DiSSCo UK Head of Digitisation

National Museums; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

National Museums is seeking an Head of Digitisation to drive the UK’s digitisation programme. You will lead a complex portfolio across partners and hubs, setting strategy and ensuring delivery of millions of records and specimens for research and public benefit.

You will build trusted relationships with funders, partners and senior stakeholders while coordinating across organisations to deliver DiSSCo UK targets. This is a fixed-term contract through 31 March 2029.

Qualifications

• Experienced leader with a track record delivering large-scale digitisation programmes.
• Skilled at leading multidisciplinary teams and governance.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders, funders and partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead a complex portfolio of digitisation activity across multiple hubs.
• Provide strategic coordination and delivery assurance for DiSSCo UK.
• Deliver local digitisation targets and build trusted stakeholder relationships.

Skills

Leadership

Multidisciplinary teams

Governance

Delivery

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever.

By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 1100 staff in a variety of roles

All united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.

We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

Join us at a pivotal moment as we transform access to the UK’s natural science collections through one of the most ambitious digitisation programmes of its kind. As Head of Digitsation, you will play a leading role in delivering DiSSCo UK, helping to unlock millions of collections records and specimens for research, innovation and public benefit. Your work will enable new insights into biodiversity, environmental change and the natural world whilst shaping the future of collections digitisation across the UK.

The Head of Digitisation will lead a complex portfolio of digitisation activity, driving best practice, strengthening capability and ensuring successful delivery across multiple organisations, workstreams and funding streams.

The postholder will have dual responsibility, within the DiSSCo UK. Nationally, the postholder will provide strategic coordination, relationship management, delivery assurance and performance support across independently led hubs. As the recipient of DiSSCo UK digitisation funding, the role is also responsible for the delivery of local digitisation targets and expert leadership of the NHMs Digitisation Workstream.

Working closely with funders, partners and senior stakeholders, the Head of Digitisation will build trusted relationships and help shape the future of collections digitisation in the UK, ensuring a major national investment delivers lasting impact.

This is a fixed term contract until 31 March 2029.

About you

You are an experienced leader with a strong track record of delivering large-scale, effective digitisation, or other transformational collections based programmes in a mission-led environment.

You’ll bring significant experience of leading multidisciplinary teams, governance, delivery, and working successfully across organisational boundaries to achieve shared outcomes. A skilled relationship builder, you are confident influencing senior stakeholders, funders and partners, and leading through collaboration in complex, matrix environments.

You combine strategic judgement with practical delivery expertise and have experience driving change, developing capability through mentoring and knowledge sharing, and creating inclusive, high-performing teams.

Most importantly, you are motivated by the opportunity to contribute to work of national significance, fully realising the value of world-leading collections to advance research, support innovation and deliver lasting public benefit.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

National Museum Directors' Council, National Museums Liverpool, World Museum, WilliamBrown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN