Events Producer - Talks

As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. We’ve set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive.

Job Overview

• Salary: £33,784 per annum
• Contract type: Permanent
• Band: E / Higher Executive Officer
• Closing date: Monday 24th August 2026 at midnight

We are the official archive for the UK government, and for England and Wales. Our collection is one of the largest in the world, containing over 11 million historical government and public records. From Domesday Book to modern government papers and digital files, we hold paper and parchment, digital records and websites, photographs, posters, maps drawings and paintings. Taking an audience focused approach we want to raise our public profile, give even more people the opportunity to engage with our collections, whether they visit our site at Kew or online.

Our public programming mission is to increase The National Archives’ audience reach and profile. By harnessing the excellence of our people and the strong foundations we have built in recent years, we will reach more people with impactful, high quality and focused programming that speaks to the audiences we prioritise.

As Events Producer (Talks) you will be responsible for creating and delivering our public events programmes, with a particular focus on talks, lectures and adult learning, be that onsite in Kew, online or working across the country. You will work closely with colleagues across the organisation and external contractors to generate, develop, support and deliver high-profile public events such as talks, performances, and pop-up initiatives which will showcase The National Archives’ collection, increase our audience reach, our income and reputation.

This role includes direct support of online and onsite events and activities, which will require frequent but irregular working outside normal office hours (evenings and weekends). This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

Application Process

• Interview: Interviews will be held on-site, ideally week commencing 7th September 2026. Candidates invited to interview will be asked to prepare a presentation.
• Personal Statement: We ask all applicants to submit work history details and a personal statement. We recommend candidates write up to 900 words total, about 250-300 words per criteria.

Selection for interview will be based on the following three ‘essential’ requirements:

• Experience of event delivery within a heritage, cultural, commercial, visitor attraction setting and an understanding of the changes occurring within these.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills with the ability to build effective relationships both within a multidisciplinary organisation and externally, both verbally and in writing, and working independently.
• Extremely well-organised and able to work successfully under pressure and maintaining a flexible approach to problem-solving.

If we receive a large number of applications candidates will initially be assessed on the first criteria only. Applicants invited to interview will be assessed against ALL of the essential criteria.

Role and Responsibilities

• Working closely with the Event Manager to develop and deliver a high-quality public events programme for a range of audiences across a variety of formats, predominantly talks including (but not limited to); talks online and onsite, webinars, workshops and adult learning experiences.
• Identify, develop, and lead collaborative opportunities between The National Archives and external partners, speakers, organisations, ensuring that our events programme is exciting, engaging and well-attended.
• Be proactive in building strong working relationships with public engagement stakeholders in the development and delivery of high-profile events and activities for our public audience.
• To be a flexible and willing team member supporting fellow teams across the Public Engagement Directorate in a range of activities that requires working beyond standard office hours e.g. weekends and evening work.
• To actively support the co-ordination of onsite and online events and front-of-house delivery with internal partners, in particular Marketing, CEE, Estates and IT Services, to ensure that events run smoothly on the day.
• Keep a good grasp on project controls such as budgets, deadlines and risk, reporting back as needed and always delivering events on time and on budget.
• Able to travel within the UK to deliver or attend meetings and events outside of regular working hours.

Working Conditions

• Normal office environment
• Display Screen Equipment user
• Out of hours working required such as evening and weekend as the job demands

Person Specification

• Experience of event delivery within a heritage, cultural, commercial, visitor attraction setting and an understanding of the changes occurring within these.
• Able to work creatively, flexibly and embrace change as event proposals develop.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills with the ability to build effective relationships both within a multidisciplinary organisation and externally, both verbally and in writing, and working independently.
• Evidence of delivering small- and large-scale projects within budget and on time.
• Extremely well-organised and able to work successfully under pressure and maintaining a flexible approach to problem-solving.
• Good front-of-house manner and excellent customer service skills.

Desirable

• Experience of delivering online events using Vimeo, Microsoft Teams, Zoom or similar.
• Expertise in developing large-scale public events in a range of formats such as lectures, screenings ideally within a cultural, commercial or visitor attraction setting.

Other Requirements

• A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site.

Benefits

• Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development.
• Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.

Reasonable adjustments

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact The National Archives via careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups: UK nationals, nationals of the Republic of Ireland, nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK, nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS).

Contact point for applicants:

Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team

Email: careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk