Jobs

JOB PURPOSE
The collections and interiors held by the National Trust for Scotland are historically significant and an intrinsic part of the visitor experience. Built for the Kennedy family, one of the oldest clans in Scotland, Culzean Castle is the Trusts flagship property and considered to be Robert Adam’s cliff-top masterpiece.
The VSS Collections Officer at Culzean is responsible for ensuring the highest standards of collections care, preventive conservation, access, and collections management for the extensive and varied collections & historic interiors throughout the castle. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, they will ensure the property remains well presented, well cared for, well protected, well documented, engaging and relevant for the benefit and enjoyment of everyone.
The role will be based at Culzean Castle, working with the collections and interiors on site, although there will be opportunities to travel beyond the property on occasion for development and to support and assist other staff across the Trust.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Conduct Integrated Pest Management checks; monitor & maintain the Environmental Monitoring & Control Systems.
• Work closely with the Regional Conservator to improve and develop the collections care and preventive conservation practices & processes within the castle, improve collections protection, storage and access to collections and archives.
• Manage & develop collections cleaning plans. Conduct the conservation cleaning and train the Visitor Services Assistants to assist with the delivery of the collections cleaning and care of the collections, historic interiors and other collections spaces to a high standard. Recruit, train and supervise volunteers to assist with the collection care across the property as necessary.
• Assist the Regional Conservator and other staff in property wide projects, supervise contractors, ensure the collections and interiors remain protected & cared for during building, filming and other events that impact on the collections.
• Use of Trust systems to monitor the condition, security and location of the collections and interiors across the cluster ensuring any damage, deterioration or threats to the collections are promptly reported and mitigated; assist with object loans, object couriering and acquisitions & disposals: administration of collection enquires.
• Work closely with the relevant property staff to achieve the collections objectives ensuring clear channels of communications are always maintained.
• Work closely with the Regional Curator to assist with the research, exhibition, presentation, and interpretation of collections and interiors.
• Work closely with the Collections Management Team, to ensure that the Trust’s object movement and location procedures are maintained, updated and adhered to so that location inventory information remains accurate. Conduct location checks against the database.
• Purchase, manage and improve conservation / collections care supplies at the property in agreement with budget holders and in consultation with relevant property staff and the Regional Conservator.
• Assist the property staff to ensure the property Collections Emergency Plans are kept up to date, and that emergency response and salvage kit is maintained and fully managed.
• Develop knowledge and understanding of the collections and be a passionate advocate for widening access and engaging visitors. Use social media and work with the wider comms team to further publicise the collections, collections care and conservation work conducted at the castle.
• Duty supervisor/ key holder responsibilities.
• Participation in Culzean Castle and Country Park’s emergency call out protocol. The post holder will act as an out of hours responder for the buildings on site, responding to alarms and emergencies on a rota basis.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE

Qualifications
Essential:
• Excellent attention to detail and excellent communication skills
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of delivering collections care, preventive conservation and collections management practices across a range of materials in a historic house or museum.
• Experience of supervising, training and recruiting staff and volunteers and managing rotas
• Excellent organisational, administrative and time-management skills with the ability to prioritise and re-prioritise workloads to meet changing demands.
• The ability to think & act quickly and remain calm & flexible in changeable circumstances
• The ability to work on-site at height and to undertake physical work including climbing stairs, ladders and scaffold; lifting and carrying objects and heavy equipment.
• Competent and experienced user of Microsoft Office software; particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Full UK driving licence.
Desirable
• Conservation qualifications or 3-4 years’ experience of collections care in a historic house setting
• PASMA qualified
• A desire to work with the National Trust for Scotland
• Experience of working with a collections management database and other collections documentation
• Experience of using social media in a workplace context

Application Deadline: Friday 17/10/2025