Site Director - Ohio History Center & Ohio Village

Ohio History Connection•Columbus, OH

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Site Director for the Ohio History Center Campus serves as the on-site leader responsible for public-facing operations, staff leadership, visitor experience delivery, operational readiness, and campus management across Ohio History Connection's museum and outdoor history campus. The campus consists of the Ohio History Center, Ohio Village, Collections Care Center, and the Ohio Showcase building at the Ohio Expo Center, and includes a mix of approximately fifteen full-time and part-time staff. This position ensures the Campus is Open Ready - prepared to welcome the public and staff safely, confidently, accessibly, and effectively whenever conditions allow - and consistently delivers excellent experiences through strong coordination of staff, facilities, interpretation, safety, accessibility, events, and visitor services. The Site Director communicates site needs, risks, priorities, and opportunities to division leadership and works collaboratively across OHC departments to support high-quality experiences for visitors, school groups, program participants, community partners, and event audiences.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in museum studies, history, public history, education, interpretation, park management, nonprofit management, or a related field.
Five to seven years of progressively responsible experience in museum, historic site, cultural, park, visitor experience, or public-facing operations; or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
Minimum three years supervisory experience required.
Demonstrated responsibility for a complex operation, budget, events, safety, and cross-functional coordination.
Ability to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends.
Mix of indoor office and museum work and outdoor visitor interaction work.
Frequent walking across large campus; use of stairs and movement across uneven surfaces.
Extended periods of standing during events and public operations.
Ability to tolerate cold, heat, and rain.
Able to lift typical office items and boxes weighing 25 pounds or less.
Fingerprint background check processed by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation & Identification (BCI).
Drug test.

Nice To Haves

Experience supervising frontline or visitor-facing teams.
Experience coordinating operations across multiple departments or functions.
Experience with historic sites, museums, parks, cultural organizations, or informal learning environments.
Experience supporting accessibility, safety, visitor services, and public programs.
Experience using visitor feedback, operational data, or staff input to improve public experiences.
Experience preparing, monitoring, or managing operating budgets.

Responsibilities

Lead daily operations for the Ohio History Center Campus, ensuring the site is prepared to welcome visitors and staff safely, confidently, accessibly, and effectively.
Monitor campus readiness, including staffing, visitor flow, public spaces, operational supplies, weather-related adjustments, and coordination with facilities, security, and visitor-facing teams.
Identify and communicate operational risks, barriers, or resource needs that affect visitor experience, staff effectiveness, or site readiness.
Make timely operational decisions within established policies and delegated authority, including decisions related to staffing deployment, visitor flow, weather response, public access, event readiness, and immediate safety concerns.
Serve as the primary on-site leader during emergencies, closures, significant incidents, or unexpected disruptions.
Establish operational expectations and priorities for the campus and ensure staff are aligned around visitor experience, safety, accountability, and service standards.
Build a positive, accountable, service-oriented team culture with clear expectations for communication, decision-making, visitor service, and daily operations.
Supervise assigned staff, including Assistant Site Superintendent, Interpretive Supervisor and custodial staff, providing coaching, performance feedback, and professional development.
Maintain accountability for the operational quality, accessibility, and consistency of the visitor experience across the Ohio History Center Campus, ensuring that staffing, facilities, visitor flow, safety, communication, and daily readiness support high-quality public experiences.
Partner with the Interpretive Supervisor and Public Engagement, American Indian Relations, Collections, Exhibits, and other content-area teams as needed to support accurate, respectful, and engaging visitor experiences.
Ensure campus operations support delivery of high-quality visitor experiences.
Monitor visitor feedback, observations, and operational data to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
Oversee custodial and campus support functions to ensure the Ohio History Center campus remains clean, welcoming, functional, and professional for visitors, staff, volunteers, and partners.
Serve as the primary site-level point of coordination for operational issues involving facilities, security, events, programs, visitor services, marketing, and other OHC departments.
Convene appropriate partners to resolve operational issues, clarify responsibilities, and ensure timely follow-through.
Partner with Facilities and Security to identify and address issues affecting building operations, accessibility, visitor experience, and workplace functionality.
Prepare and submit required operational plans, reports, and records.
Use data, staff feedback, and visitor experience observations to improve operations and inform planning.
Prepare and monitor site operating budget, track expenditures and variances, approve purchases within delegated authority, and communicate emerging resource needs.