Birmingham Museums Trust is seeking bold, passionate Trustees to shape the future of UK civic culture in our vibrant city.
Birmingham Museums Trust is embarking on a transformative period following the launch of our 2025–2030 Strategic Plan, “Laying the Foundations“.
Operating as an independent charity caring for one of the UK’s top three civic collections across nine iconic sites, we are shifting our focus from stabilisation to dynamic civic growth.
We are seeking new Trustees to join our governing board. As a Trustee, you will provide strategic direction, robust governance, and enthusiastic advocacy, holding the executive team to account whilst ensuring our collections and historic sites genuinely serve all of Birmingham’s diverse communities.
If you believe in Birmingham and see the potential to help shape our future – these are your Museums, and we invite you to make your move.
Who we are
Birmingham Museums Trust cares for and makes accessible the city’s museum collections across nine sites. We are a company limited by guarantee and an independent registered charity delivering the museum service on behalf of Birmingham City Council.
As the largest independent charitable trust of museums in the United Kingdom, we oversee nine distinctive museum sites across the city:
- Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
- Thinktank
- Museum Collection Centre
- Aston Hall
- Blakesley Hall
- Museum of the Jewellery Quarter
- Sarehole Mill
- Soho House
- Weoley Castle
Across these are housed an encyclopaedic collection of over 1 million objects, with most of them designated by Arts Council England; our crowd-pulling collections speak to and of Birmingham and beyond and include the Staffordshire Hoard, a phenomenal pre-Raphaelite collection, and a science collection that reflects the city of a thousand trades.
We are deeply committed to giving voice to our citizens, exemplified by our Citizens’ Jury, as we strive to bring Birmingham out by shining new light on people’s stories, collections, and creativity.
Birmingham Museums Trust aims to be a boldly progressive organisation, increasingly rooted in and porous to Birmingham’s communities, with the skills and culture to engage with our target audiences and the things that matter to them. Central to this are initiatives to:
Our Purpose & Vision
- Our Mission: Bring Birmingham out by shining new light on people’s stories, collections, and creativity.
- Our Vision: A radical reinvention of the museum as a catalyst of cultural and social change.
- Our Impact: Birmingham is a vibrant, interconnected city where cultural richness thrives, citizens are empowered, communities find joy and belonging, trust is nurtured, inequalities are diminished, and sustainability and equity are central to our society.
- Our Values: Radical inclusion, collective spirit, discovering wonder, and taking care.
As a major cultural pillar in the West Midlands with an annual operating turnover of ~£12 million, the trust manages Birmingham’s vast collection – one of the top three most important civic museum collections in the UK. The rich histories embedded in these objects, which range from science to art, the prehistoric to the contemporary, are a vital resource for learning and creative engagement. By fostering innovative approaches to audience-led contemporary collecting, we bring the museums alive for the communities that shape them. We put the city’s collections at the centre of cultural change, equity and social empowerment.
About the role
We are seeking a number of Trustees to join our Board. As a Trustee, you will hold ultimate legal and strategic responsibility for the Trust, ensuring robust governance, financial sustainability, and the achievement of our charitable objects.
The Board of Trustees share collective responsibility for the strategic leadership and support the executive team; providing challenge and expertise which allow the organisation to deliver against its vision, while continually evolving to meet the needs of their visitors and stakeholders.
Trustees play a key role in:
- Setting the long-term vision and strategic direction of Birmingham Museums Trust whilst upholding the organisation’s charitable purpose and values
- Ensuring effective use of resources and sound financial stewardship.
- Ensuring appropriate oversight of the Museum’s collections.
- Acting as ambassadors for the Museum and its work.
- Helping develop partnerships, networks and opportunities that benefit the organisation.
Throughout all our work BMT’s approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is integral to our organisational ethos and responsibility sits within every part of the organisation.
Who we are looking for
We welcome applications from candidates who are comfortable contributing strategically at Board level, who demonstrate openness to democratic governance models that place community at the heart of decision-making. Following a comprehensive skills audit review, we are in particular looking to strengthen our Board in the following areas:
Property, development and capital delivery
Recent senior experience of property, development or capital project delivery, ideally in the public or cultural sector, able to chair or sit on the Estates Committee.
Museum and heritage sector expertise
Senior museum or heritage sector experience, ideally from an institution that has delivered a long-term capital or transformation programme of the kind BMT is embarking on.
Digital, data and AI
Expert-level digital, data or AI capability, ideally combined with an understanding of how audiences find and consume culture online.
Birmingham representation
Trustees rooted in Birmingham’s diverse communities: we particularly welcome those from Asian communities and in its working-class communities which are less well represented, recruited for capability alongside background.
Time commitment
1-2 days per month
- Main Board Meetings: 4 to 6 formal meetings per year, held in person on Wednesday afternoons (16:00–18:00) at BMT venues across Birmingham.
