Description Job Description Are you a highly motivated, highly experienced archival leader who has the confidence, knowledge and expertise to take a leading role in the care, management and preservation of Scotland’s national archive? Can you drive forward creative innovation leading National Records of Scotland (NRS) expert collection care team to develop and deliver key strategic initiatives building an archive service for the future? If yes than this new, unique, and truly exciting opportunity to work with this wonderful collection could be for you. From 12 th century charters to 21 st century datasets and everything in between, the archival collections of NRS touch on every aspect of Scottish life and tell the story of Scotland’s people and history. One of Scotland’s five national collections, the archival collection at NRS, some 38 million plus documents, stretching to just over 80kms in a multiplicity of formats is a unique and important collection of both public and private records of enduring value which we preserve and make available to inform both current and future generations. As the Head of Collection Care, you will lead on the conservation and preservation of our physical archive collections, playing a significant role providing strategic leadership in the development of the future shape of these services, as well as managing core business activities. The post requires significant close working across all NRS archive services. Responsibilities Provide strategic subject matter expertise and strong leadership to the Collections Care Team covering all aspects of collection care and management: including conservation, preservation, and archival storage. Develop and direct innovation in high quality collection care services, benchmarked and continually improving. Supporting and managing expert teams and cultivating excellent cross team working implementing the recommendations of the recent Conservation and Preservation Services review, successfully supporting and managing the teams through the change this will require developing new policies, systems and processes and establishing strategic development programmes. Provide leadership delivering core activities including: conservation assessment and treatment of archive material; conservation support for exhibitions, loans and digitisation; and sealing of Letters Patent to Acts of the Scottish Parliament and of commissions; managing storage across the NRS estate, developing methods, projects, and workstreams for optimising current archive storage; delivering and returning archive material to staff and public search rooms and playing a key role in document security. Provide subject matter expert leadership to key change projects including NRS Future of Archive Services Programme, NRS Archives Environment and Treatment project, the organisational archive digitisation programme and lead on our archive disaster planning and response. Lead and direct NRS representation on matters of collection care, archive preservation and conservation. Building networks and engagement with sectoral colleagues and providing specialist advice to internal and external customers and colleagues to support the development of archival collection care practice. Manage all 80 linear km of current record storage at NRS, with continued optimisation of the use of our current storage space. Lead on the development of preservation, conservation, and archive storage strategies for NRS and direct and support the team leaders in the development of the relevant supporting policies and procedures. Responsibilities Qualifications A professional qualification or accreditation recognised by a UK Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) professional body in the area of, Archives, or Preservation/Conservation. Alternatively, chartered, or equivalent status from an accredited body. Success Profile Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on. Experience: Extensive experience in one KIM area, together with a good understanding of other KIM areas and how they intersect. Significant experience of managing archival collections at scale. Behaviours: 1. Leadership – level 4 2. Changing & Improving – level 4 3. Seeing the Big Picture – level 4 4. Communicating and influencing – level 4 You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours, here: Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) How to apply Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1500 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above. If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation. Assessments are scheduled for w/c 28 July, however, this may be subject to change. Qualifications About Us National Records of Scotland (NRS) is Scotland’s record keeper. Our purpose is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles. NRS is a Non-Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government & and our staff are part UK Civil Service, working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland. We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer. As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Working Pattern Our standard hours are 35 hours per week, we offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options depending on the needs of the role. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us. Equality Statement We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation. Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them. Further information Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website. Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes. For further information on this vacancy, please contact Gillian Mapstone at Gillian.Mapstone@NRScotland.gov.uk