Organizer Information
mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien is the largest museum for modern and contemporary art in Austria, located in Vienna's MuseumsQuartier. The institution was founded on September 21, 1962, as the Museum of the Twentieth Century, initially housed in the Austrian Pavilion built by Karl Schwanzer for the 1958 Brussels EXPO. The museum's collection ranges from classical modernism, including Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism, through the art movements of the 1960s and 1970s such as Pop Art, Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Minimal Art, Conceptual Art, and Viennese Actionism, to positions of international contemporary art, and includes major donations and more than 150 permanent loans from the Ludwig Collection alongside the Wolfgang and Hildegard Hahn collection. The museum has a collection of approximately 10,000 works. In 2001 the collection moved into its current purpose-built home in the MuseumsQuartier, designed by architects Laurids and Manfred Ortner, a monolithic building clad in anthracite-gray basalt lava stone. As stated in the job posting, mumok "thinks and acts internationally" in its exhibition, collecting, and research activities, and sees itself as a place of lively engagement with art of the 20th century and the present.
Title & Description
Head of Department Collection (m/f/d)
The Head of Department Collection is a full-time (40 hours per week), unlimited position overseeing mumok's Collection Department. The role carries overall responsibility for the department, combining people management with the professional and administrative stewardship of the museum's entire collection, in cooperation with the Collections Department. The position is designed for an experienced manager who can lead a team while also engaging directly with the scientific, curatorial, and logistical dimensions of running a major museum collection.
The role spans strategic and operational work: developing strategies, processes, and project plans across all areas of responsibility together with specialist staff, then overseeing their implementation. It includes direct responsibility for growing the collection, scientific cataloguing, and management of registry and loan traffic, including transport escorts for artworks. The Head of Department Collection is also responsible for conceiving and realizing exhibitions drawn from the collection, along with budget planning and control for those exhibitions. The institution is looking for a candidate who combines leadership and team-development capability with substantive expertise in modern and contemporary art and museum collection management.
The Role Overview
- Position Type: Full-time
- Working Hours: 40 hours per week
- Contract Type: Unlimited (permanent)
- Salary: € 5,000 gross per month (guideline figure; willingness to overpay depending on qualifications and experience)
- Reports To: Not specified in the source
- Department / Programme: Collection Department
- Institutional Context: Overall responsibility for the collection department, working in cooperation with the Collections Department
Position & Tasks
- Overall responsibility for the collection department, including personnel management, team development and resource management
- Professional and administrative support of the entire collection in cooperation with the Collections Department
- Joint responsibility for the expansion of the collection
- Scientific cataloguing of the collection
- Creation of strategies, processes, and project plans in cooperation with the respective specialist employees for all areas of responsibility
- Control of the implementation of the planned strategies, processes and project plans
- Handling of the registry and loan traffic and transport escorts
- Conception and realization of exhibitions in the context of the collection
- Budget planning, control, and responsibility for exhibitions in the context of the collection
Categories
- Curatorial Practice
- Museum Studies
- Collection Management
- Art History
- Arts Administration
- Exhibition Making
- Contemporary Art
- Cultural Programming
Eligibility
- Open to candidates internationally or nationally (no explicit geographic or nationality restriction stated in the source)
- Several years of experience in a management position in an exhibition company
- Preferred but not mandatory: university degree in art history / cultural management, plus additional relevant training
- Preferred but not mandatory: expertise in modern and contemporary art
- Leadership and social skills
- Fluent written and spoken English
Program Benefits
- Guideline gross monthly salary of € 5,000 (with willingness to overpay depending on qualifications and experience)
- Varied field of activity in a collegial environment
- Respectful and open working atmosphere with creative possibilities
- Active promotion of further training
- Very good public accessibility due to central location
- Flexible working hours, including home office possibility
- Occupational health care
- Other numerous benefits (unspecified in the source)
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
By email to bewerbung@mumok.at.
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 9 August 2026
Location
Vienna, Austria
Additional Details
- Employer is described as fostering a collegial, respectful, and open working atmosphere with creative possibilities
- Central Vienna location offers very good public transport accessibility
- Occupational health care is provided as part of the benefits package