Role Description

Post: Executive Director of Knowledge & Collections
Directorate: Knowledge & Collections
Accountable to: CEO
Responsible for: Strategic and joint decision making as a member of the Executive Team. Providing ownership and accountability for the implementation of those decisions including supporting the CEO in the creation of corporate plans.
For the specialist areas:Providing strategic leadership for the BFI National Archive and Reuben Library and the UK-wide screen heritage sector, ensuring that the BFI’s collection across the spectrum of the moving image, and those of its partners, are wholly integrated within the wider cultural thinking and digital ambitions of the BFI. This includes skills development & training, curation, industry engagement, national and international leadership, collection care, digital preservation, collection development, developing strategic academic partnerships, creating and sharing data and knowledge assets, and innovating with the aim of making as much of the BFI’s collection – and those of the other national and regional archives – widely accessible in digital form
Location: Flexible/UK-wide as base. Our headquarters and BFI Southbank are in London, and our Archive sites are in Hertfordshire and Warwickshire

Main Aims

This is a key BFI leadership role, with collective responsibility across the Executive Board for co-designing and delivering strategic plans, collectively owning decisions, and role modelling our approach to collaborative working and people leadership.

The Executive Board are responsible for co-designing and delivering the BFI’s corporate plan, including our transformation into a digital-first organisation, embedding a collaborative working culture, and supporting the growth of our income generation.

To provide leadership on setting and delivering strategy for the BFI National Archive and Reuben Library, the world-leading archive of the moving image and one of the UK’s premier national collections. To set and implement the strategic priorities for affordable collections access, interpretation, care and management, along with wider collections data and knowledge assets, with a strong focus on identifying opportunities through innovation and new digital tools.

This role leads on all collections activities via a multifunctional team across:

• Curation
• Collections Management
• Conservation
• Data & Digital Preservation
• Heritage Programmes
• Library & Mediatheque
• Archive Transformation
• Providing leadership and National Lottery support for national & Regional moving image collections

To ensure that diversity & inclusion are centred within all responsibilities and activities across BFI teams.

To work with the CEO and Executive Director colleagues to develop a strategy to increase public access and engagement with the collections through a digital-first approach – which will necessitate a new rights clearance and management strategy – to ensure the long-term growth and transformation of the BFI National Archive and Reuben Library.

To provide leadership at the intellectual and curatorial core of the BFI, ensuring that our approach is representative of worldwide creativity and thinking, and retaining a core focus on telling the story of the art, history and impact of the moving image. To ensure that the BFI’s collection knowledge – technical, filmographic and curatorial – sits at the heart of our programmes to encourage re-appraisal, interpretation, context, and discovery.

In line with the BFI’s Royal Charter objectives, to ensure the BFI continues to collect and preserve a broad range of historical and contemporary moving image, and related special collections and library material, representing film, television and digital media including immersive work and videogames.

Working with the Executive Director of Development & Enterprise to devise income-generating opportunities to maximise income from our collections and expertise.

Responsible for maintaining a robust and effective compliance environment for all operational areas within this remit, ensuring the reputation of the BFI is not put
at risk.

Key Responsibilities

• To support the CEO in developing and delivering the BFI’s strategic plans.
• As a key leadership figure, role modelling our approach to collaborative working and people leadership:
  • Co-leading the organisation: managing change, setting vision and strategy, fostering organisational learning, providing clear direction;
  • Leading yourself: demonstrating ethics and integrity, developing adaptability, innovative, openness to new ideas, listening, entrepreneurial;
  • Leading others: building and maintaining relationships, communicating often and openly, valuing diversity and difference, actively committed to being anti-racist and anti-ableist, developing others, promoting belonging, managing effective teams. Dedicated to listening, engaging, empowering and developing teams and supporting managers to do likewise.
• To demonstrate and implement the BFI’s new values (attached) and purpose across the Directorate. Reviewing progress and supporting new ways of collaborative working, sharing knowledge and good practice.
• To represent the BFI at relevant Government and stakeholder meetings, acting as an ambassador for the BFI and maintaining a professional approach at all times.
• To keep up-to-date with best practice thinking, developments and research and provide advice to the CEO and Board of Governors as appropriate.

