Curator of Social History OCC614187

Job details

Salary range: £35,745 - £38,223 pro-rata, per annum (actual salary £28,982.04 - £30,991.20 per annum)

Work location: The role is based at the Museum Resource Centre in Standlake (near Witney) but will be required to work occasionally at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock (OX20 1SN) and at our other locations.

Hours per week: 30

Contract type: Permanent

Closing date: Tuesday 30th January 2024

Interview date: Monday 12th February 2024

About us

Oxfordshire County Council are seeking to appoint a Curator of Social History at the Oxfordshire Museum Service on a permanent basis. This is an exciting time to join the Oxfordshire Museum Service as we develop our management team and service structure, and enhance access to our collections and services.

Our collection totals 112,000 objects from the palaeolithic era to contemporary collecting. The Social History collection forms roughly half of our overall holdings and is diverse and broad ranging. We make our collections accessible via our range of services including through our key operating sites. The Oxfordshire Museum is our flag ship site and attracts over 100,000 visitors every year. The site includes an accessible green space, permanent and temporary galleries, learning space, café, shop and library. The Museum Resource Centre is our bespoke storage and conservation centre. Home to tens of thousands of objects as well as curatorial and learning staff accommodation. The service also manages two remote sites, Swalcliffe Barn (near Banbury), a medieval tithe barn with agricultural collections and the Bishops Palace (Witney) an open archaeological site of special historic interest.

About the role

Once fully recruited, alongside the Curator of Archaeology, this role will lead the Collections team who collectively care for and manage our collections and support access to them. This post will work with a range of colleagues, volunteers and the public. No two days are the same at the museum service!

The post reports to the Museum Service Manager who has overall responsibility for the Oxfordshire Museum Service. This role will form part of a new management team and is integral to the development and management of our site and operations.

About you

The successful applicant will bring demonstrable curatorial knowledge and expertise to the role. They will have a passion for making collections accessible in a range of ways for diverse audiences and users. The postholder will lead on a new collecting strategy and so will come with ideas to refresh our collecting practises, ensuring our collections represent modern Oxfordshire and its people.

They will also have a strong working understanding of best practise in collections based work, ideally in a Social History / mixed media collections setting. Supportive line and team management is also important and the postholder will be able to demonstrate an effective track record of managing and leading people.

They will be happy to work independently and as part of the service management team, collections team and wider museum family.

Rewards and benefits

• Culture of flexible working
• Technology to support agile working where role permits
• Up to 33 day’s holiday p.a. plus bank holidays
• Option to ‘buy’ additional holiday
• Employee Assistance Programme including access to health and wellbeing support
• Membership of the Local Government contributory pension scheme, with an employer’s contribution of up to 19.9%
• Enhanced family friendly policies
• Local and national discounts for shopping and travel
• Great learning and development opportunities to support your ongoing development

Would you like to know more?

Please click here to View the full Job Description & Selection Criteria here.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Jemma Davey, Museum Service Manager on Jemma.Davey@Oxfordshire.gov.uk

Application Procedure

To apply, please complete an online application form by clicking either of the Apply Now buttons at the top and bottom of this advert. This includes a section asking you to explain how you meet the selection criteria, as specified in the job posting. You may attach a cover letter and/or CV to your application form, however it is not mandatory.

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