Director of Development and External Affairs

The Black Country Living Museum is an award-winning open-air museum.

Throughout its 46-year history, its aim has always been clear: Inspiring your discovery of the Black Country. The Museum ensures that the revolutionary story of the Black Country’s industrial landscape – the first ever of its kind in the UK – is celebrated by generations. They are close to completing their largest development ever, with a multi-million-pound investment bringing the region’s stories into the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. 

An important feature of the Museum is its independence. They do not look to others to achieve their results. Describing themselves as a heritage business, rather than a heritage service, within the intersection sweet spot between visitor attraction, museum and charity. They seek to appoint a new Director of Development and External Affairs to own income for the organisation and Prospectus is proud to be leading the search.

Director of Development and External Affairs
Black Country Living Museum
Permanent
On-site in Dudley
c. £70,000

The Director of Development and External Affairs will lead the fundraising, audiences, and communications teams and support the direction of strategic plans for the Museum. The Director will determine a strategic plan for commercial opportunities within the remit of the role including corporate sponsorship, hire and hospitality, filming and photography location shooting, as well as fundraising revenue streams. You will manage both capital and revenue income targets and support an experienced team to increase visitor attendance to achieve c. 400,000 visitors per year. Crucially you will deputise for the Chief Executive where appropriate.

The selected candidate will have leadership experience in an organisation of at least comparable scale and complexity and will have a track record of developing and delivering successful strategies across external affairs, fundraising and audiences. Ideally, you will have bags of enthusiasm for the Museum’s cause and independence and will enjoy working in – and harnessing – a supportive and creative organisation which attracts and retains diverse talent.

At Prospectus we invest in your journey as a candidate and are committed to supporting you with your application. We welcome candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds. Please let us know if we can help you with the application process in any way. We are more than happy to make any reasonable adjustments to enable all interested candidates to apply. If you have any disability and would like assistance with completing an application, then please contact Ryan Burdock at Prospectus. 

If you are interested in applying to this Director of Development and External Affairs position, please submit your CV in the first instance. Should your experience be suitable, we will send you the full job description and will arrange for a call and/or meeting to brief you on the role. You’ll then have all the information you need to formally apply. We are looking forward to connecting with you soon.