Getty believes diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion are essential to our excellence and to the execution of our mission. The Getty community values differences in the pursuit of inquiry and knowledge, mutual understanding, respect, trust, transparency, and cooperation. We are committed to creating a diverse and welcoming workplace that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve and includes individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Individuals of color, women, LGBTQIA+, veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Our Mission

 

The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks to inspire curiosity about, and enjoyment and understanding of, the visual arts by collecting, conserving, exhibiting, and interpreting works of art of outstanding quality and historical importance and is one of four programs of the J. Paul Getty Trust.  The Museum operates two sites, the Getty Villa in Malibu, which exhibits its collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, and the Getty Center in Brentwood, which displays its collections of European art: Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, drawings to 1900, and photography to the present day (including non-European works).  The Museum mounts approximately 25 temporary exhibitions a year across its two sites; maintains an annual permanent gallery improvement program and offers wide-ranging and ambitious programming for its visitors.

 

The Opportunity

 

The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks an experienced individual to lead their Registrar’s department reporting to the Associate Director for Exhibitions. The Head of Registration demonstrates leadership in all areas of registration, establishing departmental objectives and developing and implementing departmental policies and procedures to maximize the effectiveness of resources. Managing a highly competent team of 14, this leader will apply new ways of working where appropriate, overseeing personnel actions and evaluating performance. The Head of Registration represents the Museum externally on registration matters, maintaining active relationships with registrars at peer institutions, attending museum registration and other industry conferences; may act as a courier for art shipments.

 

With a data-driven philosophy and approach, this leader will have had extensive experience overseeing record-keeping and tracking of works of art, particularly data and files pertaining to acquisition, loan, and deaccessioning. This person devises policies and procedures for creating and maintaining accurate documentation, providing data to other departments as necessary. The Head of Registration oversees the quality of and access to information on the Museum's collections, working closely with curatorial and administrative staff and ensuring appropriate maintenance of the collections database and the collections pages on the Getty’s website, serving collections staff and others, such as Accounting, General Counsel, and Institutional Archives, through reports or electronic transfer of data. Oversees audits of permanent and loan collections by Museum staff, Trust Accounting, and outside auditors.

 

With fiscal responsibility for the department’s operation and numerous delegated budgets supporting the successful delivery of exhibitions program, this leader oversees all shipping and security arrangements for works of art arriving and departing the Museum, ensuring maximum standards are followed for their safe, professional handling, and transport and that US Transport Security Administration (TSA) regulations are followed.  

 

How to Apply:

 

Naree W.S. Viner and Christy Farrell of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express your interest in this role please submit your materials here or email Christy directly here. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.

Exhibitions 

• Oversees all incoming loans for temporary exhibitions, working closely with Exhibitions Department. Includes negotiating and approving loan contracts, planning and budgeting for art crating and transport, couriers, and security; coordinates insurance, tracking, and reporting on exhibition budget; reviews exhibitions agreements with co-organizing partners and touring venues; and schedules exhibitions and deinstallations.
• Ensures that fine arts insurance and/ or U.S. Government Indemnity adequately covers the Museum’s ambitions for its loans-in program, with Trust Risk Management and the USGI Administrator as required. Oversees the preparation of U.S. Indemnity applications, the issuing of insurance or Indemnity certificates, and the reporting of loan values and transits.

Collections

• Participates in the process for art purchases and donations. Includes the review of acquisition proposals and deeds of gift; evaluates import/export documentation; conducts Art Loss Register searches; drafts purchase documentation and reviews contracts, coordinating with Museum Senior Staff and Trust Accounting as required.
• Oversees loans to the collection for acquisition consideration, display with the permanent collection, and conservation projects, ensuring that agreements are in keeping with Museum's conditions governing loans and conservation of objects.
• Oversees loans from the collection, ensuring that all are made in accordance with the Museum’s policies and procedures and its standard conditions of loans. Oversees facility report reviews and courier selection.
• Develops guidelines, policies, and procedures for art couriers, in-person and virtual, and determines the advisability of courier accompaniment for the Museum collection, working with curators and conservators.
• Manages the approval process for deaccessions; Includes the review of deaccession proposals; coordination with General Counsel on auction sales or repatriation contracts; verifies receipt of deaccessioned objects by appropriate recipients; tracks auction sales and receipt of proceeds.

