Head of Archives (interim)

About Us  

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us. 

Libraries & Collections comprises four departments: Education & Learning, Research & Impact, Service Design & Delivery, along with Business Operations. We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, which manages the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond. 

This role is based in and leads our Archives team, which is responsible for managing our amazing world class collections, including the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and maintaining the institutional memory of King’s. Our collections are used widely in research in teaching, at and beyond King’s. We provide access to King’s students and staff, the global research community and the general public.  

About the Role

The purpose of the Head of Archives & Research Collections is to ensure that our archive collections play a leading role in research, education and public engagement at King’s, increasing their impact and supporting King’s strategies.   

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to develop their leadership skills, and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise in driving archive services.  

All Libraries & Collections staff are encouraged to take responsibility for their own performance and development, through agreeing clear objectives, maintaining professional awareness, participating in professional networks and reflecting on own performance. We expect all senior managers to adopt a positive, proactive, flexible and committed approach that inspires and motivates others with an authentic approach to leadership.   

You will be required to participate in frontline services as required, including contributing towards a Manager on Duty rota for evening and weekend working.

This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for 1 year.

This is a full-time post, but we welcome applications from candidates seeking a flexible work pattern within our necessary service operating hours. 

• Lead the operations of King’s Archives, and the development and management of our archive collections to appropriate national and international standards
• Work with colleagues across Libraries & Collections to support the development of a Collections Transformation strategy for our physical and digital collections; work closely with the Head of Special Collections & Engagement on our approach to unique and distinctive collections
• Collaborate as part of the Senior Management Team to deliver our strategy; provide operational leadership and guidance for staff across the whole of Libraries & Collections
• Ensure coordinated approaches to prioritising, operational planning and shared accountability for delivering our aims, while tackling complex issues that prevent success
• Create a common culture of empowerment where staff are supported and challenged in order to drive continuous improvement, service innovation and delivery of results
• Ensure consistent and effective line management practice through effective objective setting, clear definition of job roles, communication of strategy, the operational plan and commitment to the Performance Development Review process
• Co-ordinate a visible view of team priorities, providing transparency, focus and opportunities for collaboration
• Drive the implementation and use of Business Intelligence to steer operational service planning, budget management and decision making
• Initiate and chair project and service review groups which lead to service improvements or new services, and ensure outcomes are widely promoted to our stakeholders
• Partner with the university community and wider stakeholders to define, collaborate on and deliver shared strategic aims

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.