Associate Director of Museum Finance and Administration

Job Description

Department: Museum Administration and External Affairs

Pay Rate Type: Salary

Employee Type: Job Summary:
The Associate Director of Museum Finance and Administration at the Colby Museum serves as a key member of the Director’s Office team. The Associate Director oversees the business operations of the museum, ensuring that financial and administrative processes run efficiently throughout the fiscal and academic year, and provides ongoing data management, analysis, and reporting that supports multi-year budget planning, institutional evaluation, and strategic initiatives.

This position manages museum financial transactions, budget and expense tracking, and hiring processes in Workday, vendor contracts, and institutional surveys, working collaboratively with college financial services, human resources, institutional research, and other Colby College offices, as well as with museum staff, and as appropriate, external stakeholders.

Located in Waterville, Maine, the Colby Museum opens access to art and artists for the Colby community, for Maine residents and visitors, and for audiences beyond, creating a forum for experimentation, research, dialogue, and connection. We grow and use our stellar collection in ways that activate the power of art to expand imagination and forge new connections, fostering a more open, creative, and compassionate society.

We teach to inspire and open possibilities, so that students at Colby and other visitors can become more curious, nimble, and able to contribute within a changing world, in keeping with Colby’s dynamic liberal arts mission. We incubate art scholarship and practice in ways that explore and expand how the idea of America is understood and how art is made, interpreted, and shared.

We do so by supporting new research, providing mentorship, and convening a diversity of people and perspectives. The Lunder Institute for American Art and our exhibitions, programs, and publications facilitate field-wide impact. We are committed to our audiences, including the Colby College community, residents of Waterville and the broader Maine region, national and international visitors, and the artists, scholars, and partners with whom we collaborate.

To perform successfully in this position, an individual must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily as well as possess education/experience, employ the knowledge, skills, and abilities as listed in representative fashion. Colby College actively supports the Americans with Disabilities Act and will consider reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position. This listing of essential duties is not all-inclusive, but representative;

other duties may be assigned.

• Financial and Budget Management:
  • Serve as lead manager of museum budget processes, tracking, and reporting.
  • Facilitate annual budget planning, mid-year budget review, and end-of-year reconciliation by working closely with the Director of Administration and External Affairs, with the Director’s office, and with area budget managers.
  • Work with the Director’s office team to prepare current-year budget reports, generating updates on a monthly basis and as needed, as well as assisting with managing multi-year projections.
  • Serve as the museum’s business manager in Workday, creating, approving, and/or overseeing day‑to‑day procurement and expense transactions across all departments and ensuring monthly reconciliations are completed in a timely manner.
  • Work with the College financial services team and all museum departments to regularly monitor expenses and ensure alignment with institutional goals.
  • Facilitate grant and fundraising activities by providing budget and expense reports for internal gift and grant management and/or as required by external funders, working in collaboration with museum development and College advancement teams.
• Administrative Support:
  • Provide high‑level business administrative support to the Director’s office team, preparing business‑related briefing materials, presentations, or other business communications on behalf of the…