Collections Care and Conservation Supervisor

We are looking to recruit a Collections Care and Conservation Supervisor to join our team based at our Stafford site. You will join us on a full time, permanent basis and in return, you will receive a competitive salary of £29,497.50 per annum.

The Royal Air Force Museum is as a national museum, a Government non departmental public body (NDPB) and a registered charity.

We have two public sites in the Midlands and London and a stored collection at Stafford. Our purpose is to share the RAF story - past, present and future - using the stories of its people and our collections to engage, inform and inspire.

Our vision is to inspire everyone with the RAF story - the people who shape it and its place in our lives.

Our museum commitments are the golden thread that run through everything that we do. These are:

• Health and Wellbeing
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Sustainability

Purpose of the Collections Care and Conservation Supervisor role:

We are looking to recruit a Collections Care and Conservation Supervisor to join the Museum team at an exciting time as we progress our Strategy to 2030 and continue the development phase of a National Lottery Heritage Fund supported programme of investment at our Midlands site.

You will carry out a variety of crucial conservation tasks to enable the move of our reserve collection to our new purpose-built store.

This role will be based at our Stafford site and will work across all three Museum sites as required.

Working elsewhere in the UK and abroad may be necessary.

Key responsibilities of our Collections Care and Conservation Supervisor include:

• You will be responsible for training, leading and managing an ever-changing team of volunteers in undertaking collections care and conservation activities on over 50,000 items from the nationally important RAF Museum collection.
• Activities ideally follow on from Hazard Flagging and Barcode Labelling activities conducted by other staff and are focused on:
  • CCC Supervisor 1: Condition Flagging
  • CCC Supervisor 2: Cleaning
  • CCC Supervisor 3: Packing
• You will also carry out general conservation tasks as needed e.g. emergency interventive treatments, OCRs, IPM and other preventative measures.
• Administration and use of databases and volunteer system, supporting management in planning for and delivering object relocation to a new-build Collections Hub on our Midlands site.
• Recruiting, onboarding, training and supervising volunteers in tasks such as, object handling, hazard recognition, preservation condition assessment, weighing, measuring, surface cleaning, packing, bar-coding, updating collections information on our database.
• Working as part of a cross-departmental team to manage, develop and maintain the Museum’s computer-based collection management system.
• Ensuring that Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH, including radiation, asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls) is maintained and recorded at all times, informing the relevant authorities to ensure the mitigation of risk is dealt with in a safe and timely manner.

What we are looking for in our Collections Care and Conservation Supervisor:

• A relevant degree in conservation or equivalent conservation or collections care experience.
• Practical experience of museum collections care, conservation, documentation and collections management.
• Displays enthusiasm around activities, adopting a positive approach when interacting with others, and motivating team members.
• Listens to, understands, respects and accepts different views, ideas and ways of working.
• Uses experience and knowledge of standard practices, procedures or customs to evaluate problems and make appropriate decisions/provide appropriate advice.
• Is able to deal with unfamiliar situations or issues in an effective manner, understanding when a situation requires reference to a relevant individual.

The closing date for applications is: 09/08/2026

Interviews will take place on: 21/08/2026