Conservator: Preventive

Conservator: Preventive
Collection Care
Full-time, 41 hours per week (including one hour paid lunch break)
Permanent
£36,683 per annum
Application deadline: 12pm (midday) on Monday 20 May 2024

About the role:
With ambitious plans for the Museum’s next phases of core projects and Masterplan, an exciting opportunity has arisen to join a growing and recently redeveloped Preventive Conservation team, leading on the coordination of all preventive conservation and collection care applications. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the long-term care of the Museum’s collection as it embarks on its most significant cultural redevelopment project ever undertaken.

As Conservator: Preventive, you will lead in care of the collection through preventive conservation measures and lead in the coordination of conservation related activities supporting various collection-based projects with a focus on displays. This is a crucial role involving working closely with various cross-departmental stakeholders. This role delivers through representation, planning, and cross-museum collaboration, and to proactively engage with outreach activities of the Conservation team.

Key areas of responsibility:
• To independently assess collection condition and contribute to the preventive conservation of collections made of a wide range of organic and inorganic materials.

• To advise colleagues and stakeholders on preventive conservation, collection care and risk management related matters on all collection-bases activities.

• To independently solve complex problems regarding preventive conservation, applying a high degree of expertise, judgement, innovation and adaptability for the display, storage, and handling of objects.

• To lead in the coordination of the management and maintenance of the collection environmental monitoring system across the Museum’s estate
About you:
• Recognised professional conservation qualification to degree level or equivalent, with emphasis on preventive conservation
• Demonstrable practical preventive conservation skills
• Strong understanding of mechanisms involved in material deterioration
• Demonstrable knowledge of contemporary principles and practice in preventive conservation
• Experience of devising preventive measures
• Involvement in display, loans and storage related activities
• Understanding of conservation theory and ethical decision making
• Considerable post qualification experience of working in the heritage sector (e.g., museum, gallery, library, archive sector)
• Experience of planning own work and objectives to deliver set objectives on time and to budget
• Excellent problem solving and decision-making skills
• Open and effective communicator

About the British Museum:
Founded in 1753, the British Museum’s remarkable collection spans over two million years of human history and culture. The Museum is one of the leading visitor attractions and its world-famous collection includes the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, Egyptian mummies, the Admonitions Scroll, and the Amaravati sculptures.

The Museum offers a competitive benefits package including:

• Generous annual leave allowance of 25 days (rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service) plus 2.5 privilege days and plus bank holidays
• Membership of the civil service defined benefit pension scheme (find out here what benefits a civil service pension provides).
• Free entry to a wide range of museums and exhibitions
• Participation in private and public Museum activities, including talks by leading curators from around the world and behind-the-scenes opportunities to learn how museums care for and manage their extraordinary collections
• Interest-free travel, bicycle and rental deposit loans
• Professional and personal development opportunities
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Discounts on food and gift shop purchases

Additional details:
For more information about this role, please see the job description.
The interviews are expected to take place week commencing 3 June 2024.
If you have any additional needs that we should be aware of in order to support you with your application, please provide details to [email protected].

The British Museum is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all staff and job applicants. We aim to create a working environment in which all individuals can make best use of their skills, free from unlawful discrimination or harassment. We value the benefits that a diverse workforce brings to a Museum which represents world culture. The Museum is committed to ensuring that no job applicant suffers unlawful discrimination because of any protected characteristics. Our recruitment procedures aim to ensure that individuals are treated because of their relevant knowledge, skills and experience.

We offer a flexible way of working scheme that allows our employees to work remotely in a way that suits them and the organisation. We welcome questions and conversations at interview stage about how flexible working could work for you. We would typically see this role as working on site about 3 to 4 days a week, however that may vary according to the demands of the role.

The Museum also adheres to the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) for pre-employment screening of Civil Servants.

Museum Website: https://bmrecruit.ciphr-irecruit.com//templates/CIPHR/jobdetail_7401.aspx