- Sub-Committee Meetings: Potential additional service on at least one sub-board or committee (e.g. Estates, Health & Safety), meeting quarterly.
- Board Champions: Opportunity to serve as Board level representation on key internal functions, including Safeguarding, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Health, Safety & Wellbeing
- Preparation & Events: Approximately 3–5 hours per month for reviewing board papers, attending annual strategic away days, and attending optional exhibition previews or fundraising events.
- 3-Month Structured Induction: A fully supported onboarding process involving 1-on-1s with leadership, site hosts, and plain-English strategic briefings
To view the role description and person specification, please go to the ‘How to Apply’ tab above, fill in your details and download the candidate pack.
For further information or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
David Hingley | david@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07534 244249
Ella Garfinkel | ella@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07432 859534
Birmingham Museums Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 1147014).
Welcome from the Chair
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for your interest in joining the Board of Birmingham Museums Trust.
This is a pivotal moment for our organisation. Across nine diverse sites, we care for one of the country’s greatest civic collections on behalf of the people of Birmingham. Having focused intensely in recent years on securing our financial footing, our energy is now shifting toward facing the future.
We recently approved our strategy for 2025–2030, but the work of breathing life into it is just beginning. By joining us now, you won’t just inherit a strategy—you will actively shape its execution and impact.
Our Board isn’t a passive committee of last resort; it is an active driver of our success. We provide oversight, robust scrutiny, and the constructive challenge needed to keep us sharp. Just as importantly, our trustees roll up their sleeves—offering advocacy, opening doors, fundraising, and bringing the credibility of a Board that deeply cares about the community we serve.
As you review the candidate pack, I encourage you to consider not only what your unique skills and perspective can bring to our mission, but also what you stand to gain from leading one of the UK’s most dynamic cultural trusts.
Thank you again for considering this role. I look forward to the possibility of working together.
Warm regards,
Stephen Hughes
Chair
Birmingham Museums Trust
About the Birmingham Museums Trust
Birmingham Museums Trust is an independent charity that cares for the city’s museum collections and opens them to the public. We are a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity, established in 2012 to run the museums service on behalf of Birmingham City Council. We look after around one million objects and nine visitor sites, including Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in Chamberlain Square, Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum, three historic houses and halls, a working water mill, the remains of a fortified manor house, the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, and the Museum Collection Centre where the majority of the collection is stored. The collection and most of the buildings are owned by Birmingham City Council. We hold and care for them under a service level agreement, on behalf of the people of Birmingham. That is a distinction worth holding on to: we are stewards rather than owners, and the city is both our partner and our beneficiary.
Our charitable purpose
Our objects, set out in our Articles of Association, are to advance education through the operation, maintenance, development and promotion of museums, galleries and libraries in Birmingham, together with associated facilities and related programmes of outreach and research, fostering knowledge, understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the arts, history, science and technology by residents of and visitors to the city.
Everything the Board decides must be traceable back to that purpose. It is a wider remit than it first appears: it covers research and outreach as well as opening buildings, and it names visitors as well as residents.
Two jobs at once
The Trust holds two responsibilities that are related but not identical, and much of the Board’s most interesting discussion sits between them.
The first is relevance to the people of Birmingham. This is a young, plural, richly diverse city, and a civic museum service that is not genuinely useful to the people who live here has failed at something fundamental. Our recent work, including the Citizens’ Jury, has pressed hard on this question.
The second is representing Birmingham to the world. Our collections are of international standing, and the Trust is part of how the city presents itself: to visitors, to funders, to the cultural sector and to potential investors in Birmingham. This matters to the city’s economy as well as to its self-image.
These two pull in the same direction more often than not. Where they pull apart, it is the Board’s job to hold the balance rather than to choose once and for all.
How we are led
Two Co-Chief Executive Officers, Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah, lead us and share the role. Zak Mensah is also Company Secretary. Six directors lead Collections and Estate, Enterprise and Innovation, Engagement, Transformation, Finance, and Development. Around 160 colleagues work across the sites, alongside 193 volunteers and a supporting casual workforce in visitor experience and food and beverage.
Projects and Initiatives
Dynamic Collections: In 2022, Birmingham Museums Trust launched a 10-year programme to unlock the accessibility of their collections. A series of projects revolving around digitisation and democratisation has helped widen access to the city’s collections and preserve the oral histories of the West Midlands.
Citizen’s Jury: In August 2024, Birmingham Museums Trust made history by introducing the UK’s first Citizen’s Jury in a museum setting, directly involving the city’s residents in essential decision-making processes. The Jury’s recommendations directly shaped the trust’s 5-year strategy, embedding democratic, community-based approaches to strategic planning.
