Objectives

The Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) owns the Museum of Scottish Railways and the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway and manages the core collection that has been Recognised as being of National Significance through the Scottish Government’s Recognition Scheme. Most of the collection is owned by the Scottish Railway Museum Collections Trust (SRMCT) and SRPS manages it on behalf of the owner. Visitors to the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway can see parts of the collection and other rolling stock in operation on the railway and visit the Museum of Scottish Railways.

The post holder will work with our collection to enhance continually its presentation, documentation, storage and use of a searchable online collections database. There will also be a requirement to work closely with the Board and with a team of volunteers. The post will be supervised by an appropriate member of the Board of the SRPS.

Key Responsibilities

1. To represent the interests of the Museum of Scottish Railways within the SRPS, including by attending meetings of the Board and other management committees.
2. To manage the staffing, maintenance and running of the Museum.
3. To manage the delivery of the customer experience in visiting the Museum.
4. To lead and advise the team who maintain the collection.
5. To ensure the Board is provided with informed recommendations on acquisitions, loans and disposals.
6. To ensure the creation of a searchable collection database on our website.
7. To facilitate public access to the collection, including through management of the museum’s social media accounts and website.
8. To ensure compliance with the Museum Accreditation Scheme and with Scottish Government’s Recognition guidelines.
9. To manage the interactions of the Museum, including interfacing with the Scottish Railway Museum Collections Trust, particularly with regard to ownership of vehicles.
10. To represent the SRPS within national museum-supporting organisations.
11. To identify opportunities to apply for grants which would enhance the Museum’s ability to operate or improve the customer experience and then direct the production of grant applications.
12. To manage projects and contractors involved in developing the Museum’s infrastructure as it expands
13. To develop library facilities on site at the Museum
14. To proactively identify projects, and take forward ongoing projects
15. To direct general curatorial duties

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

1. Relevant experience of working with a museum collection, and with staff and volunteers
2. Practical experience of running a successful team, and managing budgets
3. Flexible, confident approach with the ability to work independently or as part of a team
4. Demonstrable capacity to delegate
5. Demonstrable capacity to commit to developing self and colleagues
6. Excellent attention to detail
7. Excellent verbal and written communication skills
8. High standard of written and spoken English
9. Confident IT skills with experience of collections management systems
10. Familiarity with the use of collections management databases

Desirable

1. Applicants should be educated to degree level or equivalent in a relevant subject
2. Museum studies qualification
3. Interest in Scottish Railway History
4. Experience of working with Adlib
5. Experience of project management
6. Knowledge of preventative conservation
7. Knowledge of the Scottish Museum-supporting environment, including of grant giving organisations, and potential for raising funds

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) is the National Development Body for Scotland’s museums and galleries. We support a sector of 449 museums and galleries, through strategic investment, workforce development, advice and advocacy. We are a forward facing and inclusive organisation, committed to the ongoing development of a positive culture for our team.

We are seeking an experienced professional to lead our work to clearly communicate the positive value and impact of the museums and galleries sector. You will do this by developing and leading advocacy campaigns and activity that make a strong case for Scotland’s museums and galleries sector to influence a range of audiences and stakeholders including Government Officials, Government Ministers, MSPs, relevant Committees, relevant funders and other key organisations and influencers.

Politically astute, the Senior Advocacy and Public Affairs Manager possesses strong communication and influencing skills, using information, research and data to build a political and public case for the sector and inform evidence-based advocacy messaging and activity.

Being able to navigate and effectively communicate complex issues that implicate the wider culture and heritage sector in Scotland will be essential. This is especially vital as parts of our sector face profound budget challenges, many navigating rising operational costs and workforce pressures while also striving to adapt to ensure relevance to communities and users. As national development body, MGS needs to advocate clearly and effectively on their behalf.

This role offers an enriching opportunity to be creative and proactive in developing our organisational voice to highlight pressures on, and make a strong case for, Scotland’s museums and galleries.

The successful candidate will manifest MGS’s core values: collaboration, integrity, passion for museums, and courageousness.

Do you believe in the power of data to improve people’s lives and know that working with the public is vital to our mission? Research Data Scotland needs you!

We have an exciting opportunity to work in a multifaceted Business Management role to support the delivery of exemplary governance and operational excellence. This role works with stakeholders at every level in our organisation and as such we are looking to appoint a highly motivated and conscientious individual.

About us

Research Data Scotland (RDS) is a charity set up by the Scottish public sector and leading universities. We help researchers find and make use of data that can improve the lives of people in Scotland. Working in partnership, we do this by widening the range of data available, creating new data assets and providing a single point of contact for safe, secure and effective access to public data in a trustworthy manner.

Data is often locked away in lots of individual systems, across many different organisations, and isn’t in a format that makes access or integration easy. We can help researchers to unlock the potential of this data by giving them information and advice that speeds up and simplifies their work.

RDS aims to provide a step change in the service to researchers, whilst maintaining the high standards of information governance and data security already in place. We aim to work as openly as possible, maintaining standards in transparency and ethics. Our focus is on providing a streamlined service for researchers, as well as extending the range of data available through the service, particularly in the areas of Covid-19, NHS imaging, geospatial data, children and justice services.

Our partners include: Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, National Records of Scotland (NRS), and the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. We work closely with the national and regional safe havens. And we are in contact with other organisations in Scotland and across the UK in the data research sector, including public sector, research and commercial bodies.

About the job

The Business Manager will work closely with the Chair, CEO and Operations Director to manage, coordinate and schedule the regular cycle of our governance and business activities. This will include coordinating board meetings as well as maintaining our internal registers and ensuring our reporting mechanisms are top-notch! This post will be highly varied and vital to the successful delivery of our Business and Delivery plans.

There is a strong focus on developmental projects, operational risk, records management, governance, improving our performance and delivering our day-to-day charity operations. You’ll be an important member of our Operations Team, sharing your expertise with colleagues and board members, as well as independently leading on activities.

Reports to Operations Director

About you

You are a self-starter, with experience of working with stakeholders at every level. You’ll understand the importance of engaging well with board members, senior leaders and your colleagues to get their input into your work and support great governance. You are highly organised and thrive on managing multiple projects with different deadlines. You are keen to deliver, with an eye for detail and the pragmatism to understand our context and environment.

Life at RDS

We are a small friendly and highly engaged team of people. We promote continuous learning and work hard to build an inclusive and supportive workplace culture. We live our values of; integrity, transparency, courage, collaboration and humility.

Our people typically work a 35-hour week, with hybrid working on offer from day one. You can choose to work flexibly from home or use one of our desks in the Bayes Centre in central Edinburgh. The whole RDS team meets one day per month in-person in Edinburgh or at an off-site away day in the Central Belt. Individual teams organise their own in-person days to collaborate, develop and socialise together.

We offer 33 days’ annual leave (including public holidays) and have no set closure days. We have a generous pension and enhanced pay for parental/adoption leave. This list of benefits is being added to as the organisation develops, and you can help shape it as part of the team. Our Culture Group helps us seek feedback from colleagues across the organisation to make RDS an even better place to work.