Role:  | Museum Assistant (Career Development)   
Reporting to:  | Visitor Engagement Manager, with pastoral support mentor Curator: Artists Projects 
Purpose of job:  | To help ensure effective and successful delivery of all visitor-facing services at the Museum, while providing support and contributing to other departments, such as Communications, Curatorial, Events and Operations.   
Working pattern:  | Full time (09.30-17.30) 35 hours (1 hour each day unpaid for lunch) 
Contract:  | Fixed term, 1 year placement
Salary:  | £23,993 
Eligibility:  | to be considered for this role you must be a Care leaver aged 18-24, currently living in the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Harrow, Brent, Kensington & Chelsea, Ealing, Westminster or Hammersmith & Fulham

Who we are looking for  

We’re looking for a committed, enthusiastic, friendly and reliable team player, to work across key departments at the Foundling Museum in this Musuem Assistant (Career Development) placement. Over the course of 12 months, you’ll gain the skills, confidence and experience needed to follow a career in the arts and heritage sector.     

Alongside working in the Museum, this placement comes with the opportunity to complete professional development training and development, for example attending industry masterclasses, seminars and workshops as well as developing personal skills in areas like public speaking, first aid and project management.
 
You will work mainly alongside the Visitor Engagement Team, who welcome and look after visitors, run the shop, sell tickets, support our volunteers and provide information. This work would ideally suit someone who is friendly and willing to talk to people of all ages, however training will be given to develop public speaking skills and self-confidence. You will also help with the shop, including with admin tasks, assisting in retail projects and working on the till.   

As well as working day-to-day with the Visitor Engagement Team, you will spend time with each of the following teams: Marketing and Communications, Learning and Community Engagement, Curatorial, Public Programming and Events. You will not only gain experience supporting and contributing to these department’s areas, but you will also have an opportunity to complete creative and business development projects for example; working on interpretation with a view to curating your own display and in developing the Museum’s retail offer.
 
Along with gaining skills and experience in various Museum departments, the final three months of the placement will be spent in the department of your choosing. This will be to deepen your knowledge and create a great foundation on which to build a future career in the arts and heritage sector.
 
Throughout the placement you will be able to access a variety of career development opportunities, ranging from CV writing to job application and interview techniques, coaching and mentoring.
 
Once the placement is finished you will have the opportunity to join our team of employed sessional staff working front of house and for venue hire events.
 
Key responsibilities  

 This post will provide you with the opportunity to work across several teams, each with a diverse range of responsibilities.   
Examples of how you will work across these teams are below. Applicants, please be aware that you do not need to have any previous experience in these areas, training and supervision will be provided.   
Visitor Engagement   

 Marketing and Communications 

 Learning and Community Engagement   

 Curatorial (3 month’s placement)  

 Events and Operations  

Person Specification 

If you have any of this experience, be sure to highlight it in your application:  

Equal Opportunities   

We actively welcome Black, Asian, ethnically diverse and disabled applicants and value the positive impact that diversity has on our teams.

We encourage applications from all backgrounds and identities and are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities. We are committed to equality and diversity within our workforce and all opportunities provided by the Foundling Museum.
 
We will make all reasonable adjustments so that if you have a disability it puts you at no disadvantage through the selection process. Please contact us on 02078413600 and ask for the learning team – if you require assess support for your application e.g. you wish to apply by video or another means 
If you’re invited to interview, please contact the recruiting manager and let us know what reasonable adjustments you require.
 
To Apply  

If you would like to have an informal chat about this opportunity please email learning@foundlingmuseum.org.uk
To apply please download the application form from our website and then follow the link to our application portal where you will be asked to upload your completed application form. Any questions please contact hr@foundlingmuseum.org.uk   

If you wish to, you may also complete and upload an equal opportunity monitoring form, (which can also  be downloaded from our website) This will be separated from your application and is used by us to help monitor our commitment to Equality Diversity and Inclusion outlined above.

Please note as part of our commitment to safeguarding our employees, volunteers and service users we may require you to undergo a DBS check as part of our recruitment process and all employees are subject to ‘Right to work in the UK’ checks.
Closing Date Monday 17 February 2025 at 12noon  

Interviews Week commencing Monday 24 February 2025   

This post has been made possible with funding from John Lyon’s Charity. 

About Foundling Museum  

Foundling Museum is the only cultural institution in the UK to celebrate people who have been in care, and those who care for them. 

Foundling Museum is a contemporary museum established in 2004, with collections of art, music, writing and emotive objects that stretch back to the 18th century. Our work grows from our unique foundations, as the only foundling hospital museum in the world that has an art collection donated by artists, and the only one to tell the story of the birth of creative philanthropy.  

The Museum shows how artists championed the Foundling cause, including artist William Hogarth and composer George Frideric Handel. Their compassion and generosity demonstrated that the arts transform lives. Foundling Museum work with outstanding contemporary artists, writers and musicians to ensure that leading artists continue to be part of the story of care. 

 At the heart of our work is our award-winning arts training programme for young care leavers, professional development opportunities for young care leavers along with arts and wellbeing activities for children and families. 

Examples of our work include:  
Art projects which explore how our historic story of care still resonates today by addressing stigma and supporting mental health. We do this by working in a connected way, establishing collaborations with local health and community partners. 
‘Tracing Our Tales’, our flagship training programme for care-experienced young people which was named Learning Programme of the Year at the 2022 Museums and Heritage Awards. Supported by our Learning Team, trainees learn art or creative writing skills in weekly sessions led by dynamic artists and poets, to build a creative portfolio.  

Exhibitions, collections and displays, ranging from tiny, touching identifying tokens left by mothers with their babies, to composer George Frideric Handel’s will. Around the Museum, you’ll find works of art by contemporary artists like Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Tracey Emin and Michael Craig-Martin, as well as 18th-century artists William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds. 

This is an exciting time to join the Museum, which has recently secured Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation funding for 2023-26, and is delivering on ambitious plans to secure its long-term future.