Senior Archaeologist (Excavation Coordinator)

Historic England; Portsmouth; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Defined benefit pension scheme

28 days holiday

Discounts

Free entry to English Heritage sites

Development opportunities

Job summary

Historic England in Portsmouth offers a full-time, permanent Senior Archaeologist (Excavation Coordinator) role with hybrid working. You will lead archaeological excavation activities, coordinating projects from inception to publication, and manage contracted staff to ensure timely delivery within budget.

The role requires expert input and strategic oversight of England's archaeological practices, with a focus on high-quality outcomes and cross-sector collaboration.

Qualifications

• Ability to successfully project-manage and coordinate multiple archaeological projects to agreed timetables and costs.
• Proven experience of successful budget management, and procurement of equipment and services.
• Sound knowledge of the context of archaeological practice in England.
• Ability to coordinate diverse project teams or specialists, and to motivate strong performance.

Responsibilities

• Manage archaeological excavation capability within the Archaeology & Science Department to support the strategic aims of Historic England.
• Ensure current and legacy excavation projects are programmed, commissioned, resourced and delivered from inception to publication and archive.
• Commission and project-manage contracted staff to support delivery.
• Help ensure Historic England maintains strategic oversight of archaeological practice in England and provide specialist input when required.

Skills

Project management

Budget management

Procurement

Team coordination

Expertise in excavation techniques

Job description

Summary

Historic England is the public organisation that brings new life to heritage to build a better future for every place and everyone.

Historic England has a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Senior Archaeologist (Excavation Coordinator).

This is a full time, permanent position.

The location of this role is Portsmouth, inclusive with hybrid working.

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive defined benefitpension scheme to which we make 28.97% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

To view our full range of benefits please follow the linkhere.

What you will be doing

This is an opportunity to work on some of the most important sites in the country and to participate in strategic cross-sector projects aimed at improving archaeological practice and supporting archaeological heritage management.

You will manage archaeological excavation capability within the Archaeology & Science Department to support the strategic aims of Historic England. You will ensure that current and legacy archaeological excavation projects are suitably programmed, commissioned, resourced and delivered (from inception to publication and archive).

You will commission and project-manage contracted staff to support delivery. You will help ensure that Historic England maintains a strategic oversight of the way archaeological practice works in England. You will provide specialist contributions to projects when required.

Who we are looking for

• Ability to successfully project-manage and coordinate multiple archaeological projects to agreed timetables and costs
• Proven experience of successful budget management, and procurement of equipment and services
• Sound knowledge of the context of archaeological practice in England
• Ability to coordinate diverse project teams or specialists, and to motivate strong performance
• Recognition as an expert in archaeological excavation techniques

Please note your application will be scored and assessed against the above criteria.

Historic England is a Disability Confident Leader and normally offers guaranteed interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the role, where it is practical and appropriate to do so. We want all candidates to shine in the recruitment process, so please tell us what we can do to help you show us your very best self.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having won the Gold Award from MIND for workplace wellbeing in seven consecutive years, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don't prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

At Historic England we use a hiring system called Applied.

Applied is a behavioural science-backed recruitment platform that reduces bias, improves quality of hire and increases diversity. We do not use CV application for the majority of our hiring processes. You will answer a selection of questions that allow our hiring teams to test your skills and suitability for the role.

At Historic England, we value the expertise and individuality each candidate brings and want to hear about this in your own words. If you require the use or AI tools or other resources to support your application, we ask that all information is factually accurate, original, and reflects your own experience. To best represent yourself, we encourage you to write in your own words and use AI-generated content only as inspiration—not as direct input.

Provisional interview dates: 13th or 14th October.