£32,115 offered as 0.8 role at £25,692 (plus 10% employer pension contribution)
Permanent
People’s History Museum (PHM) is looking for a dedicated professional to lead the care and management of PHM’s collection. The ideal candidate will understand current issues and best practice within collections management and curation and will have strong IT skills to lead the ongoing development of our digital collections management systems. This includes our collections management system, EMu, and our new digital asset management system, Axiell DAMS – Powered by Piction.
The Collections Manager will oversee the final stages of a John Ellerman Foundation funded project (until mid-March 2026) to improve cataloguing and digitisation, which forms the vital building blocks to improving collections management and future engagement with the museum’s collection. They will be responsible for the management of two fixed-term Collections Assistants currently undertaking digitisation and cataloguing work as part of this project.
Developing the museum collection and leading on all processes related to new acquisitions is a key aspect of the Collections Manager’s role. They will also contribute to exhibitions development, supporting the Exhibitions Officer to identifying suitable objects for display in exhibitions as well as creating smaller displays to respond to anniversaries and showcase new acquisitions.
Another key area of responsibility will be to lead on plans relating to the potential relocation of PHM’s object store, collaborating with colleagues to deliver this project.
The successful applicant will work closely with the Engagement, Archive, Conservation, and Communications & Marketing teams on current and upcoming projects, including future exhibition development, digitisation, and sharing our stories with our audiences.
The role would be ideal for someone with experience in collections management and curation, and with strong experience of working with collections management systems. Direct experience with EMu would be an advantage, as would knowledge of managing the intellectual property (IP) and copyright of collections.
PHM’s collection of over 60,000 objects showcases ideas worth fighting for, including democracy, gender equality, votes for all, co-operation, social justice, disabled people’s rights, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Our vision is of a fairer society where people’s voices and actions make a difference. We are seeking an individual with a strong commitment to equality, diversity and social justice to care for and democratise this nationally recognised collection.
Salary: £32,115 offered as 0.8 role at £25,692 (plus 10% employer pension contribution).
Hours: Part time role (28 hours per week) with flexi-time and some working from home arrangements in line with PHM policy
Annual leave: 24 days pro rata plus bank holidays
Contract: Permanent
Responsible to: Head of Collections & Engagement
Responsible for: Collections Assistants x 2 (currently fixed-term project funded)
Location: Based at People’s History Museum with the opportunity for agile working in line with the museum’s flexible working policy. Will involve roughly a day per week spent at PHM’s off-site store
Please outline how your experience, skills and knowledge meet the job description and provide details via our online application form. Your application will be assessed and scored against the job description using the information provided.
Deadline for applications: Sunday 9 June at 11pm
Interviews: Thursday 19 June in person at the museum
If you have any questions or would like to arrange to discuss the role please contact Jackie Royle, Finance & Operations Officer at hr@phm.org.uk
PHM prides itself on being a welcoming and inclusive organisation, profoundly committed to advancing equality and diversity in the broadest sense. We highly value the benefits that diverse perspectives bring to our mission.
We recognise the museum sector currently underrepresents global majority, disabled, LGBTQIA+ people, different socio-economic backgrounds and those with intersecting identities in our workforce; PHM is actively working to address this and encourages applications from these backgrounds. While the successful candidate will be selected purely on merit, in the event of a tie between two candidates with equal experience, we may select a candidate who helps us better represent the communities the museum serves.
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