Senior Director, Communications

Museum of Science, Boston

www.mos.org

Innovation and creativity come from the unique perspectives of a diverse staff. We value your perspective.

Who We Are

As science and technology increasingly shape our lives, the Museum of Science strives to equip and inspire everyone to use science for the global good while keeping up with the pace of change. Among the world's largest science centers and New England's most attended cultural institution, we engage nearly five million people a year – at Science Park and in museums around the world, in classrooms, and online.

The Museum's singular location connecting Boston and Cambridge puts us at the junction of some of the world's most influential academic institutions and industries, local and state government, schools, and the public. Trusted by each sector, we are ideally positioned to convene, inspire, and create meaningful experiences for all. Come join us on our mission to inspire a lifelong love of science in everyone and living our vision for a world where science belongs to each of us for the good of all of us.

Why We Need You

As Senior Director, Communications, you will own the Museum's earned media strategy and reputation, defining the stories we tell, the platforms on which we tell them, and the people we need to tell them with us. You will shape how journalists, civic leaders, funders, partners, and the public understand and talk about the Museum of Science at a pivotal moment in its history.

This is not a traditional museum PR role. The ideal candidate thinks like a brand builder and operates like a strategist, someone with deep Boston roots and a national network, commercial instincts, and mission conviction, and the creativity and speed to generate real cultural momentum. You will work hand in hand with the VP, Marketing and Brand, the Creative Director, Marketing, and the VP, Digital Content to ensure that earned media, paid campaigns, and brand creative are all pulling in the same direction to drive outcomes.

What You'll Accomplish

Own the Earned Media and Reputation Strategy

• Develop and execute a bold, integrated PR strategy that drives measurable outcomes: media coverage, brand visibility, attendance, membership, donor engagement, and institutional reputation, locally, nationally, and globally.
• Shape the Museum's public narrative and brand positioning through earned channels, ensuring every story, media hit, and public moment reinforces the Museum's identity as a world-leading science brand.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with journalists, editors, producers, podcasters, and digital outlets across science, culture, education, innovation, and entertainment.
• Set and track earned media KPIs, coverage volume, sentiment, share of voice, audience reach, and use data to continuously refine the strategy.

Lead the Public Science Common Launch

• Serve as the communications architect for the October 2026 opening of the Public Science Common, the most significant cultural venue launch in Boston in a generation, and the defining institutional moment of the Museum's 2030 vision.
• Build and execute a pre-launch communications plan that builds anticipation, earns national and international coverage, and positions the Public Science Common as a must-see destination before the doors open.
• Coordinate closely with the VP, Marketing and Brand, and the Creative Director to ensure launch messaging, brand creative, and PR campaigns are unified and mutually reinforcing, one story told many ways.
• Develop the post-launch media strategy that sustains momentum, drives repeat coverage and keeps the Public Science Common in the cultural conversation long after the opening.

Drive Executive and Institutional Thought Leadership

• Partner with the CEO and Co-Chief Marketing & Digital Officers, Center leads, and museum science specialists to build and elevate their public profiles, securing speaking engagements, op-ed placements, podcast appearances, and media opportunities that establish them as leading voices on science, education, and public engagement.
• Develop compelling, on-brand narratives, speeches, op-eds, talking points, keynotes, that translate the Museum's mission and ambition into language that resonates with media, funders, elected officials, and the public.
• Position the Museum of Science as a trusted institution at the intersection of science, culture, and civic life, ensuring that journalists and policymakers instinctively reach for MOS voices when science is in the news.
• Identify and respond quickly to cultural moments, breaking science news, and policy developments where the Museum has something genuine and credible to say.

Be the Boston Insider and National Builder

• Bring deep, trusted relationships across Boston's media, civic, philanthropic, academic, and cultural communities, and actively leverage them to elevate the Museum's presence, influence, and attendance.
• Be visible and engaged: attending events, hosting press, connecting with civic leaders, and representing the Museum as a go-to voice on science, innovation, and education in the city.
• Build the national profile in parallel, developing relationships with national and international media, identifying story angles that travel beyond Boston.

Modernize Approaches

• Develop strategies that use creators, digital platforms, podcast networks, newsletter ecosystems, and earned social amplification to reach audiences where traditional media doesn't go.
• Collaborate with the Digital team to build and maintain a creator and influencer relations program that extends stories of science organically and authentically, working within the brand guardrails set by the Creative Director and in alignment with the audience strategies led by the VP, Marketing and Brand and the VP, Content and Product.
• Use data, listening tools, and audience insight to drive PR strategy, to understand and optimize efforts for brand, attendance, and our broader growth goals.
• Leverage AI tools to improve research, media monitoring, content drafting, and strategic planning, building a PR function that is efficient, proactive, and always a step ahead.
• Bring an experimenter's mindset: test new formats, new platforms, and new approaches to earned media, and build on what works.

Support Revenue and Advancement Goals

• Ensure that the Communications strategy actively supports revenue goals by aligning campaign timing, story pitches, and media moments with the VP, Marketing and Brand's promotional calendar to maximize the impact of every major initiative.
• Develop targeted communications strategies that strengthen the Museum's visibility with major donors, foundations, and philanthropic partners, supporting the Advancement team's fundraising priorities.
• Work closely with the VP, Digital Content and Product to leverage owned digital channels, ensuring that PR-driven stories, earned media moments, and thought leadership content are amplified across the Museum's digital platforms, social channels, and content ecosystem for maximum reach.
• Serve as a communications resource for Exhibits, Programming, Centers, Digital, ESSO, and other institutional teams, helping surface and amplify stories from across the Museum that serve the brand and mission.

What We're Looking For (Competencies)

• 12+ years of progressive PR and Communications experience, including senior leadership roles with ownership of earned media strategy and reputation management.
• A proven track record of generating real media impact, national and local coverage, executive visibility, and cultural moments, with the portfolio to show for it.
• Deep knowledge of and existing relationships in the Boston media, civic, and philanthropic landscape, you are known here, and you know how this city works.
• Commercial Communications instincts: you understand how earned media connects to attendance, revenue, donor engagement, and brand equity, and you build strategy accordingly.
• Experience leading communications for major launches, openings, campaigns, or institutional milestones, the bigger and more complex, the better.
• A modern Communications practitioner, fluent in digital platforms, creator and influencer ecosystems, podcast media, and the evolving landscape of how stories get told and amplified.
• Strong executive communications skills, you can write, coach, and position leaders with confidence, and can turn complex institutional ideas into compelling public narratives.
• Data-driven and results-oriented: you set PR targets, track performance, and use insights to improve the strategy continuously.
• Experience with AI tools for media monitoring, research, content development, or strategic planning, and an appetite to keep pushing into what's next.
• A natural collaborator who works seamlessly across functions, you understand that PR, marketing, and creative are stronger together, and you actively build those bridges.
• A background in science, STEM, education, culture, or media is a strong plus, familiarity with science communication and an instinct for what resonates with broad audiences are qualities we value highly.
• An authentic belief in the museum's mission and the ambition to match it.

How We Work-Our Values

Mission-Focused: We inspire a lifelong love of science in everyone.

Audience-Driven: Everything we do begins with the people we serve.

Innovative: We are curious, take smart risks, share responsibility, and own outcomes.

Generous: We offer time and energy towards common goals.

The Museum of Science is fully committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and to attracting, retaining, developing and promoting the most qualified employees without regard to their race, gender, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship status, veteran status, or any other characteristic prohibited by federal, state or local law. We are dedicated to providing a work environment free from discrimination and harassment, and where employees are treated with respect and dignity.