Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Senior Investigator (Military/Industrial Heritage).

You will act as one of a team of expert Senior Investigators with a specific brief to lead on our engagement with specific archaeological themes or subject areas. Your focus will be on military/industrial archaeological heritage, maintaining a foresight and insight role in matters pertaining to the archaeology of conflict, defence and industry; working with HE colleagues in Regions and in Policy and Evidence, and wider sector partners to ensure a coherent HE approach to the understanding and protection of military and industrial monuments and landscapes.

As outlined with the Landscape Archaeology Principal, you will also lead or contribute to landscape archaeology projects for our own Regions casework related to planning, Listing and Heritage at Risk, or as part of a national strategic programme, meeting HE corporate priorities. You will work closely with your Landscape Archaeology Manager and other subject-specialist counterparts, the team’s Investigators and other HE staff as required.

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - York, Swindon, Fort Cumberland and Cambridge. 

What you will be doing

Specialist lead: Provide leadership and strategic engagement on military/industrial archaeology issues, providing expertise both in the nature of such archaeology and in the changes (technological development, disposals, development policies) impacting upon it. Provide authoritative support to colleagues across HE and provide a point of contact on the specialist area to sector bodies as agreed with the Landscape Archaeology Principal.

Project Management and Delivery. As outlined with the relevant Landscape Archaeology Manager and in accordance with Historic England’s corporate objectives and group plans: lead and/or to contribute to, the design, initiation, development, execution and quality assurance of landscape archaeology projects and investigation programmes through all stages from proposal to dissemination; gather, analyse and interpret field data and research material, and disseminate the findings in an appropriate fashion, in order to inform the protection and management of the historic environment, in support of internal and agreed external clients, including Regions and English Heritage Trust, and to agreed quality standards (eg CIfA standards and HE guidance).

Project team management. As needed, scope, identify, recruit and manage relevant project teams required to deliver priority investigations to ensure successful and timely monitoring and delivery of all stages of agreed projects.

Compliance Management. As a project manager, ensure our legal obligations and the expectations set out in our policies are met, including but not limited to health & safety, inclusion equality and diversity, finance, procurement, information security and managing people.

Income generation. Contribute to a programme of grant bids to UK Research Councils as required; contribute to the development of additional income generation streams as agreed with Landscape Archaeology Principal.

Integrated work practice. Contribute to Historic England’s inter-disciplinary strength of expert practitioners able to work in a flexible management environment to meet the complex demands set out above and in support of English Archaeological practice. Maintain effective links with relevant staff across and beyond AIT, in particular with Investigative Science, Regions, Strategy and Listing, and Analytics to ensure delivery of your sector leadership role.

Intelligent Client. Contribute as requested in a timely and constructive manner as intelligent client to quality assurance and delivery of all external HE grants, commissions and tenders related to assessing the character and significance of the historic environment.

R&D. Contribute as appropriate to inter-disciplinary approaches to innovation in support of English archaeological practice.

Capacity-building. Contribute to the development of AIT skills development and Historic England’s wider capacity building, training and guidance programmes as agreed with the Landscape Archaeology Principal.

Maintain a high personal and research profile in archaeology by participating in expert and strategic groups as agreed with the Landscape Archaeology Principal. Help promote the work of the Landscape Archaeology team through professional and public engagement activities and contribute promotion of the team’s work through social media, in particular the successful @HE_Archaeology Twitter feed.

Underpin personal research strength and contribute to the work and reputation of the Landscape Archaeology team by maintaining and developing research reputation and experience, expertise, technical and methodological skills and approaches required for archaeological survey and investigation.

Who we are looking for

• Demonstrable understanding of research and investigation methods and processes coupled with a personal track record of successful research in archaeology.

• Awareness and understanding of British military and industrial archaeology, its key stakeholders and the impacts upon it. .

• Significant experience of successful management of archaeological investigation projects.

• Strong influencing and negotiation skills including an ability to think quickly and mediate complex issues and problems in challenging circumstances.

• Strong skills in analysis, synthesis and evaluation

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 28% contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Interview dates: 10th May 2024

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/gznfg4tz/senior-investigator-military-industrial-heritage.odt