Head of Conservation

About the role

As Head of Conservation, you will take on an exciting leadership position at the heart of our Collection Access and Care Directorate.

This is a pivotal position that reflects the increasing demands being made on the role of the conservator including the opportunities that multidisciplinary research provides. You will bring your own specialist conservation expertise while having operational responsibility for a busy team of seventeen.

We are looking for someone with proven, strong leadership and coaching skills to support continuous development of the team in delivering their goals. As a senior leader, you will play a pivotal role in contributing to Our People Vision of ‘… ensuring the National Galleries of Scotland is a great place to work, where our people thrive in a culture where we are trusted, empowered and engaged to achieve our true potential.’

To succeed you’ll have an outstanding ability to work with many stakeholders, collaborating within and out with the department and across the professional network of conservation to achieve ambitious goals. You will work closely with colleagues across various disciplines including our learning, curatorial, collections management and collections information teams, to develop an integrated approach to conservation at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS). We are committed to sustainability in all aspects of our work and your approach to conservation will have sustainable practice as its starting point.

You will play an important role in the development of our ambitious project to create a new National Collections Facility - The Art Works for NGS and our partners.

Conservation at the National Galleries of Scotland

We have developed an exciting strategy for the coming years with clear aims aligned to our purpose ‘We make art work for everyone.’ Conservation will sit at the heart of this strategy as a key enabling function to develop our national and international programmes and develop and engage audiences in new ways.

The conservation department includes specialist conservation expertise across paintings, frames, works on paper and photography, sculpture, installation, media and performance art and preventive conservation. A conservation technician team supports the conservators delivering a programme of non-interventive care including crate design, preparation of frames, and mount making. Developments in the field of sculpture conservation at NGS are at an early stage and methodologies for this emerging skill area are being formulated. There is a strong desire to develop further an integrated heritage science function relevant to the materials and range of the NGS collection and those works in its care.

The difference you’ll make

Reporting to the Director of Collection Access and Care, you will be a key member of both the Collection Access and Care senior team and the organisation’s Extended Leadership Team. Working closely with the Director of Collection Access and Care you will ensure conservation achieves its ambitious goals for care research and collection access.

You will make a real difference by:
- Providing outstanding leadership and operational management for the conservation team, including the coaching and development of professional conservators.
- Ensuring the purpose of the conservation department is aligned with the organisation’s vision and developing strategies to supports this.
- Developing an integrated conservation approach that reflects the breadth and depth of our holdings and collecting criteria and is in line with national conservation standards.
- Contributing your specialist expertise to the conservation of works within your discipline.
- Working closely with the Director of Collection Care and Access, Head of Collections Management, and Head of Collection Information and Data Assets, to forge a directorate which works creatively and effectively to meet its targets of highly professional, sustainable collections care.
- Playing a key role in the delivery of The Art Works and shaping conservation at the galleries for the future. You’ll contribute to the development of this project that will transform Scotland’s ability to care for, provide access to, and experience its national collection. Located in the north of Edinburgh, The Art Works will house c 97% of the nation’s collection of fine art and offers an extraordinary opportunity to make all our collection work for everyone. The Art Works is a strategic enabler for the organisation, and it will be transformative, underpinning local national and international impact.
- Overseeing the strategic positioning and planning of our conservation function, budget and resource management based on capacity and skill base understanding, including exploration of income generation, granting bodies and cost reduction opportunities.
- Having the ability to and being confident in making critical decisions and giving conservation advice with confidence, generally based on precedents but not exclusively, drawing on the specialist conservation knowledge of others within the team as appropriate.
Being involved in submitting grant applications and seeking funding sources linked to posts and research activity.
- Acting as an ambassador for NGS conservation and reflecting our values.

Please apply directly via our careers portal. Applications via email will not be accepted.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Thursday, 27 November 2025.

Museum Website: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/careers