Head of Design & Editorial

Head of Design & Editorial

Full-time, exempt, 37.5 hours weekly

Salary: $120,000 - $125,000 annually

Onsite, no remote work available

The Job

The Head of Design & Editorial is a director-level creative leader responsible for shaping Mia’s visual identity, across all touchpoints. Leading a team of graphic designers and editors, this role champions design and editorial excellence across physical exhibitions, print collateral, digital experiences, motion graphics, signage, wayfinding, owned brand merchandise, and marketing campaigns.

Sitting within the Audience & Engagement division (alongside Marketing & Communications and Education & Programming), you will serve as Mia’s senior leader for design and editorial services—building a collaborative, solutions-oriented culture that elevates the visitor experience and drives audience engagement.

In this role, you will…

Creative Strategy & Brand Stewardship

Visual Identity & Stewardship: Lead the expression and evolution of Mia’s visual identity, design systems, and creative standards across physical and digital touchpoints, in alignment with Mia’s brand strategy.
Editorial Services and Interpretation : Lead editorial standards and practices for exhibition labels, gallery interpretation, publications, and other institutional content, including developmental editing, copyediting, proofreading, style standards, and editorial production.
Interdepartmental Partnership: Partner cross-functionally with teams like Curatorial, Marketing & Communications, Website & Digital Experience, and Learning & Programming to ensure brand consistency and deliver cohesive campaign identities.
Creative & Art Direction: Provide high-level creative and art direction, directly supporting key, high-stakes, or complex projects when needed.
Inclusive Design & IDEA Lens: Embed inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) into all creative assets and content strategies, ensuring brand expressions reflect diverse perspectives and meet universal accessibility standards.

Operations, Project Execution & Budgeting

Workflow & Resource Planning: Partner closely with Audience Project Management to evaluate incoming creative requests, prioritize workflows, establish production schedules, and manage team capacity.
Budget Management: Develop and oversee annual departmental operating budgets and project-specific creative budgets, maximizing resources effectively.
Vendor & Agency Relations: Manage external creative partners, agency vendors, and freelance talent—negotiating scopes of work, timelines, and deliverables.

Team Leadership & Talent Mentorship

People Leadership: Recruit, mentor, and empower a team of designers and editors.
Creative Culture: Foster a continuous-learning environment that encourages creative experimentation and professional growth.
Performance Management: Set clear goals, conduct regular 1-on-1s, and conduct performance reviews that elevate team capabilities and engagement.

Departmental & Institutional Support

Perform other duties as assigned by the Chief Audience & Engagement Officer.

To be successful in this role, you have…

A proven track record of developing, launching, or evolving comprehensive brand systems and omnichannel content strategies.
Extensive experience directing both digital (web, social, interactive, motion) and print/environmental collateral (signage, exhibitions, publications).
Strong working knowledge of modern creative suites and collaboration tools (Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, Asana or similar enterprise PM software, Google Workspace/Microsoft 365).
Advanced Executive Functioning & Workflow Switching: Exceptional task-prioritization, working memory, and time management skills; proven ability to seamlessly switch focus across dozens of concurrent print, digital, and environmental projects without loss of strategic momentum or attention to detail.
Executive People Leadership & Team Regulation: High emotional intelligence and social executive function to coach diverse creative teams through high-pressure deadlines, mediate cross-departmental friction, and adjust team workloads.
Strategic Systems Thinking & Agility: Superior cognitive flexibility to solve complex design challenges, navigate ambiguity, and translate broad institutional goals into actionable creative systems under tight deadlines.
High-Stakes Decision Making: Strong analytical capacity to evaluate competing departmental demands, allocate limited resources efficiently, and make decisive creative and operational choices.

Requirements:

Required:

10+ years of progressive experience in creative direction, brand strategy, and graphic design.
3–5+ years of direct supervisory experience leading creative teams (designers, editors, production specialists).

Preferred:

Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Visual Communications, or equivalent practical leadership experience.
Experience in an arts, cultural, museum, or non-profit environment.
Deep understanding of human-centered design, universal design principles, and accessible media guidelines.

Mia Culture

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an audience-centered, equitable and inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome. Mia is Mission Driven, Generous, Agile, Emotionally Aware, and Positive, and endeavors to create a workplace culture where staff are responsible to one another, to our visitors, and to themselves to do the best work possible.

Mia Benefits and Perks

Health and Wellness: Mia offers comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, and vision coverage. We have a wellness and employee assistance program to support your overall wellbeing.

Financial Security: We provide financial peace of mind with a variety of options, including a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for health expenses and a Dependent Care Account (DCA) for dependent care expenses. Our 403(b) Retirement + Savings Plan includes a percentage of salary contribution from Mia after two years of employment (and minimum hours and age eligibility requirements are met).

Additional Perks: In addition to paid vacation, personal, sick days, enjoy a balanced work-life with a 37.5-hour work week and 11 paid holidays.

Join Mia and enjoy a workplace that values your health, financial security, and personal development, all while contributing to a vibrant cultural institution.

Posting Deadline

No set expiration date. Job postings typically stay posted until candidates are selected for phone interviews.