Head of Collections Services

2 weeks ago

Edinburgh EH JF, United Kingdom National Museums Scotland Full time £70,000 - £80,000 per year

Head of Collections Services | Full time | 35 hours

Full Time Salary: £70,692 - £80,152

Hours: 35 hours per week | Monday – Friday

Location: National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh | Hybrid working

National Museums Scotland is one of the leading museum groups in Europe with one of the largest and most diverse collections in the world.

As an organisation our values are Creative, Inclusive, Collaborative and Forward-thinking. We are looking for someone who embodies these values to join our Collections Services team.

Benefits of joining us as our Head of Collections Services include:

  • Annually alongside your salary, National Museums Scotland contributes 28.97% of this towards you being a member of the Civil Service Pension Scheme
  • A generous annual leave of 28.5 days – rising to 33.5 after 5 years, plus an additional 8 paid days public holidays
  • Free access to national (and international) museums and exhibitions
  • A range of wellbeing benefits including Employee Assistance Programme 24/7
  • Access to all the above and more from day one of employment.

About the Head of Collections Services role:

This role leads collections access, care, conservation and management; heritage science; and Library and Archives. The postholder will be responsible for the strategy, development, planning and implementation of effective delivery in these areas, and ensuring resources are appropriately deployed. The role provides strategic leadership in cultural heritage law and related areas, in support of the overall strategy and objectives, managing risk and resource in relation to National Museums Scotland's collections.

As Head of Collections Services at National Museums Scotland you will:

  • Deliver integrated strategy, policies and professional standard for collections management
  • Undertake long-term strategic planning for the department to ensure resources are in place across a multidisciplinary Collections Services' team
  • Contribute to the development and implementation of collection digitisation programmes
  • Provide advice across National Museums Scotland for all issues relating to cultural property law in liaison with external legal and sector experts
  • Foster and support research projects (especially infrastructure) and act as project lead for funded research projects.

Skills and experience we're looking for in our Head of Collections Services:

  • A relevant postgraduate degree, for example in museum studies, conservation, conservation science, library and archives management, cultural property law, or equivalent experience
  • Experience at senior level of strategic planning, staff management and financial responsibility
  • A strong track record of managing key areas of conservation and / or collections management and libraries/archives
  • Ability to travel nationally and internationally as senior representative of National Museums Scotland.

Please be sure to view relevant attachments for this role (available on our Careers Portal: ) for full details of the position.

The closing date for this role is 09 November 2025. The Selection Event is likely to take place week commencing 01 December 2025.

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