Job Introduction

Collections Manager

Salary: Band: 11, £45,718 - £49,764 p.a.

37 hours per week

We have a fantastic opportunity to join our team as a Collections Manager where you will ensure that Portsmouth Museums collections are cared for, managed and curated in line with Spectrum and Accreditation standards.

The Service:

Portsmouth Museums & Visitor Services are responsible for the care of the city’s museum collections – comprising some 500,000 items that document the history and culture of the city – and for making them accessible to both residents and visitors.

The service operates six museum sites – The D-Day Story, Southsea Castle, Charles Dickens’ Birthplace, Portsmouth Natural History Museum, Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery & Eastney Beam Engine House. A range of audience development initiatives ensure that people from communities across the city and beyond have access to and are able to benefit from the collections we hold.

We are:

Champions of Portsmouth's history and culture
Welcoming, inclusive and community driven
Listening to and engaging with our audiences
Resourceful and focused on sustainability
Passionate, inspiring and thought provoking

Our vision is to connectculture, communities and collections, creating links with our past and raising aspirations for the future.

What is the role?

You will lead and manage the collections team to conserve, develop and curate our collections. You will direct and inspire your team to improve accessibility and promotion of our collections to ensure their long-term preservation.

This role requires strong leadership and project management skills and a passion for cultural heritage to foster meaningful connections between collections and our local communities. You will undertake a holistic review of storage, working with the curators and head of service, you will be responsible for creating and implementing a 5-year plan to improve the storage for all our collections. In addition, you will develop and regularly review policies and procedures on collections management, including monitoring the safety and condition of the collection to Benchmarks standards, and recording all collections activity, ensuring that all legal and statutory requirements are met.

The postholder will work across two of our key cultural services, Museums and the Library & Archives (80% of time to be spent with the Museums service) and will take a leadership role as part of the senior management team, deputising for the head of the museum service when required.

Occasional Weekend and evening working may be required.

For full details of the role and key responsibilities please refer to the job profile.

Who is the person?

With a passion for history and a strong desire to share heritage, you will have senior curatorial experience and a proven track record of working with collections. This will include managing museum collections, including acquisitions and disposals, loan programmes, documentation, cataloguing, digitisation and storage in line with accreditation and industry standards. You will have a professional knowledge of the national heritage and museums sectors and the issues, standards and best practice required for accreditation through Arts Council England. With extensive experience of leading and managing a team you will have excellent communication and organisation skills as well as experience of effectively managing projects and workflows with competing priorities. In addition, you will have extensive experience of leading and managing a team as well as a degree or post-graduate qualification in a relevant arts/humanities subject or equivalent. A full driver's licence is required as you will be on occasion moving collections around different sites and is some instances across the country.

Please read the job profile for the full details of what you need in order to apply for the role.

About Portsmouth City Council

What we can offer you:

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our careers portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council

Application process:

Please read the full job profile for further details on the post to ensure your application matches the requirements of the role stated in the who is the person.

Remember to demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had.

If you would like further information on the role then please email Cathy Hakes, Head of Museums - Cathy.Hakes@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

Closing: 17 August 2025

The interview process will take place w/c 1 September 2025

We will email applicants from time to time; please ensure you check e-mail folders as sometimes our e-mails may go into spam/junk folders.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk. or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616800.

PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL

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Collections Manager