Collections Systems Manager

Starting salary: £43,227

Contract type: Permanent

Grade: 4

Location: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH
(with hybrid working and site work)

Working Hours: Monday - Friday, 35 hours per week

Interviews: To be held on 12 November 2026

The Collections Systems Manager is responsible for the management of HES's Collections Management System Vernon and will be the main point of contact for users of the system. You will be responsible for developing and managing related workflows, standards and training programmes, and may also manage associated documentation and audit projects. This post has both direct line management and intra-department matrix management responsibilities.

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• Enrolment onto a Civil Service Pension scheme - 28% employer contribution
• 25 days annual leave, pro-rata (increasing to 30 days after 3 years) + 11.5 public holidays
• Reimbursement for relevant professional subscriptions
• Support for further education and personal development
• Study leave for work related courses
• Flexible working hours (where appropriate)
• Free entry to all of our properties (with up to three guests)
• Free entry to English Heritage, Manx and Cadw properties

• You will manage and develop the CMS (Vernon), ensuring data is managed securely and in line with industry standards, and promoting and facilitating digital ways of working and more efficient workflows for staff.
• You will scope, test and implement system updates as well as liaising with Vernon Systems (the provider of the CMS) and internal IT colleagues to ensure any CMS issues are satisfactorily and efficiently resolved.
• You will work with specialist technical colleagues and external contractors to ensure that data from the CMS is pulled through correctly to the publicly accessible web catalogue (trove.scot) and internal web catalogue (the Vernon browser). You will work with colleagues to improve public access to the collections and promote and facilitate research access.
• You will be responsible for the development of the CMS within HES and the implementation of any additional functionality within the system, focussing on deliverables set out in the 5-year departmental strategy. You will propose and seek approval for developments, identifying and managing related risks.
• You will train users, provide support and answer questions relating to database functions and capabilities to users and key stakeholders across HES.
• You will represent the Collections & Applied Conservation Department on relevant internal and external groups, and will need to champion both the Department and collections internally and externally with stakeholders and other institutions and organisations within the sector and beyond.
• You will work collaboratively to ensure the integrity of the data within Vernon, ensuring accuracy, correctness and validity and the security of the database by implementing access controls to the data, managing the user security functions within Vernon and training and supporting users.
• You will ensure the CMS database is managed and informed by the relevant standards supporting collections management activity both within HES and industry standards e.g. SPECTRUM.
• You will work with the Collections Registrar to develop system processes and workflows for collections management activities including acquisition, disposal and audit.
• The post has line management responsibilities, and experience of people management is required. You will have regular 1:1 meetings, agree and manage workloads, conduct appraisals and promote staff wellbeing. Experience of managing teams and supporting trainees and volunteers is desirable.

• Substantial relevant experience in administrating Collections Management Systems including: managing user access and security functions, managing system upgrades and implementing new features, managing workflows around accurate data entry and retrieval, dealing with system issues and support requests.
• Substantial relevant experience in collections information management including: accurate data entry; working with Collections Management Systems to enhance or improve data, promoting and monitoring data accuracy and compliance with…