Conservation Technician - Paper

About the role

A rare and exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Conservation Technician to assist with the delivery of our paper conservation programme. You’ll enjoy this role if you like creative problem solving, using your experience with mounting and framing, as well as utilising your excellent communication skills.

Working as part of a dedicated and talented team, your main focus will be to devise and implement systems to ensure that the National Galleries of Scotland collections, and those works on loan to us, are displayed, stored and transported in a safe and appropriate manner. 

You’ll prepare art works upon acquisition, or for the public, loans and collections care programmes. Delivering technical paper conservation work, you’ll follow standard methodologies as appropriate but also find innovative solutions where necessary. You will also develop your paper conservation hand skills. You will be accustomed to monitoring progress against agreed targets and knowledge sharing.

Your day-to-day responsibilities will include:

- Designing and cutting mounts and securing objects within them.
- Removing objects from, and putting objects into, frames.  
- Making cradles and supports for display case objects.
- Upgrading primary housing and creating packing systems as necessary. 
- Making new standard frames and liaising with colleagues to organise the manufacture of complex frames.
- Improving and upgrading internal frame packaging for existing frames.

The difference you’ll make

Working closely with the Senior Conservation Technician and the wider team your responsibilities will include: 
- Assisting with the public programme, loans or for collections care projects.
- Organising the movement of paper-based objects in and out of the Conservation Department, ensuring that location records are maintained.
- Ensuring that objects in the paper conservation studio are safe and secure, and that the studio is tidy and well organised.
- Liaising with the Paper Conservators and the Digitisation team to organise the photography of objects as required. 
- Monitoring the progress of work so that any potential failure to meet deadlines can be identified and addressed, and therefore collections care work can be programmed in when capacity permits. 
- Maintaining conservation equipment and ensuring the appropriate levels of conservation materials are available. 
- Undertaking courier duties for NGS as agreed and required. 
- Providing specialist advice and training for colleagues throughout the organisation. 
- Ensuring that any contractors have the resources they need for their work.
- Assisting with the supervision of interns, placement students and volunteers. 
- Publicising and promoting the activity of the paper conservation and of the Conservation Department as a whole, both internally and externally, by giving talks, tours, and presentations and writing content for traditional publications and social media.  
- Complying with our guidelines on health and safety as well as contributing to the development of good health and safety practices.

Who we are looking for

To succeed in this role, you’ll need the following range of knowledge, skills, and experience: 

- Experience in the safe handling and movement of works of art within a museum/gallery environment. 
- Proven experience in handling archival items and frames; producing high quality mounts; framing artworks along with working with and maintaining paper conservation technician equipment. 
- Awareness of conservation issues including ethical considerations. 
- Demonstrable analytical and problem-solving skills where standard methods are not appropriate. 
- Very strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to produce clear and accurate documentation and communicate effectively with both internal and external contacts. 
- Ability to organise, meet deadlines and prioritise work.   
- Willingness to continually develop technical skills with regard to new methods and techniques in conservation and the cultural heritage sector and actively engaging in CPD. 
- Ability to work effectively as part of a team, with a proactive approach to sharing information with colleagues. 
- Proficient IT skills, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Experience of following health and safety practices in the workplace. 

It would also be great if you have:

- Experience of working in a museum or gallery with knowledge and appreciation of art, particularly in relation to artists’ techniques. 
- Proficiency in using a collections management database. 
- Experience in completing risk assessments and method statements. 
- Familiarity with the operation of a mount-cutting machine as well as experience of constructing simple frames.
- Experience of devising and creating display solutions for a variety of paper objects. 
- A Conservation Technician Qualification or Diploma. 
- Driving licence. 

Please apply directly via our careers portal. Applications via email will not be accepted.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Tuesday, 15 April 2025.

Museum Website: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/careers