Collections Care Officer

Collections Care Officer

Location: West Dean, West Sussex
Department: Collections / Education
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 21 hours per week
Salary: £16,524 per annum (FTE £27,540)
Closing date: 28 October 2026
Interviews: Mid-November 2026

About West Dean

West Dean is a unique place to work and visit, combining an internationally recognised centre for arts, design, craft and conservation with award-winning public gardens, historic collections and a working estate.

Our Sussex campus is set within the 6,350-acre West Dean Estate in the South Downs National Park. It is home to West Dean College, renowned gardens attracting thousands of visitors each year, heritage glasshouses, a kitchen garden and tranquil parkland walks. The estate also includes our Tapestry Studio and historic staterooms, which host events, exhibitions and private functions.

Our London campus in Bloomsbury is home to the prestigious KLC School of Design, surrounded by world-class museums, galleries and theatres.

Together, our two campuses bring together education, heritage, hospitality and visitor experiences. Working at West Dean means becoming part of a community that values creativity, craftsmanship, sustainability and inclusivity, while helping to safeguard and share one of the UK's most distinctive cultural institutions.

About the Role

We are looking for a Collections Care Officer to join our Collections team and play an important role in caring for and protecting West Dean College's exceptional collections, historic interiors and archives.

Working closely with the Collections Manager and wider Collections team, you will help ensure that our collections are cared for to a high standard through practical conservation, preventative conservation, environmental monitoring, documentation and risk management.

This is a varied and hands-on role, with the opportunity to work across the College and contribute to a wide range of collections care activities. You will work with colleagues, students and volunteers, providing training and guidance and helping to develop a strong culture of collections care across West Dean.

You will also support access to the collections, exhibitions, loans, house tours and other activities, ensuring that objects and historic interiors are handled, displayed and cared for appropriately.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is passionate about heritage and conservation and who enjoys working in a unique historic environment where no two days are necessarily the same.

Key Responsibilities

As Collections Care Officer, you will:

• Support the Collections Manager in implementing and maintaining collections care policies and procedures.
• Help develop and improve practical collections care standards across the College.
• Ensure the collections and historic interiors are cared for and maintained in line with recognised conservation best practice.
• Carry out regular condition checks and identify and report potential risks or conservation issues.
• Monitor temperature, humidity, light levels and pest activity and take appropriate action where concerns are identified.
• Maintain accurate collections care and condition records using the Axiell collections management system.
• Work closely with Housekeeping to ensure appropriate cleaning methods, materials and products are used within historic interiors.
• Provide advice, guidance and training to colleagues, students and volunteers.
• Deliver practical collections care training and demonstrations alongside School of Conservation tutors.
• Support volunteer collections care projects where appropriate.
• Supervise and facilitate appropriate access to the collections, historic interiors and archive.
• Assist with house tours, collection inductions and introductions to the collection.
• Support the installation, movement and deinstallation of objects, displays and exhibitions.
• Assist with the preparation, packing, movement and installation of loans.
• Support the management and organisation of collection storage areas.
• Maintain appropriate stocks of cleaning, conservation and collections care materials.
• Provide appropriate cover for the Historic Object Officer when required.
• Promote good collections care and conservation awareness across the College.
• Ensure compliance with relevant Health & Safety requirements and College policies.

About You

We are looking for someone with practical collections care experience, a genuine passion for heritage and conservation, and a careful and methodical approach to working with historic objects and interiors.

You will have a good