Curatorial and Technical Manager

£43,149 - £45,529

28/10/2026

Kirklees, West Yorkshire, West Yorkshire

Full Time

Our employees are at the very heart of the services we provide to the community, to help us achieve our ambitions, we want the best possible team. In return, we will make sure you are rewarded with a great range of staff benefits to support you in and out of work.

Are you ready to lead change, inspire excellence and help shape the future for Kirklees culture and heritage?

This is a rare opportunity to lead a talented, multidisciplinary team and advance your management skills across collections care, curatorial practice and digitisation. Working across multiple museum sites and with a large, varied collection, you’ll deliver ambitious outcomes for our Arts Council England-funded NPO museum service while supporting the creation of a new museum and art gallery for Huddersfield.

Now is a pivotal time to join Kirklees Museums and Galleries. As a key member of Kirklees Museums and Galleries, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the new Huddersfield Museum and Art Gallery as part of Our Cultural Heart , a flagship town-centre regeneration programme for Kirklees and the wider region. You will lead the curatorial work to document, prepare and transfer collections, and be responsible for their safe movement and installation.

Working in conjunction with staff, communities and national partners, you will support the team to deliver co-produced, sector-leading content and build valuable experience in large-scale change, strategic leadership and service excellence.

Your role will be to manage and inspire our curatorial team, providing professional collections guidance and ongoing direction to technical colleagues to maintain high standards of collections care, display, access and safe working. Through inclusive curatorial practice and improved digital access, your work will help deepen our connections with audiences and ensure it reflects the diverse stories of Kirklees across our museum sites and through digital innovation.

Your influence will help shape the future direction of the service, ensuring our collections, exhibitions and interpretation reflect the diverse stories of Kirklees and engage both new and existing audiences in meaningful ways. Notable areas of our collection include natural history, such as entomology, herbaria and fossils; local industries connected with international impact, especially textiles, engineering, transport, and collections such as the Bamforth postcards;

plus, areas such as archaeology, contemporary British art, political protest, music and sport. You will also help strengthen how people encounter our collections beyond the gallery, supporting improved online access and digital visibility while ensuring we share stories effectively without compromising the historic objects and artworks in our care.

You will bring a supportive, collaborative style of leadership, working with teams across the service and wider Council to streamline processes, improve communication and help colleagues deliver shared priorities through a period of change. You will also identify opportunities for the team to remain current with professional standards and accredited approaches that strengthen collections care and curatorial practice.

What We’re Looking For

• An ability to lead and inspire teams through change in dynamic museum, gallery or heritage settings.
• Extensive management experience in collections care, curatorial and exhibition practice, with expertise in documentation standards, digitisation and developing a collections management system.
• Practical, proactive problem-solving skills with strong project management,…