Collections and Volunteer Manager – Royal Engineers Museum

Job Title: Collections and Volunteer Manager

Salary: £34,000-£38,000 per annum depending on experience

Hours: Full time

Terms: Permanent

Location: Royal Engineers Museum Brompton Barracks, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4UG

Closing date: 8:00 am, 27 Jul 2026

About the role

We are looking for a proactive and organised professional to oversee the care and management of our object, archive and library collections, to advocate for collection engagement and use, and to manage our volunteer programme. This is an exciting time to join the Royal Engineers Museum as we build towards a major transformation of our offer, and the successful candidate will contribute to our long-term strategies for collection access, development and preservation; and for impactful and sustainable volunteer engagement.

The ideal candidate will bring strong practical understanding of current best practice and sector standards within collections management and curation. Experience with military collections, while not essential, would be an advantage, as would familiarity with the issues associated with objects collected in colonial and imperial contexts. Experience with either Axiell Collections or Adlib would also be beneficial, since the role will involve managing the ongoing transfer of our collections data to Axiell Collections.

Strong team-working skills are crucial as the successful applicant will collaborate closely with colleagues across the Curatorial and Operations teams. Key working relationships include those with the Exhibitions and Engagement Manager, Digital Collections Manager, and Events and Marketing Officer.

The Collections and Volunteer Manager will line manage several team members. At present these would be our permanent Collections Officer and Enquiries and Research Officer, and our fixed term Curatorial Project Assistant. The successful applicant will also coordinate and oversee our volunteer programme: in 2025 our volunteers contributed over 4,800 hours of their time, supporting collection cataloguing, conservation and digitisation. Prior experience of recruiting, training and supervising volunteers would be beneficial.

About us

We are the museum of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Kent’s largest military museum, and the home of military ingenuity. It is an exciting time to join us: following a governance change in 2024 we are embedding a new strategy, and aspire to be the world’s foremost museum of military engineering.

How to apply

Click here for the full role details (opens in a new tab)

Please email a CV, no longer than 2 sides of A4, and a covering letter to Alexandra Rose, [email protected]

Deadline for applications is 8am on 27 July 2026, with interviews for shortlisted candidates to be held on 25 and 26 August 2026.

Further details on the Museum can be found at www.re-museum.co.uk.

If you have any questions, or would like an informal conversation about the role, please contact Alexandra Rose, [email protected]

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