Head of Exhibitions

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.

The Natural History Museum is seeking a dynamic Head of Exhibitions for our world class special exhibitions programme. We are looking for a leader able to shape the content, creative direction, interpretation and creative production of exhibitions - driving successful financial performance and exemplary experiences for our audiences.

In the role you will lead a team of interpretation managers and developers, working closely with the museum's scientists and curators, driving excellence, ambition and rigorous approach to the creation and curation of exhibitions. You will bring your knowledge and experience of delivering exhibitions in the cultural sector to help shape the forward programme for exhibitions, developing new ideas, nurturing partnerships and leading business planning processes.

This is a rare opportunity to oversee the interpretation and creative delivery of up to four accessible and engaging exhibitions a year, integrating museum collections with content lead storytelling to delight, engage and reach a broad and diverse audience.

We are seeking an individual who combines creative ambition with a substantial experience of delivering galleries or temporary exhibitions with a focus on engaging the public through collections.

You will be a creative leader combining intellectual integrity with an understanding of interpretive planning, exhibition & exhibit design and delivery. You will be skilled at combining research with imaginative interpretation, and have a deep understanding of shaping exhibition content.

An effective communicator, with high level influencing skills, you will be able to advocate for special exhibitions and to work collaboratively with stakeholders across the museum, with external partners and high profile external stakeholders.

Your experience of leading and managing teams will result in a culture of development and high performance.

Your strategic mindset will shape the exhibition programme refining its principles and setting ambitious targets for success, and your ability to develop business cases, monitor budgets will deliver to the Museum's priorities and financial ambitions.

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.

Find out more here

• 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
• Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
• Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
• Life insurance
• Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
• Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
• We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
• Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit
• Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi

We are working towards a vision where both people and planet thrive, and nothing gives a greater connection with this, than seeing first hand, the visitors, scientific research and collections that all of our work is inspired by and working side by side with the teams delivering the visitor experience and events. We also recognise the benefits and flexibility that hybrid working brings. We operate a hybrid working model that requires regular, weekly attendance for this role, with the precise pattern of days on site and worked from home to be agreed with your manager.

Due to the nature of this role, this role will be expected to be on site a minimum of 3 days a week

If this sounds like you, please apply below by clicking on Apply for job.

Please note that as part of our commitment to anonymised shortlisting, panels do not view CVs during the recruitment process. If you choose to upload your CV, our system will automatically pull information from your CV into our application form. We advise you to double check your application form data before submitting as the tool may interpret CVs differently.

Closing date: 23:59 on 4 January

Interviews expected: w/c 12 January

Please note that this role does not qualify for Museum sponsorship so the successful postholder will need to have a valid right to work in the UK at the point of offer.