Knowledge & Collections

• Define and deliver the strategic priorities for the BFI’s s collections in terms of curation, librarianship, collection development, documentation and data, collections management, digital preservation, archive technology, conservation and restoration, and developing innovative and wide public access. To provide clear leadership to the expert teams responsible for the development and care of the BFI’s collections for the benefit of current and future audiences.
• Be the external, strategic face of BFI’s collections and knowledge, nationally and internationally. Represent the BFI, at Government level, speaking at key conferences and events, film festivals, and through active membership and participation in sector-leading organisations such as FIAF and the National Museum Directors Council.
• Working with the Executive Directors of Public Programmes & Audiences and Technology & Transformation to develop products and services to ensure that the collections and its teams are as widely accessible as possible, including to new and more diverse audiences, through the use of expertise and knowledge assets within the Knowledge and Collections directorate.
• Lead on the long-term transformation of the collection including external partnerships, and strategies for how the BFI’s collections might be better accessed as a public space and centre of knowledge – past, present and future.
• Lead and manage the Knowledge & Collections directorate, ensuring that policies, processes and practices are in place to ensure long term collection preservation, safety, and accessibility, and that public national collection services are delivered to the highest quality and best possible value while maintaining collections integrity.
• To develop and implement a strategy for the future of the BFI’s collections including advocacy, policy, acquisition and stakeholder management, taking into account copyright (and advocating for changes to law) where , legal compliance and change, and fundraising considerations, within a 10 year horizon which encompasses new forms of interpretation and access.
• Developing innovative programmes of access to the BFI National Archive and Reuben Library, utilising all platforms; developing innovative collections interpretation, digitisation and access programmes to create new resources and opportunities for diverse audiences across the UK to engage with the BFI’s collections, including creative re-use.
• Continue to build upon the BFI National Archive’s international reputation for digital innovation in access, preservation, conservation and restoration, storage etc. developing new activities and R&D as part of BFI’s strategic commitment to 21st century Archive transformation.
• Ensure curatorial and collections interpretation, expertise and knowledge are part of the audiences and public programme output for the widest possible public benefit, working with the Director of Public Programme and Audiences.
• Develop a strategy for Broadcast collaborations with independent production companies and commissioners to develop broadcast propositions that tell new stories about film & TV and more prominently showcase the work of the BFI National Archive.
• Develop people strategies to home-grow new talent, creating new pathways into the collections including for people from under represented backgrounds who would not otherwise recognise those career opportunities; diversify opportunities to join Knowledge and Collections and develop strategies for succession planning.
• Actively lead and develop income-generating opportunities deriving from collections, maintaining current activities (such as footage sales, storage, donor access, data provision, affordable digital access). Working with the Director of Development and Enterprise identifying opportunities for sponsorship, and other new income possibilities.
• Lead the BFI as strategic lead body for screen heritage across the UK, engaging with innovation in public access and collections care, through the BFI’s National Lottery funding relationship and wider collaborative initiatives with regional and national film archives, and beyond.
• Lead on collection development activity for born digital, analogue, and paper-based moving image, special collections and library materials, maintaining existing collection strengths and building new ones. Enable current and long-term relationships to diversify the collections and fully represent the UK. Evaluate the potential and requirements for collecting immersive and interactive works, including funding, partnerships and R&D.
• As the National Television Archive (by statute), maintain and develop strategic relationships with Public Service Broadcasters and Ofcom, ensure ongoing work and responsibilities are delivered including the current multi-year special funded programme of mass digitisation, and financial support and Ofcom/PSB collaboration continues. Actively engage with building new streaming services relationships in conjunction with CEO and DCEO in aid of collection development and financial sponsorship.
• Working with the CEO and Executive colleagues to engage the UK screen industries with the work of the BFI National Archive, and develop sector-wide support.
• Lead on digital and physical preservation and conservation of the BFI’s collections through the provision of fit-for-purpose storage, appropriate collections management and preservation practices, and delivery of agreed conservation, restoration and conservation science projects in support of the cultural programme, collection care, and wider collections access.
• Devise and lead funded heritage programmes. Complete the multi-strand Heritage 2022 preservation-led programme, negotiate project changes where required, and develop further future major funded programmes involving collections and knowledge assets. Share the gold standard project management tools used in the heritage programmes to develop project management knowledge and capability as a management tool across the BFI.
• Enable the creation and delivery of academic and technological research and partnership opportunities in support of discovery, access, knowledge, collecting, and preservation.
• Provide strategic direction for the development and management of the complex analogue and digital technology ecosystem central to BFI collections stewardship. Oversight of teams responsible for the Archive’s technology lifecycle – procurement, deployment, research and development, maintenance, refresh – to ensure the collections technology estate delivers the requirements for access, acquisition, digitisation, preservation and documentation.
• Ensure the collections and relevant teams align with, and contribute to, ongoing developments and debates concerning UK National Collections sector cultural property guidance, laws, ethics and best practice standards.
• Lead the BFI National Archive’s role as the national centre for storage and preservation of film, including its current physical storage provision to the wider cultural collections sector, and potential digital opportunities.
• Lead on the development and implementation of system integration, practices, standards and protocols to promote effective data sharing, and technical interoperability across the cultural programme and take a strategic role in embedding information management principles across the whole BFI, with particular focus on digital projects.

General

• To lead and inspire all teams and team members within the Directorate, within a collaborative culture ensuring that they are informed, engaged, appraised and professionally developed.
• To ensure the effective management of data and information for all responsible areas, meeting all statutory requirements such as GDPR.
• To carry out all responsibilities in a way that supports BFI values and promotes our desire to become a consciously inclusive employer of choice. To support us in delivering our all our commitments to inclusivity, especially our identified areas of greatest under-representation, race equality and disability equality.
• To be aware of and act in accordance with the BFI’s environmental sustainability plans and approach at all times.
• The post holder must at all times carry out their responsibilities with due regard to the BFI’s Policies and Procedures.
• To undertake any other duties that may be reasonably required.

Salary and benefits

Salary: £120,000 plus benefits

Senior salaries are reviewed annually by the BFI Board’s Remuneration Committee

At the BFI we offer a wide range of benefits to our employees including:

• BFI pension scheme
• 28-33 days paid annual leave (excluding Bank Holidays) Support for working families: contribution to childcare costs; childcare vouchers; enhanced maternity,4 weeks paid parental leave and enhanced shared parental pay
• We promote and support flexible working and are UK wide
• Our Employee Assistance Programme provides advice and support for employees and their close family members across all life events
• Free tickets to BFI Southbank screenings and events plus access to other BFI Events and Film Festivals (inc, the BFI London Film Festival and BFI FLARE)

Plus a range of benefits including season ticket and computer purchase loans, Ride to Work Scheme, £100 towards annual Health Club Membership, discounts on BFI merchandise and at our on-site food and beverage outlets.

Person Specification
How to Apply and Timetable