The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous, collections-based scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding collections as well as its expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the world. It has two main botanic garden sites: Kew Gardens in south-west London, a top London visitor attraction and UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Wakehurst in West Sussex, our wild botanic garden which is home to the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) where this role is based.

The MSB is the world’s most biodiverse seed collection comprised of over 2.4 billion seeds from across the planet and has a long history of researching and publishing on seed traits. The Head of Seed Collections is a newly-created role that will focus on developing and implementing long-term strategy and business planning for the MSB in collaboration with Kew Science’s leadership team and external collaborators. This is a high profile role leading MSB’s Partnership, Seed Collections and Germination teams, setting clear objectives, building capability and capacity, as well as promoting the seed collections locally, nationally and internationally.

This is a unique opportunity to take on a leadership role within an internationally-renowned research institution. You will bring knowledge and experience of managing living seed or non-human biobank collections , as well as substantial experience of successfully developing and implementing strategy to deliver organisational goals. Likewise, you will have a track record of forging significant strategic links across a broad and complex network of stakeholders across the world.

Remuneration: up to £80,000

Location: Based at Wakehurst, Sussex with regular travel required including to sites in South West London and Reading. There will be the option of regular home working, subject to operational requirements.

Closing date: 23:55 GMT Sunday 18th August 2024

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The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections.

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Head of Seed Collections