Assistant Curator of Paintings

It's learning something new while surrounded by masterpiece paintings.

It’s working as one to deliver impressive projects. And it’s the satisfaction of presenting and sharing one of the world’s largest art collections. This is what makes working for Royal Collection Trust so different.

One of the largest and most important art collections in the world, The Royal Collection runs to more than a million objects, including 8000 paintings and 3000 miniatures. Spread among fifteen Royal residences and former residences across the UK, displayed at exhibitions at The King’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh and via loans, it is unique in both scale and variety.

As an Assistant Curator, you'll work with a worldclass collection of European paintings and support the team with a wide range of curatorial activities to ensure our collection is presented to the highest of standards and enjoyed by thousands of visitors.

Key Responsibilities:

• You’ll undertake research into the paintings and assist with their interpretation through a range of channels, including delivering talks and tours that aim to engage with the broadest audience possible.
• Ensuring online painting records are accurate and up to date, you'll be involved in the cataloguing of material, helping us share this magnificent collection widely
• You'll play a key part in planning picture moves across a variety of Royal residences, administering a digital database of paintings substitutes to help deliver our active loans and exhibitions programme
• You'll contribute to the delivery of upcoming exhibitions and the development of new exhibition ideas
• While providing vital support to the paintings curatorial team, you'll also liaise with other teams across Royal Collection Trust on activities relating to redisplays and projects

Essential Criteria:

• With a broad understanding of art history, you’ll bring a specialist knowledge in a key area of Royal Collection Trust’s paintings holdings
• You’ll bring relevant curatorial experience of working with a collection in a museum, art gallery or historic house
• You're confident preparing talks, presentations and displays, and you'll be eager to share your knowledge with varied audiences
• With previous project experience and strong administration skills, you'll be able to plan and deliver projects alongside a daily workload and tight deadlines
• An effective communicator, with excellent written and verbal communication skills, you'll enjoy collaborating effectively with team members and colleagues
• You'll also have an understanding of conservation issues and the challenges of working with historic interiors
• As a natural organiser with lots of initiative, you'll have strong IT skills and your attention to detail will be second to none
• Above all, you're eager to immerse yourself in the unique learning opportunities that the Collection presents

What we offer:

We know that to deliver our best work; we need to feel at our best. That’s why at the Royal Household we offer a generous benefits package designed to support your wellbeing and life priorities.

• Enjoy 25 days annual leave, rising to 30 days pro rata (plus bank holidays) dependent on the length of time you have worked for us.
• Flexible and hybrid working varies across different roles, and we’ll discuss the options available to you that will suit both your job requirements and individual preferences.
• Our excellent non-contributory pension plan (we’ll contribute 15% and you can contribute more if you wish) is highly valued by our employees, as is complimentary lunch on-site to keep you fuelled throughout the day.
• We also offer a range of leave options to support your life priorities, such as parental pay and leave and volunteering days, as well as benefits to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
• Other perks include 20% off at our Royal Collection Trust Shops and complimentary admission tickets across all our locations, along with many more exclusive employee discounts.

Find out more about the full range of benefits available to our employees here.