Administrative Assistant

The Museum of the City of New York fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world’s most influential metropolis. It engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city’s past, present, and future. Founded in 1923, the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) showcases the city’s unique stories and cultural treasures. The country’s first and largest city museum, MCNY presents immersive exhibitions and programs at the intersection of history, popular culture, and art to 200,000 people annually, including 30,000 students and educators, fostering shared identity, civic pride and engagement, and social cohesion for New Yorkers. MCNY has been recognized as one of the leading museums in New York City by publications such as Condé Nast Traveler and the New York Times, with Time Out New York awarding MCNY “Best Museum” in New York in 2021.

The Administrative Assistant provides essential administrative support and project coordination for the Chief Curator and Deputy Director, as well as administrative support across the division's departments — Curatorial, Collections, Public Programs, and Education — including correspondence, meeting logistics, financial paperwork, and departmental record-keeping. Acting as the first point of contact for both internal and external visitors, inquiries, and requests directed to the Chief Curator and Deputy Director, this role requires a blend of administrative and communication skills, as well as a passion for the arts and culture of New York City.

This is a full-time, onsite, in-person regular position that reports directly to the Chief Curator and Deputy Director, and that also works closely with the Museum’s curatorial, public programs, collections, and education staff.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Serve as the main administrative support for the Chief Curator and Deputy Director, including answering phones, scheduling meetings, drafting memos, preparing briefings, and greeting guests.
• Support the Chief Curator and Deputy Director’s robust meeting schedule, including scheduling meetings; preparing agendas, meeting briefs, material packets, and presentations; taking notes and coordinating follow up tasks; and facilitating meeting logistics as needed (room booking, technology, food, etc.).
• Assist in the preparation and maintenance of materials across the department — including Board and committee packets, exhibition and program documentation, and departmental reports — as well as confidential communications on behalf of the Chief Curator and Deputy Director.
• Coordinate administration across the division's departments — Curatorial, Collections, Public Programs, and Education — including completing and circulating operations memos, tracking deadlines, circulating draft materials for review, and following up on outstanding items.
• Process financial paperwork, including reconciling and submitting invoices, purchase orders, vendor onboarding, contract routing, and check requests, in coordination with the Finance department.
• Manage email correspondence for the Chief Curator and Deputy Director, including monitoring the inbox daily, triaging and prioritizing incoming messages, drafting and sending replies on their behalf, routing inquiries to the appropriate department, and tracking outstanding items to resolution.
• Receive and sort the mail on a daily basis.
• Other duties as assigned.

A successful candidate will have:

• Bachelor’s Degree or 3+ years of full-time administrative experience.
• Exceptional organizational abilities and attention to detail.
• Ability to prioritize tasks and work accurately to meet deadlines, both individually and as part of a team.
• Excellent writing and interpersonal communication skills.
• Strong judgment and discretion.
• Fluency with Microsoft Office platforms (including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
• Experience with collections management or CRM systems preferred.
• Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends as needed.

• A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and a passion for advancing equity and addressing structural racism within nonprofit organizations.

Physical Requirements & Work Environment:

Work is performed in an office environment and requires the ability to operate standard office equipment and keyboards. Exerting up to 25 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Repetitive motion. Substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers. The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform activities such as preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and extensive reading. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color and peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. On occasion, the employee may be required to work at outdoor events with weather conditions including heat and cold. Occasional evening and weekend work is required to support exhibition openings and related events.

Benefits:

The annual salary for this position is $55,000. The position offers a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, FSA, HSA, life insurance, 401K and a defined benefit pension plan, short and long-term disability, and an Employee Assistance Program, with options for critical illness insurance, accident insurance, legal services, and pet insurance. The Museum provides a paid time off policy that includes 10 days of annual leave, rising to 15 days in year 2, and to 20 days in year 3, plus 12 sick days per year and 12 holidays. Your employment relationship with the Museum qualifies you for free or discounted admissions to other participating cultural institutions.

The Museum of the City of New York is committed to fostering a collaborative and respectful work environment with staff as diverse as New York City and the audiences who are curious about learning more about its history and engaging in contemporary urban issues. Our staff members are dedicated to working towards a common goal: creating the most dynamic and inspiring city museum in the world.

The Museum of the City of New York is an equal opportunity employer. As such, the museum provides equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants without unlawful discrimination with respect to age, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, ethnicity, gender identification or expression, marital status, military status or veteran, national origin, political association, political/personal convictions, predisposing genetic characteristics, race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and style), religion (including attire, clothing or facial hair worn in accordance with religious requirements), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions and transgender status), sexual orientation, socio-economic status, geographic location, philosophies, or any other classification protected by federal, state or local laws, in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-off, and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment. The Museum complies with applicable state and local law governing nondiscrimination in employment which prohibits discrimination and harassment against any employees, applicants for employment or interns, as well as contractors, subcontractors, vendors, consultants, other individuals providing services in the workplace or their employees in every location in which the Museum has facilities.