Digital Collections Development and Outreach Manager

Job reference: PSX-032555
Salary: UoM Grade 6 £38,448 - £46,970 pro rata depending on relevant experience
Faculty/Organisational Unit: Professional Services
Location: Oxford Road
Employment type: Permanent
Division/Team: AI and Ideas Adoption
Hours Per Week: 31.5 hours per week
Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 23/11/2026
Contract Duration: Permanent
School/Directorate: The University of Manchester Library

We are seeking a motivated and collaborative individual to join our team as a Digital Collections Development and Outreach Manager. You will lead the development, delivery and outreach of digital collections available on Manchester Digital Collections and Library Digital Collections, supporting their use in teaching, enhancing research visibility and developing civic engagement opportunities.

You will be responsible for:

• Leading the planning and delivery of digital outreach activities to increase engagement of the Library’s digital collections in collaboration with the Exhibition and Public Engagement with Research team, Curatorial team, Engagement team, cultural institutions and research platforms e.g. Creative Manchester and Digital Futures.
• Managing the successful integration of new collections into Library digital platforms (Manchester Digital Collections and Library Digital Collections), prioritising, planning and coordinating operational work, including conservation treatment, imaging, metadata creation and conversion, development requirements and the ingest of researcher-generated content such as transcriptions and translated text.
• Reviewing and improving workflows for the creation and ingest of image files, transcriptions, metadata and other content.
• Managing and developing staff within a team, supporting performance, wellbeing and professional development.

We welcome candidates who bring diverse perspectives, experiences, and approaches to their work.

About You

We encourage applications from individuals with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. You should demonstrate:

Essential Criteria:

- Knowledge of metadata standards and best practice in an academic library, archive, museum or related cultural heritage environment.
- Experience of managing complex projects to tight deadlines within higher education, cultural heritage or a related environment.
- Experience planning and delivering engagement activities.
- Experience of managing copyright and licensing requirements in relation to digital content.
- Ability to work confidently across curatorial, metadata, and technical domains, translating requirements and communicating effectively with both specialist and technical teams to support the development of digital collections and outreach services.

Desirable Criteria:

- Ability to use initiative and judgement, work independently and contribute effectively as part of a team.
- Ability to manage change positively and support continuous improvement in workflows and services.

We value transferable skills and real-world experience as much as formal qualifications.

Our benefits include:

• Generous employer contribution pension
• 29 days annual leave plus bank holidays, along with Christmas closure
• Ride to work and EV car scheme available

For more information, please see https://www.manchester.ac.uk/connect/jobs/benefits-working-here/ . You can also find information on our Flexible and Hybrid working https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/people/current-staff/flexible-and-hybrid-working/ 

We are an open place of enquiry and challenge. We embrace and celebrate difference, diversity and debate, and we pride ourselves on being a place of education, learning and community where we are able, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, express new ideas and explore controversial or unpopular topics and opinions. Find out more from our https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=32905 

Enquiries about the role, shortlisting and interviews
Name: Gail Millin-Chalabi
Email: Gail.Millin-Chalabi@manchester.ac.uk 

General enquiries and administrative support
recruitmentservices.people@manchester.ac.uk 

Technical and job portal support
https://knowledge.jobtrain.co.uk/jobseeker 

Applications close at midnight on the closing date.

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