At a Glance
- Tasks: Digitise natural history specimens and ensure high-quality records for global access.
- Company: Oxford University Museum of Natural History, a leader in digitisation projects.
- Benefits: 38 days annual leave, excellent pension scheme, childcare services, and travel discounts.
- Other info: Join a collaborative team with opportunities for public engagement and professional growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by preserving and sharing significant natural history collections.
- Qualifications: Experience in collections digitisation, strong IT skills, and team supervision abilities.
The predicted salary is between 30000 - 40000 £ per year.
Overview
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History leads the Oxford element of the Central England Digitisation Co-Hub, a major national programme transforming access to natural history collections through large-scale digitisation.
You will help preserve and make globally significant collections accessible to researchers and the public.
You will play a key role in the digitisation of natural history specimens across the Museum of Natural History and the Oxford University Herbaria.
Working within a small, collaborative Digitisation Team, you will prepare and safely handle specimens, capture high-quality images and metadata, and ensure digitised records meet institutional and sector standards before publication through national and international collections platforms.
You will supervise and support Digitisers in their day-to-day work, help maintain efficient workflows, monitor quality, troubleshoot operational issues and contribute to continuous improvement.
You will also work closely with colleagues across the Central England network, share best practice, contribute to reporting and public engagement activities, and help train staff, volunteers and interns.
This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 18 months.
Responsibilities
- Prepare and safely handle natural history specimens for digitisation.
- Capture high-quality images and metadata and ensure digitised records meet standards before publication on national and international platforms.
- Supervise and support Digitisers, maintain efficient workflows, monitor quality, troubleshoot operational issues and contribute to continuous improvement.
- Collaborate with colleagues across the Central England network, share best practice, report on activities, and engage with public outreach opportunities.
- Train staff, volunteers and interns, and contribute to documenting procedures and workflows.
Qualifications and Experience
- Demonstrable experience of collections digitisation or museum collections management, with excellent attention to detail and the ability to follow complex workflows involving delicate and irreplaceable specimens.
- Experience using collections management systems or relational databases, strong IT skills (including Microsoft Office), and experience checking and validating data for accuracy and consistency.
- Experience supervising or coordinating the work of others, with the ability to allocate work, embed good practice and support colleagues to achieve high standards.
- Organised and adaptable team member capable of prioritising a varied workload and communicating effectively with colleagues, volunteers and external partners.
- Experience in natural history collections, biodiversity data standards or museum digitisation projects is advantageous.
Benefits
- Excellent contributory pension scheme
- 38 days of annual leave
- Comprehensive range of childcare services
- Family leave schemes
- Cycle loan scheme
- Discounted bus travel and season ticket loans
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