Rights and Reproductions

• Oversees the collection’s portfolio of rights, copyright research, negotiations for rights and permissions with rights holders and the reproduction of collections by outside requesters.
• Oversees the drafting and implementing of Museum policies and procedures regarding the reproduction of images of objects in the collection and behind-the-scenes images and ensures procedures are followed.
• Oversees the use of images for exhibition-related purposes to ensure compliance with license and loan agreements and lender negotiations for permissions for these uses. Includes filming amd photography, 3-D photography permissions, and other digital projects, as required. 
• Ensures that rights information is maintained in the Museums’ collections information and digital asset management systems and communicated to those who wish to use collection and loan images. Includes oversight of the drafting and implementation of security policies in the digital asset management system.

Other duties, as directed.

• Bachelor’s degree
• 5 to 7 years of supervisory and/or project/process management experience

All employees must be fully-vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus as a condition of employment. Exemptions from this requirement as a reasonable accommodation due to medical contraindication, disability or sincerely held religious belief or practice will be considered.

Passion for the Mission

The successful candidate will demonstrate a passion for visual culture, art history, cultural heritage, and research, and will have a strong command of the challenges and opportunities facing arts and research institutions as the sector collectively strives to attract and retain significant and sustained attention of audiences, ranging from the academic to the general public and inclusive of all backgrounds.

 

Visionary Leader and Manager

This leader will manage a high-performing team of professionals with empathy and compassion. A natural mentor and trainer, this person is comfortable reinforcing policies, processes, and information across niches of internal constituents. Possesses management finesse to work with colleagues up, down, laterally, and beyond. The individual will also position the Getty at the forefront of conversations in the field regarding issues such as sustainability, diversity, equity, access and inclusion, maintaining the organization’s very highest level of quality, reputation, and integrity while also evolving best-practices to address changes in the cultural landscape.

 

Systems Thinker with Sensitivity to Compliance and Risk Management

Top candidates will be outcome-oriented leaders who will guide and articulate a vision for the department, including overall strategy, execution, and evaluation. Given the department’s most critical responsibility is managing risk in an intense environment, this leader will find joy in the administrative aspects of the role, being naturally detail- and process-oriented in a high-pressure environment in which preparing for the unexpected is the norm. The ability to see the bigger-picture implications of decisions while also understanding the immediate needs of specific situations is a must.

 

Strong Written and Verbal Communication Skills

A confident, influential, and effective communicator with the ability to work fluidly across all levels both internally and externally. Our client seeks an optimistic, high-energy leader who can connect authentically with a range of internal and external constituents while successfully conveying organizational, programmatic, and mission-oriented objectives. They will be an exceptional presenter and communicator with strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence (EQ), with a natural ability to convey priorities in a way that builds trust. With an inherent capability to listen, think, and respond effectively to a variety of inquiries and challenges, they will be able to remain firm and steady in situations requiring diplomacy and in high-level strategic discussions.

Here are just some examples that Getty offers/provides for full-time employees:

 

• Medical, Dental & Vision – Getty pays 75%-95% of the premium, depending on the plan elected. Coverage starts on date of hire. 
• 403(b) Plan – with up to 5% Employer Match
• Getty contribution of 6% to 401(a) plan
• Educational Assistance
• Vacation, Sick and Personal Days
• Many positions have bi-weekly Off-Fridays
• 12 Paid Holidays
• On-Site Fitness Center at Getty Center
• Community Involvement

 

To learn more about our comprehensive benefits and long list of perks, go to Getty HR.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship or immigration status, color, disability, ethnicity, familial status, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected status.