Title: Executive Director
Reports to: Chair, Board of Directors
Location: Ottawa, ON (Carp)
Employment Type: Full-time, Indefinite position
Compensation: $100,000 to $125,000 total annual compensation package commensurate on experience. The position includes extended health care benefits, vacation time, and paid personal/sick days.
Application Deadline: Sunday, June 1, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET
ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION
The Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum is seeking a dynamic, strategic, and visionary leader to serve as its Executive Director. Located in a once top-secret sprawling underground bunker built to shelter government officials during a nuclear attack, the museum is a national historic site and one of Canada's most unique cultural institutions. The Director will lead the museum through a new era of innovation, growth, and historical engagement, ensuring its sustainability and continued relevance in today’s world.
The Diefenbunker is Canada’s most significant surviving Cold War artifact — it is an impressive four-storey underground facility that operated as the country’s central communications headquarters during the Cold War, ready at any moment in case of a nuclear attack. Today, it is a one-of-a-kind museum and national historic site, telling stories of national and international importance and welcoming visitors from around the world.
The Diefenbunker is an independent not-for-profit charitable organization governed by a volunteer board of directors, carrying a mandate of both museum and national historic site. It provides an important anchor attraction and community resource in the village of Carp located in Ottawa’s west end.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Executive Director serves as the chief executive of the Diefenbunker Museum and is responsible for its strategic leadership, operational management, and long-term sustainability. This role requires a passionate and collaborative leader with strong experience in non-profit management, heritage or museum leadership, and public engagement. The Executive Director oversees the management and operations of a combined museum and national historic site.
Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director is responsible for the overall direction, administration, finances and operations of the organization. As the Diefenbunker operates as an independent charitable organization, the Executive Director is responsible to ensure sufficient operating revenue and works closely with the board to identify and mitigate risks to the organization.
The Executive Director ensures that the museum delivers an outstanding visitor experience, maintains excellence in collections and exhibitions, promotes public engagement, preserves the building as a national historic site, and secures the resources necessary for long-term sustainability. The role manages a team of approximately five direct reports (leadership team), oversees a staff of 20 to 25 employees and a cadre of volunteers, and is responsible for an annual operating budget of approximately $2 million, as well as multi-year project budgets.
PRINCIPAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES*
Leading a cross functional team of staff and volunteers, the key responsibilities and duties are as follows:
1.Strategic leadership and vision
2. Operations and administration
3. Financial oversight and sustainability
4. Collections and education
5. Human resources, people leadership, and board relations
* Detailed Job Description available upon request.
POSITION REQUIREMENTS
POSITION ASSETS
THE DIEFENBUNKER MUSEUM OFFERS:
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