Portable Antiques Scheme: A voluntary recording scheme for archaeological objects found by members of the public, this Portable Antiques Scheme allows the thousands of objects discovered by the public to contribute to our understanding of the past.
Navigating Challenge through Innovation: Civic culture across the UK faces real financial strain, heightened locally by municipal budget pressures. In response, BMT has developed a focused strategy to achieve long-term resilience, transitioning our operational model from turnaround to sustainable growth. We are upgrading key venues, advancing Phase 2 capital plans for Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, protecting our six historic properties, and expanding commercial enterprise via Birmingham Museums Trading Ltd.
Looking Ahead to 2030: Through our 2025–2030 plan, “Laying the Foundations”, BMT will diversify revenue streams, achieve operational break-even, advance our Net Zero roadmap, and establish an accredited Cultural Citizenship Research Centre. By joining us as a Trustee, you will help secure the future of our priceless civic assets for generations to come.
Learn more about Birmingham Museums Trust:
Accessibility information
We want everyone who connects with us, physically or digitally, to feel included and to be enabled to enjoy our collections, exhibitions, programmes and venues.
We recognise that there are many barriers that currently prevent people from being able to do so, and which limit access to the full range of BMT’s work. We aim to identify, challenge, and reduce these as far as possible through consulting with users, non-users, and specialists to identify barriers to access and inclusion, and put in place plans to mitigate or remove these.
At BMT, ensuring equity of access and inclusion is a part of everyone’s role, and we encourage everyone to think about how they can ensure their work will meet the needs of as many people as possible. BMT also has specific working groups whose remit includes an oversight of this work.
Every member of Birmingham Museums Trust staff and every volunteer supporting our activity has a responsibility to ensure our services to visitors, customers and communities are delivered in accordance with our Access and Inclusion Policy.
Every member of staff and volunteer will:
- Eradicate and hold as unacceptable direct and indirect discrimination against individuals on any grounds.
- Participate in relevant training to maintain a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and to increase skills and knowledge in this area.
- Be familiar and confident in the Birmingham Museums Access and Inclusion Policy.
- Identify barriers to access and opportunities for inclusion in their area of work.
- Understand and be proficient in the particular access responsibilities of their role.
Trustees are in particular responsible for:
- Reviewing and approving our Access and Inclusion Policy at least every five years.
- Ensuring Birmingham Museums Trust works in compliance with the relevant legislation.
We understand that different members of the community have different access needs and have made some modifications to the way we do business to accommodate people from diverse communities and abilities. We offer the following amenities:
- Step free access to the building, all key meeting rooms and bathrooms, and an accessible workstation
- Accessibility dogs are welcome
- Interviews can be held in meeting rooms that support hearing loops
- Papers and materials can be presented in different formats
- A sign language interpreter can be accessed for interview
- Working patterns and locations can be adjusted
To arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
David Hingley | david@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07534 244249
Ella Garfinkel | ella@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07432 859534
Thank you for your interest in this role. Please download the Role Description and Person Specification.
To formally apply, please submit a CV and supporting statement (ideally a maximum of 2 sides of A4 each) that clearly outline your suitability for the role against the criteria provided in the person specification, including your interest and motivation in applying for this position.
Please include your home address, contact email and mobile.
Please ensure that your application is emailed to response@peridotpartners.co.uk, inserting “Application: Birmingham Museums Trust—Trustees” into the subject field. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 2-3 days. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, please contact our admin team.
For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners:
David Hingley | david@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07534 244249
Ella Garfinkel | ella@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07432 859534
As a sector-leading executive search consultancy, we know the importance of creating recruitment processes that are fair, inclusive and free from bias. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a process that values differences.
If you require any job information in an alternative format (e.g. large print), please contact the lead consultant. Please also let us know if you would like to submit your application in an alternative format.
Applicants with disabilities are welcome to contact us in confidence at any stage of the recruitment process to discuss any reasonable adjustments or support that may be required to ensure fair and equal participation.
Recruitment selection processes are based on evidence of competence stated in the person specification and in relation to our values.
Timetable
Closing date: Monday 16th November 2026
Candidates informed of outcome: Monday 23rd November 2026
Interviews: Wednesday 9th December 2026
Equal Opportunities Monitoring
Peridot and Birmingham Museums Trust are committed to promoting equality and diversity. To help us raise awareness and support a culture that is diverse and recognises and develops the potential of all, we need to appreciate the profile of candidates who apply for positions. We will send you an equality monitoring survey at the point of receiving your application and at the time of placement. This ensures that our processes remain inclusive and equitable throughout, and provides us with important data to help us showcase our impact.
The information will be treated confidentially and anonymously and will help us to support our commitment to fair recruitment practice. All information provided will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be shared with anyone, in line with the Data Protection Act 2018.
The information provided does not form part of the decision-making process and will not affect your application. Learn more about why we collect this data here.
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