Northstowe Heritage Engagement Officer

Cambridgeshire is one of the fastest growing counties in the UK, with extensive current and planned new towns and associated infrastructure. Through the archaeological programmes that are part of this development, the council believes in using heritage and archaeology to help develop a connection between new and existing communities. This role focusses on the heritage and stories of Northstowe new town and the A14 trunk road upgrade. Supported by National highways and Homes England, we are opening a heritage exhibition space in the secondary school to display the objects and stories from these projects alongside those of the local community. This role will be responsible for that space, and will also use the wider collections to engage with residents. Although this role is to drive heritage engagement for the short term, we are hoping to produce a heritage strategy that identifies longer term plans and opportunities for the that shape heritage in this new community for the future., Your main responsibility will be to develop and deliver heritage engagement across Northstowe, You will work with the local community, council officers, heritage interests and especially the Northstowe Learning Community. This will include making use of the county's archaeological collections, local spaces and heritage assets. A key asset is the exhibition space, and you will be expected to maintain/manage that space, training and using volunteers to assist with its operation. You will work with the Northstowe Heritage Stakeholder Group and as part of the council's Historic Environment Team, be a part of a wider archaeological service., Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

You will have a background in archaeology, museums and/or community engagement, with expertise/experience in developing and delivering heritage community programmes. Experience with archaeological collections would be helpful, but more important is your ability to use physical objects to tell engaging and entertaining stories to all age groups. A key partner is the Northstowe Learning Community, so experience within an educational environment would be beneficial.

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes