British Museum

The British Museum is the oldest national public museum in the world. Its mission is to house, curate, conserve, research and exhibit a collection of world cultures. With a collection of around 8 million objects, the British Museum brings together under one roof the cultures of the world, allowing people to explore the extraordinary diversity of human culture, to discover the many forms and expressions human beings have given to every aspect of life, and to realise how closely they are interconnected.

The British Museum is one of the world’s most visited museums. In 2022/23, its home in Bloomsbury received 4.5 million visitors, while a further 4 million people saw objects from the British Museum’s collection elsewhere, 2.3 million of them outside the UK. That’s because as well as the iconic site in London, the Museum has deep and wide-ranging partnerships with other national and international museums, schools and community groups with whom the Museum co-curates the display of loaned objects.

The Board of Trustees are now seeking candidates for the role of Director. This post is one of the best and most important of its kind, offering the chance to lead one of the world’s oldest and largest national public museums through a period of historic rejuvenation and redevelopment.  Given the immense potential of the Museum and the significant challenges it faces, the successful candidate will need to be a confident and ambitious leader, able to run a large and complex organisation, to oversee significant capital projects, and to motivate and inspire a diverse team of curatorial and non-curatorial staff.

Candidates will be passionate about, have a deep understanding of and be personally committed to the Museum’s defining mission to care for, conserve, and make accessible a collection that tells the history of humanity. They will have the experience and the intellectual distinction needed to lead a large museum, which depends on a deep well of curatorial and scientific expertise, but their professional experience can come from within or outside the museums sector.

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to the British Museum on this appointment. For further information about the role, including details about how to apply, please visit www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference EBMD. Alternatively telephone +44 (0)20 7227 0880 (during office hours). Applications should be received by noon on Friday 26^th January 2024.