Digitisation Manager, Sound and Vision

About the role


We are looking for a Digitisation Manager to manage our sound and audiovisual digitisation team, helping to preserve one of the world’s greatest sound archives.


The British Library is home to an extraordinary collection of sound and moving images: recordings of speech, music, wildlife and the environment, from the 1880s to the present day. Most of these recordings are held on physical media. As these items physically degrade and as the means of playing them disappear from production, the recordings on them must be preserved. Today, that means digitisation: creating and storing stable, digital files.


Working closely with staff across technical, curatorial and metadata teams, you will oversee all digitisation work to agreed standards and to defined targets, leading and motivating the team and monitoring and resolving day-to-day and more strategic issues.


You will ensure that targets are met, that quality standards are maintained and make decisions about tools and processes used.


You will be comfortable in communicating complex ideas, in influencing and persuading others and in reporting to senior management. The role will involve liaising with peer institutions internationally and sharing knowledge at a variety of levels.


The successful applicant will have excellent technical knowledge of a wide range of historical and current audio formats, excellent IT skills, a thorough knowledge of accepted archival principles as they apply to sound and AV and a good awareness of the literature pertaining to AV archiving and excellent IT skills.


A relevant degree or relevant professional experience is required.


This is a full-time, permanent position, working in our studios at St Pancras.


The post holder will be expected to work a minimum of three days in the office per week, to support a team who are on site five days a week.


About us


We are the national library of the UK and we are here for everyone. Our shelves hold over 170 million items – a living collection that gets bigger every day. Although our roots extend back centuries, we aim to collect everything published in the UK today, tomorrow and far into the future. Our trusted experts care for this collection and open it up for everyone to spark new discoveries, ideas and to help people do incredible things.





We have millions of books, and much more besides. Our London and Yorkshire sites hold collections ranging from newspapers and maps to sound recordings, patents, academic journals, as well as a copy of every UK domain website and blog. Our public spaces provide a place to research, to meet friends, to start up a new business or simply to get inspired by visiting our galleries and events. We work with partners and libraries across the UK and the world to make sure that as many people as possible have the chance to use and explore our collections, events, and expertise. And we’re always open online, along with more and more of our digitised collection.





What we can offer you


A competitive salary.

A fantastic pension scheme with minimum employer contributions of 28.97% (this may be higher dependent on grade).

Flexible working hours, with the ability to take up to 5 days flexi leave in a 3-month period.

25 days holiday.

Full details of employee benefits can be found on our Careers: Benefitspage.





Closing date: 09/11/2025


Interview date: 19/11/2025





If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]





We are unable to provide sponsorship under the UK Skilled Worker visa for this role.



We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse candidates and disabled candidates. We would like to increase the representation of these groups within The British Library to ensure our workforce is as diverse as the public that we serve. Creating an inclusive workplace is the core of our business and a way to engage the diversity of thought that is essential to achieve our aims.

Museum Website: https://ce0752li.webitrent.com/ce0752li_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC179GF.open?WVID=5071482BMD