Administrator: Volunteers in London

Part-time, working 2 days a week (Tuesdays and ideally Wednesdays). On-site with occasional work from home days. Permanent.

About the role

We are looking for a highly organised, proactive Administrator to join our friendly and close-knit Volunteer’s Office. As our Volunteer Administrator, you will provide essential administrative support across the entire volunteer programme. From maintaining accurate records to supporting recruitment processes and helping coordinate volunteer-led activities, you will enjoy a varied role and be right at the centre of our busy and dynamic office. Throughout the year, there will be unique opportunities to see and learn about the Museum's collection when supporting volunteer events.

The volunteer programme is growing rapidly, with increasing demand across the Museum and a high level of activity throughout the year. You will be part of a supportive team that plays a vital role in the visitor experience, staff support, and community engagement. Your work will help ensure every volunteer has a positive, well-supported experience from the moment they apply, while prioritising consistency across core administrative tasks and improving processes where possible. This is a fantastic opportunity to support one of the Museum's most valued communities and play a key role in ensuring our volunteer programmes run smoothly, professionally, and with exceptional care. This is an exciting time to join, as the Museum's Masterplan will bring significant developments and new opportunities for the volunteers team.

Key areas of responsibility:

• Maintain volunteer databases and online management systems, ensuring information is accurate and up to date.
• Support the recruitment of new volunteers, including carrying out security and reference checks.
• Liaise with volunteers and prospective volunteers by phone, email, and in writing.
• Assist with volunteer training sessions, including preparing materials and setting up rooms.
• Coordinate administrative processes such as volunteer leavers, room bookings, and security pass renewals.
• Support the Volunteer Manager and Volunteer Coordinators with day-to-day administrative tasks including uploading ticketing information to the British Museum website, securing meeting rooms, renewing volunteer security passes, and more.

About you

This is an early careers opportunity and a great chance for someone who wishes to gain exposure to working in a museum environment. You will need:

• Strong PC literacy and confident use of Microsoft Office.
• Some previous administrative experience, ideally with experience working with databases.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.
• Be passionate about the Museum, supporting volunteers, history, heritage sector or similar.

At the British Museum, we believe our people are at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we’ve designed a benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary. Our full list of benefits can be found here, but we’ve outlined some highlights below:

• Free exhibition entry for you and guests, exclusive private views, ICOM and reciprocal museum access.
• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays and 2.5 privilege days (and +5 days after 10 years) for full-time employees.
• Peer support and allyship with five diversity networks for community.
• Learning and development through courses, mentoring and Athena as well as support for professional qualifications.
• Employee Assistance Programme available 24/7 for counselling, wellbeing support and more.
• Enhanced parental leave including maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave.
• Support for carers through Employers for Carers.
• Civil Service Pension Scheme with a secure, inflation-linked defined benefit.
• Interest-free loans including season ticket, rental deposit and bicycle loans.

Our Values

Our values drive everything we do, from how we handle our objects to how we work in our team to fostering a culture where everyone feels heard and empowered:

• Care Deeply
• Embrace the Unknown
• Value Many Voices

These are a core part of how we recruit. Throughout the application, interview and selection process, we look for examples of how candidates demonstrate these behaviours in their own work and experiences. We encourage you to familiarise yourself with our values and reflect them in your application.

At the British Museum, we are committed to a fair and inclusive recruitment process where every applicant has the opportunity to present their genuine strengths and experience in their own voice. While we recognise that AI tools can be helpful when preparing applications, we expect all submissions to accurately reflect everyone’s skills and background, and we may withdraw applications that appear to be generated entirely by AI. During interviews, we want to hear directly from candidates and therefore do not permit the use of AI to generate or support answers, though assistive technologies used as reasonable adjustments are fully welcomed. If you have any additional needs that we should be aware of to support you with your application, please provide details to bmrecruit@britishmuseum.org.

Unfortunately, for this role we are unable to offer Sponsorship to applicants. The Museum also adheres to the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) for pre-employment screening of Civil Servants.