Senior Conservator

The Heritage Conservation Centre (HCC) is an institution of the National Heritage Board (NHB) and supports the collecting and display activities of 12 institutions under NHB and the Visual Arts Cluster. HCC ‘s main mission is to care for the National Collection of Singapore, facilitate its current and future access and promote its use while enhancing its cultural significance. HCC is located in a purpose-built facility that serves as the centralised storage and conservation labs for the National Collection of Singapore.

Currently, the Conservation Services department at HCC comprises 6 conservation specializations organised in sections: Inorganic Objects, Organic Objects, Paintings, Paper, Textiles, and Conservation Science. HCC is now recruiting a Senior Conservator to lead the Paintings conservation section.

**Key Responsibilities & Duties**

**Management and supervisory functions**

As the Head of the Section, you will report to the Chief Conservator and is expected to:

- Set the team direction in alignment with the priorities defined at department and institution levels while overseeing the day-to-day operations of the section.
- Manage section staffing, including the selection, oversight and evaluation of conservators and interns.
- Supervise the section, mentoring and training of staff to reinforce constructive work behaviour and performance. This requires nurturing staff development while working in close collaboration with relevant departments of the NHB to identify individual and sectional training needs.
- Establish and monitor yearly work plans and administer the budget allocated to the section, according to HCC and NHB procedures and in concertation with the other Heads of conservation Section and the Chief Conservator.
- Support Chief Conservator and contribute to manage HCC Conservation Department and facilitate cross-departmental/museum/institution/divisional work while closely working with the other Heads of Sections and/or leaders of the relevant working groups.
- Assist HCC Director and its senior managers to manage HCC, as and when required.
- Represents HCC when collaborating and/or negotiating with other institutions while advancing its reputation as a leader on conservation matters, locally, regionally and internationally.

**Conservation related functions**
- Oversee the collection care support and the conservation treatments undertaken by the section, provide advice on artefact/artwork treatment options, and oversee sampling, examination, and materials analyses undertaken by conservators in the team and other stakeholders.
- Oversee that the establishment of conservation guidelines and standards of practice are adequately based on current ethics and principles and that their implementation are timely and adequately implemented to reach holistic approach to collections care and access within allocated resources.
- Supervise and drive research activities in the section.While working with the other Conservation Services Managers and relevant stakeholders, you are expected to set the sectional research priorities and to contribute to formulate an active, influential, and coherent program of research for the conservation department in accordance with the collection needs, its expected use, the overall institutional, geographical, and climatic context of HCC and Singapore alongside the urgency to reduce energy consumption considering the global climate crisis.
- Promote and supervise the outreach activity of the section while working in close collaboration with the other Conservation Services Managers and relevant stakeholders to consolidate the professional capability in conservation and collection care - inside and outside of HCC and at local, regional and international levels.
- As required,
- provide expert opinion about the condition of proposed acquisitions.
- manage exhibition projects, liaising between stakeholders to cover

conservation-related and administrative aspects of exhibition

preparations, including preventive conservation as necessary;
- provide advice on collection display methods and maintenance of

collections storage facilities to staff at museums/institutions, the HCC

Collections Management department, and other stakeholders;
- identify, formulate, and execute complex interventive conservation

projects and treatments on artworks and artefacts from the National

Collection while working with all relevant stakeholders and according to

HCC and NHB procedures.
- implement and execute documentation and knowledge management

processes to ensure that all conservation-related documentation is

comprehensive and includes all relevant sources; well-captured and

recorded; adequately accessible and properly preserved.
- contribute to and/or conduct conservation research projects to enhance

collection knowledge and artefact significance, and/or support its

current and future access & use. Whenever relevant and possible,

initiate collaborations and build partnerships