Careers

We are a small team of people who enjoy working collaboratively to meet the aims of the Trust.

Our current vacancies are listed below.

Heritage Curator

The NESPT have applied for Development Phase funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to develop their plans for a heritage building project called “The Marbles Creative Hub” in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire.  This project involves two historic buildings – the Marble Warehouse and Marble Workshop located at the Old Harbour in Portsoy, and their repair and conversion into a Creative Hub for artists and craftspeople. The Marble Warehouse, or Corf House, is category A listed. It was designed by John Adam and built in 1765. The Marble Workshop dates from the mid eighteenth century and is category B listed.  

Project Information

The late Tom Burnett-Stuart passed away in January 2020. In his will he left the NESPT six historic buildings at the Old Harbour in Portsoy, including the Marble Warehouse and the Marble Workshop. 

Tom bought the Marble Workshop in 1961 as a base for his business making and selling items made from Portsoy Marble. It was originally built as housing but was subsequently adapted as a granary and then as a buoy factory. Tom had his office on the upper floor. He bought the Marble Warehouse in 1967 and opened the Portsoy Marble Shop on the lower ground floor in 1984. The Portsoy Pottery opened on the upper ground floor in 1971 and closed in 2020. The upper floors are used as storage. 

The Marble Warehouse and Workshop contain hundreds of items collected by Tom, ranging from 20^th century household items to older items such as the Portsoy Railway Station sign, an early Daisy Hoover and numerus Thone chairs and theatre seats. The Workshop also contains machinery, equipment, large quantities of Portsoy marble (from its raw state through to items ready for sale), and numerus other stones, crystals and fossils.

Requirements

NESPT require a suitably qualified and experienced independent Heritage Curator to oversee the sorting, cataloguing, moving and, in some cases disposal, of the contents of the Marble Workshop and Warehouse. Priority will be given to emptying the Warehouse first with work progressing to the Workshop if time/budget allows. Support will be provided to assist with lifting, carrying and sorting of objects by an existing staff member. Objects will be moved from the Warehouse and Workshop into the adjacent Granary building for sorting and cataloguing.

Full PPE will be provided together with necessary IT equipment as well as access to suitable welfare facilities and workspace.

The appointed consultant should be familiar with standards of care and handling of both historic and contemporary items, and ideally an interest in and knowledge of 18^th to 20^th century social history to be able to advise NESPT of items that are historically or socially important both to Portsoy’s heritage and more widely, items that hold no historic or financial value and could be disposed of, and items suitable for potential repair and display should further funding permit.

The appointed consultant will also be required to take part in a number of outreach events involving the community to share findings and to engage with people who once worked in the Warehouse and Workshop.

The appointed consultant must meet the following criteria:

• Degree (or equivalent experience) in a subject discipline relevant to a curator role within the heritage sector.

• IT literate with proficiency in MS Excel and Word, experience of MS 365, good keyboard skills and database experience: entry, edit and reporting and production of spreadsheets.
• Good organisational and time management skills, proven ability to work unsupervised, to deal with tasks with consistent accuracy, to work well under pressure and to meet deadlines.
• Ability to follow processes and procedures with care, precision and attention to detail, to plan and prioritise effectively, to meet targets and to manage a busy workload.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Ability to lift and move moderate weights throughout a working day to work in a standing position for part of the day, to use stairs and ladders, and to utilise trolleys and industrial vacuum cleaner (additional help will be provided by an NESPT staff member).

• Experience of working on at least two relevant cataloguing/curatorial projects.
• Line management experience. This role would involve working with a member of NESPT staff as well as volunteers, who would be there to assist in moving items and cataloguing under the Heritage Curator’s guidance.

Fee

It is estimated that the work will require three days a week for six months to complete. The position would be based in Portsoy, but the with the flexibility for homeworking to suit requirements of the role as the project progresses with agreement of the NESPT Project Director.  A maximum budget of £19,000 is available made possible by a grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund.

Project Timetable

The estimated timetable is detailed below but may be subject to change. It is anticipated that interviews will be held in person.

Brief issued	20 November 2025
Application deadline	12 noon, Monday 8 December 2025
Interviews (in person)	Week of 15 December 2025
Appointment of consultant	19 December 2025
Project Start	2 February 2026
Project Completion	End August 2026

How to apply

Please submit your CV along with cover letter detailing how you meet the criteria above, your suitability for the role and examples of other projects you have worked on by email to NESPT Project Director Paul Higson info@nespt.org by 12 noon, Monday 8 December.

Should you wish to visit Portsoy before submitting your proposal or for an informal discussion on the job role, please contact Paul Higson by email for phone 07831 580165.