Paintings Conservator Touring Exhibitions in Edinburgh

We are delighted to announce a new opportunity for an experienced Paintings Conservator to join our Conservation Department at the National Galleries of Scotland. We are seeking a skilled and collaborative Conservator to help us share our collection with audiences around the world. To succeed in this post, you'll bring resourcefulness, enthusiasm, and excellent interpersonal skills along with a strong professional network. You will have evidence-based skills as Painting Conservator, and you will be confident in assessing and treating a wide range of materials and formats.

Our extensive painting collection is often on the move. You'll be at the heart of sharing this collection with the widest possible audience ensuring that works from our rich and varied painting collection travel safely, sustainably and look their very best when on display. Your work will play a vital role in delivering our wider strategy, supporting our Public Offer, equalities, and environmental priorities.

You'll help preserve the collection while enabling us to deliver a generous lending programme from our diverse collections, also an ambitious number of exhibitions across our galleries. Through research and outreach, you will deepen knowledge of the collection and help attract new audiences to engage with it. This is more than just a conservation role. It is an opportunity to make a lasting difference to the way we care for, understand and share our collection.

National Galleries of Scotland is launching an ambitious international touring programme contributing to our aim to make art work for everyone. This new initiative builds on past touring success and increases opportunities for the collection to be shared with audiences across the world. The touring programme is also part of our strategy to grow our income to ensure our future financial sustainability. Work has already begun and we are now recruiting a number of posts from May 2026 to support taking the touring programme forward. The programme will run initially to 31 March 2030. The success of the initiative will determine next steps for both the programme and the team supporting it.

The role sits within our Painting Conservation section within the Conservation Department. You will also work closely with colleagues specialising in frames, preventive conservation, paper, sculpture, and time‐based media. Together, we are a collaborative department where everyone strives to keep abreast of recent developments within the wider profession. Knowledge‐sharing, research, and innovation are encouraged and celebrated. You will have the chance to develop and embed professional approaches to painting conservation across the collections.

Reporting to a Senior Paintings Conservator, your core activities will include:

• Assessing the condition of paintings for our busy touring exhibition and short‐term loan programme.
• Preparing works for travel with a focus on preventive conservation measures and rigorous documentation.
• Delivering a variety of interventive painting conservation projects with sensitivity, skill and imagination while undertaking research and exploring new ways of working, where appropriate.
• Developing appropriate methodologies for documenting paintings including entering information into our collections management database.
• Supporting the other painting conservators with exhibition preparation and delivery.
• Communicating and collaborating frequently with colleagues from across the organisation, for example, other conservators, conservation and art handling technicians, members of collection management and curators.
• Keeping abreast of developments in the paintings conservation sector and undertaking appropriate art historical and heritage science research to enhance our knowledge of the collection and inform working practices.
• Delivering activities to widen our audiences and encourage engagement with conservation.
• Working with and supervising volunteers, placement students, and external conservation specialists.

To succeed, you'll need the following range of knowledge, skills, and experience:

• A recognised qualification in paintings conservation with at least two years' experience post‐graduation, ideally within the museums sector.
• Experience of assessing and preparing works for loan and implementing solutions for safe transport and public access.
• A track record of delivering a range of painting conservation projects with the ability to carry out research and devise innovative solutions to new challenges.
• Excellent time‐management and organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and deliver under pressure.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce clear, accurate and well‐structured documentation.
• The ability to work effectively as part of a team, and the confidence to take on a leading role when required.
• Strong connections within the painting conservation sector, and commitment to continuous professional development.
• Knowledge of relevant Health and Safety regulations.
• Excellent IT skills, including MS Office and image processing software.
• Experience of using a collections management database.
• Professional accreditation through the Institute of Conservation (ICON) PACR scheme, or a clear commitment to work towards this.

It would also be great if you have experience of:

• Writing for publications and social media.
• Supervising placement students and volunteers.

Please apply directly via our careers portal. Applications via email will not be accepted. The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Monday 06 April 2026.