporate context and present lesser-known stories to portray a complete, systemic picture of the region and its history.
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Constructing Intersections – Create welcoming common spaces that encourage serendipitous and unstructured engagement and foster meaningful interactions between diverse groups of people.
Company Description
Memphis Museum of Science & History (MoSH), located in Memphis, TN, is a well-established 501(c)(3) that seeks to create a community of people who share a richer understanding of one another and the world around us. MoSH consists of the Pink Palace Museum, the Lichterman Nature Center, the Coon Creek Science Center, and other historical properties. We inspire discovery through collecting, preserving, and interpreting the cultural histories and natural sciences that shape our region.\nOur museum is committed to telling our story by:\n•\nAdvocating for Authenticity – Illuminate varying perspectives and uphold accurate interpretation without glossing over tough ideas.\n•\nMagnifying Belonging – Build active audiences through outreach, co-creation, and participatory inclusion.\n•\nEmbodying Holistic Stories – Incorporate context and present lesser-known stories to portray a complete, systemic picture of the region and its history.\n•\nConstructing Intersections – Create welcoming common spaces that encourage serendipitous and unstructured engagement and foster meaningful interactions between diverse groups of people.