Summary
At the Francis Crick Institute, the Manby Gallery is our public gallery where visitors can enjoy both free exhibitions and a welcoming café space. The Gallery Host role is unique and vital responsible for welcoming visitors, running the café and supporting the running of the exhibition. This unique role combines gallery visitor services, food and beverage service responsibilities, as well as occasional administrative support, making this an ideal role for candidates looking for early career opportunities in science communication and/or the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) sector.
The Crick is a biomedical research centre, where over 1,000 scientists work to learn more about human health. We want to understand more about how living things work to help improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human disease. Our mission is discovery without boundaries and we share what goes on at the Crick in our free exhibitions in the Manby Gallery. The gallery and café are open Wednesday to Saturday every week. There are also ad hoc events which take place alongside the exhibition.
Visitor services training will be provided, along with specific training for each exhibition.
The Gallery Host / Team Leader will work with Graysons, a privately-owned independent catering business. Graysons are a fresh food company, providing catering offers bespoke to the individual contract focusing on the clients demographic and environment.
Food and beverage service training will be provided. Catering experience is not essential, but is desirable.
Key responsibilities
We are looking for someone with excellent teamwork and communication skills, a problem-solving attitude, and a genuine interest in visitor services and providing a great experience for gallery visitors.
Day-to day tasks will include:
Exhibition responsibilities
o Greeting visitors to create a warm and friendly experience throughout a visit.
o Setting up at the beginning of the day, maintaining the gallery during opening hours, and clearing up at the end of the day
o Helping visitors to get the most out of their visit, answering basic visitor questions about the exhibition, or signposting them to more information (training will be provided)
o Conducting visitor observations and surveys, and record visitor feedback
o Attending Exhibition Team meetings and contributing to discussions related to the gallery
Catering responsibilities
o Leading and organising the Café environment
o Preparing barista coffee / teas, serving cakes, café inventory monitoring and restocking, and taking card transactions
o Ensuring excellent customer service is delivered at all times
o Responsible for the food safety, hygiene standards and stock control
o Working together with kitchen and front-of-house teams
o Delivering high-quality food, beverage, and event services across the Crick
o Upholding company food safety and hygiene standards
o Liaising with the Client on weekly matters
Reporting maintenance, cleaning and Health & Safety issues.
In the Gallery Team Leader role you will mostly work alone. There is another part-time Gallery Host who works the other hours the gallery is open. You may be expected to work on bank holidays.
Rewards & Benefits
As part of your package, we are offering:
16 days holiday
Employee Assistance Program
Workplace pension
Free lunch
Applying
The deadline to apply is 11:59pm 21 May 2026.
Interviews (video call or in person) will be held between 25-29 May 2026.
Ideally, you would start work on 24 Jun 2026. There is some flexibility on the start date.
Do get in contact by email with any questions.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
We welcome applications from all backgrounds. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, pregnancy, age, disability, or civil partnership, marital or family status. We particularly welcome applications from people who are Minority Ethnic as they are currently underrepresented in the Crick at this level.
Diversity is essential to excellence in scientific endeavour. It increases breadth and perspective, leading to more innovation and creativity. We want the Crick to be a place where everyone feels valued and where diversity is celebrated and seen as part of the foundation for our Institutes success.
The Crick is committed to creating equality of opportunity and promoting diversity and inclusivity. We all share in the responsibility to actively promote dignity, respect, inclusivity and equal treatment and it is our aim to ensure that these principles are reflected and implemented in all strategies, policies and practices.
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