Museum Development Manager - Learning, Engagement & Wellbeing at Museums Galleries Scotland

Working Hours: 35 hours per week 
Contract: Permanent
Starting salary: £40,043
Location: Edinburgh/Hybrid
Closing date: 9am Monday 11th May 

About the Role

Museums Galleries Scotland is the National Development Body for the Scottish museums sector. We’re here to support more than 452 museums and galleries, whether through strategic investment, advice, advocacy, skills development or other means. We are a forward facing and inclusive organisation, committed to the ongoing development of a positive culture for our team.

We are looking for a Museum Development Manager to facilitate, promote and support development across the sector in line with Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy. The strategy provides a framework for the sector and MGS to work to ensure the future relevance and resilience of the sector. It centres around three thematic strands of Connection, Resilience and Workforce.

We are excited to offer the opportunity of this post whose focus will be on Learning, Engagement and Wellbeing, linking to Education and Health & Wellbeing priority areas of the Connection strand. This role requires someone is knowledgeable and passionate about the role of museums in society and has a broad understanding of the wider education and health and wellbeing contexts in Scotland.

They will have the experience and knowledge to continue to build collaborative relationships, existing and new, and drive learning, engagement and wellbeing activities. You will actively champion MGS’s organisational behaviours both internally and externally.

The postholder will support the interconnected nature of the strands through working collaboratively with staff across the MGS team working specifically with colleagues in the Museum Development and Skills teams, bridging work and working across strands to support and advocate for the museums and galleries sector in Scotland.

The postholder will be proactive in supporting existing partnerships and relationships and developing new ones. Driving key strategic learning and engagement activities, the postholder will be collaborative, consultative and responsive to their approach in working with others.

The postholder will be knowledgeable and experienced in the museum and heritage sector, and able to collect, analyse and act upon relevant feedback, research and data.

It is anticipated that the postholder will hold a supervisory and supportive role within the organisation, relating to their work priorities, and although there are currently no line management responsibilities, leadership qualities would be expected when coordinating and working within specific projects and priorities.

Relationship building is a key part of the role, and developing links with stakeholders, e.g. Education Scotland, Public Health Scotland, Developing the Young Workforce, and other key partners, will be fundamental to successful and positive outcomes.

Overview of Responsibilities

The mentioned tasks and responsibilities below constitute an overview and not an exhaustive list. Workload and priorities are ultimately determined by the annual MGS Operational Plan.

• Lead, develop and manage initiatives and programmes to support learning, health & wellbeing, engagement and skills outcomes, relevant to the role.
• Provide knowledge, advice and signposting to the sector relating to the Curriculum for Excellence, Health & Wellbeing, Community Engagement, Participatory Practice, Employability priorities – to inform relevant policies, sector standards and best practice guidelines that meet sector needs.
• Work collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to create opportunities for the sector and advocate for learning, engagement and wellbeing work.
• Support the delivery of the actions for MGS actions, detailed in Recommendation 5 of the Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums Recommendationsand support the sector to deliver theirs.
• Collect, analyse, evaluate evidence of sector impact and communicate this effectively internally and externally for advocacy purposes.
• Facilitate and develop networking opportunities for the sector, including previous forums (e.g. Blether Together and the Strategic Learning Forum) but also look for new opportunities relating to need (e.g. in the Health & Wellbeing area of work).
• Contribute to the development of projects, including identifying and securing external funding and aligning with the wider organisational and sector aims and priorities.
• Collaborate around skills-related activity within education settings, e.g. developing qualifications in school settings
• Manage staff if required, including contractors, consultants and sessional staff as appropriate.
• Support Grants and Accreditation scheme assessment when appropriate.
• Work with Head of Department to provide collaborative leadership of projects and programmes.

Relationships

• Build and nurture effective working relationships across the organisation and with external partners.
• Work fairly and with integrity and adapt style to different people, cultures and situations.
• Proactive attitude to seek new ways of working, knowledge, identify and seize opportunities to support the sector.
• Collaborate with other staff to support and deliver MGS projects and programmes, In particular, the Museum Development and Skills teams.
• Work with Comms and Marketing – to maximise reach and impact of resources and activities.
• Research – to develop new and utilise existing research and impact reporting.
• Work collaboratively to measure, assess and adapt ongoing work.
• Provide support and recognition to staff and understand the needs and concerns of the MGS team and wider sector.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Knowledge of the education systems in Scotland and awareness of the wider UK context.
• Knowledge of best practice in informal museums learning practices, health & wellbeing approaches and engagement principles.
• Experience working in or with museums or heritage organisations.
• Project management – including development, delivery, allocation of resources and evaluation.
• Collaborative working – with internal colleagues and external stakeholders and partners.
• Development of joint programmes and activities (specifically relating to Education/Health & Wellbeing/Anti-Racism/Climate/Skills).
• Working with, and applying to, funders (also through collaborative approaches).
• Experience, or willingness to learn about anti-oppression approaches in museums and heritage settings.
• Monitoring and Evaluation best practice.

Preferred 

• Developing and facilitating group sessions across organisations (i.e. external working groups/forums).
• Experience of supporting colleagues and external stakeholders to achieve shared outcomes.
• Working with consultants and contractors.

We work with staff to help everyone reach their potential in the workplace and welcome conversations with individuals about their needs, circumstances and aspirations.

HOW YOU WORK

• Works collaboratively
• Communicating with impact
• Respect, inclusion and integrity
• Effective decision-making
• Sector focus
• Drive for results
• Innovation, agility and building capability
• Supporting and developing people

We work with staff to help everyone reach their potential in the workplace and welcome conversations with individuals about their needs, circumstances and aspirations.

All staff are expected to champion and help deliver MGS’s commitments to anti-racism and climate.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS – Travel – regionally will be required occasionally (estimated 25 days a year).

Please download the job information pack for the full details of this role. 

How to Apply

• Please complete an application form, by downloading it from our website.
• Then submit your form via our online system Breathe HR.

Please have your application form ready to upload when you apply through Breathe. You can’t go back in and upload it later as it will say your email address has already been used. Please use our application form, CVs will not be accepted.

The deadline to apply is 9am Monday 11th May 2026. 

If our application form makes it difficult for you to apply and demonstrate your skills effectively, we would be happy to accept a video, audio or alternative application format. Please refer to the guidance on alternative application format to ensure your application will cover all the required information. If you would like to discuss an application in an alternative format, please contact us on the email below or call 0131 550 4197.

If you have any queries please email hr@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk, including the name of the post in the subject box.

Please note that interviews for this post are planned to take place on Thursday 28th May.  

Museums Galleries Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of the community and is an equal opportunities employer. We hold Living Wage and Investors in People Gold accreditation and are happy to talk flexible working.

We will guarantee an interview to people with disabilities who meet the essential criteria in our person specification. Please note, we always make best efforts to implement this however there may be occasions where it is not practicable to interview all disabled people that meet the essential criteria for the job. For example if we receive a very high number of applications meeting this criteria. In this situation we will consider a reasonable alternative approach – for example setting a maximum number of interviews and ensuring that a proportion of interviews are offered to the disabled candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Please note that details supplied may be held in electronic and paper files for administration purposes only during the recruitment process.  We retain recruitment files for six months following the date of interview, after which they are disposed of appropriately. Our privacy policy.