Senior Manager/ Manager, National Collections Division

[What the role is]

The National Collection Division of National Heritage Board (NHB) oversees the development, key policies and processes related to the National Collection. The National Collection is the collection of artefacts and artworks that are acquired by NHB’s Collecting Institutions namely the National Museum of Singapore, the Asian Civilisations Museum, the Peranakan Museum, the Indian Heritage Centre, the Malay Heritage Centre, the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, the National Gallery of Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum. The Division also manages the National Register of artefacts and artworks that are held by public agencies.

You will have opportunities to work closely with the abovementioned institutions and areas of work that you may be involved in include collection narratives and strategies, acquisition processes, collection management and access and use of the Collection. We would love to hear from you if you are keen to have a good overview of the National Collection and contribute towards the shaping of the Collection.

[What you will be working on]

Reporting to the Senior Asst Director, your responsibilities include:

• Assist to review and formulate policies to develop and safeguard the National Collection

• Assist to advise and mediate among relevant stakeholders on issues that relate to the National Collection 

• Support or manage a variety of small to midsized projects (e.g. the National Register project), implement key processes and prepare proposals related to the National Collection

• Manage and maintain channels of engagement and communication with a variety of key internal and external stakeholders including NHB Museums, National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum 

• Provide secretariat support for advisory panel on the National Collection

• Assist to oversee and monitor the acquisition budget for the National Collection

• Monitor and report on the performance indicators related to the National Collection

• Assist in administrative duties required by the Division

[What we are looking for]

• Preferably a background in arts, history or social sciences.

• Preferably at least 3 to 5 years of experience in arts and heritage sector with related background and experience in the field of cultural collections management and/or museology

• Good interpersonal and analytical skills, and meticulous

• Good organisational and project management skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Highly self-motivated with strong initiative, quick to learn, able to multitask, and works well independently or as part of a team

• Well versed in MS Office (particularly Excel) and able to pick up and use new IT tools swiftly

• Passion and interest in arts and heritage

Key Functional Competencies:

i. Domain Specific Expertise:

Ability to collaborate and/or co-create policy solutions with experts/professionals by understanding priorities and challenges within the domain and staying updated on key shifts and trends, applying domain-relevant knowledge and trends in policy development, and employing appropriate policy levers, contextualised to the domain, to achieve policy objectives.

ii. Internal Stakeholder Alignment:

Drive alignment on policy positions and approaches among key internal stakeholders by identifying relevant internal stakeholders and obtaining their inputs on policy issues, then engaging them on policy decisions and relevant considerations to achieve alignment.

iii. Deep Critical Thinking:

Ability to distill critical issues and sense make a wide range of information, identifying key trade offs, considerations and options to arrive at effective policy solutions.

Specific applications include NC policy reviews, related research and addressing queries from Collecting Institutions and other divisions.

Successful candidates will be offered a 2-year contract in the first instance.