Senior Project Manager – National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh
Full-time and Fixed Term (3 years)
Salary £61,688 – £71,542 per annum
Plus generous benefits package
Hybrid / flexible working
About the role
We have a rare opportunity to join the team delivering The Art Works, one of the National Galleries of Scotland’s most significant capital projects and a major investment in the future of Scotland’s national art collection.
We are looking for an experienced Senior Project Manager who can operate confidently at both strategic and operational levels. As part of the project governance structure, this role will undertake project director duties for construction, fit-out, and move-in elements of the project. You will bring strong project, financial and commercial acumen, with the judgement to manage risk, resolve issues, drive change and maintain focus on programme, cost, quality and outcomes.
Located in North Edinburgh as part of the wider Granton Waterfront development, The Art Works will create a new, free-to-visit experience and purpose-built home for more than 130,000 works of art, transforming how the national collection is cared for, researched, shared and accessed. Designed to Passivhaus principles, the project will also deliver important environmental, social and economic benefits for North Edinburgh and beyond. Having reached the end of RIBA Stage 4, the project is entering a critical phase, with enabling works planned to start before the end of 2026 and the main contractor due to be appointed for RIBA Stage 5 and the commencement of construction.
As Senior Project Manager, you will lead the day-to-day delivery of The Art Works through on-site enabling works, construction, handover, fit-out, move-in and readiness for occupation. You will provide strong client-side leadership across this complex and high -profile programme. Leading and coordinating multidisciplinary internal and external teams, you will work with professional advisers, the design team, contractors and colleagues across the organisation to ensure the project is delivered safely, successfully and in line with its objectives.
You must have a strong understanding of governance, value for money and compliance public-sector requirements. You will be confident providing direction through matrix management, bringing together different areas of expertise and overseeing external consultants and contractors.
An engaging and credible Senior Project Manager, you will build trust and strong relationships across the organisation and with a diverse range of stakeholders. You will communicate with clarity and confidence, providing concise advice and recommendations to senior leaders and Board members, and bringing people together to achieve shared outcomes.
This is an opportunity to play a leading role in delivering a project that will have a lasting impact on how Scotland’s national art collection is cared for and shared.
The difference you’ll make
Reporting to the Director – Major Capital Programme your responsibilities will include but not be limited to:
- Providing leadership of multidisciplinary internal and external teams.
- Leading on first-stage resolution of any issues and/or conflicting priorities. You will initiate and progress formal change control as and when appropriate, ensure timely resolution and successful outcomes in line with the brief, programme and budget.
- Intervening and providing direction to mitigate risk, ensuring timely corrective action and escalation through project governance structure when appropriate.
- Driving proactive budget planning and management, financial reporting, public sector compliant procurement and reporting.
- Undertaking report writing, including recommendations, presenting papers and doing presentations (for example to the Extended Leadership Team, Leadership Team and at Board level).
- Chairing Project and Working Group meetings including defining agendas and papers to achieve outcomes.
- Presenting at other internal and external meetings as and when required.
- Working with the Learning & Engagement team including participating in relevant community engagement activities.
- Undertaking general administrative duties related to The Art Works project.
Who we are looking for
To succeed in this role, you’ll bring significant experience of leading the client-side delivery of complex, high-profile capital projects, together with the commercial, financial and leadership skills to operate confidently in a public-sector environment. You will also need the following range of knowledge, skills, and experience:
- A demonstrable track-record of successfully leading day-to-day delivery of major capital projects of a comparable scale and visibility through construction stage, move-in activities and readiness for occupation, including coordinating handover from contract or to the in-house Estates and Operations teams.
- A degree and/or extensive experience in a built environment-related discipline, together with a professional chartered qualification in a built environment-related discipline (e.g. RIAS, RICS, CIOB, APM).
- Strong knowledge and practical experience of public-sector procurement, governance, assurance, reporting requirements including obtaining and managing external technical and legal expertise where required.
- Excellent financial and commercial acumen, with experience managing significant project budgets within delegated limits. Providing robust financial management of project budget management and reporting.
- Experience working with JCT and/or NEC contracts and leading on negotiations to resolve contractual issues.
- Leading project risk management, reporting and escalation of risk, including active use of risk registers.
- Highly effective management ability for client-side day-to-day project deliverables, including confidence in chairing client-side meetings, change control during construction, handover, defects management, ‘pack and move’, fit-out, and readiness to occupy.
- Proven ability to lead and influence multidisciplinary teams and multiple internal and external stakeholders, including through matrix management to achieve project deliverables.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to provide clear, concise advice, reports and recommendations to senior leaders and Board members.
- Proven ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on operational project delivery, taking ownership of issues and driving them through to resolution.
- Experience of chairing client-side project and working group meetings, setting clear agendas and driving actions and decisions.
It would also be great if you have:
- Experience delivering projects with strong sustainability, social value, community and economic outcomes.
- Knowledge of Scottish Government Gateway Review Assurance process.
We are National Galleries of Scotland
Our three Edinburgh galleries are the National, Modern and Portrait. We house and look after Scotland’s amazing world-class art collection – one of the finest in the world. Step inside and explore treasures from Botticelli and Titian to the very best modern art to contemporary portraits of pop culture icons. And, as you’d expect, the world’s greatest collection of Scottish art, our national collection. We also have an outstanding collection of Western art from the late Middle Ages to the present day.
We’re a space for thinking, dreaming, doing, and playing. Soak up the art. Meet friends in the cafés. Have a family picnic surrounded by the sculptures in the Modern grounds. Be inspired by our amazing art films. Choose your own experience. There is no one way to enjoy Scotland’s national collection. We are yours to discover.
As well as displaying our art at our three Edinburgh sites, we also share it through an active programme of partnership across Scotland, the rest of the UK and abroad, as well as online.
We conserve and research our collections and we are committed to reaching the widest possible audience through our ambitious plans. Visitor numbers to our sites in Edinburgh totalled 2. 6m visitors in 2025.
What’s important to us
We make art work for everyone. That’s our purpose and it drives everything we do. This is an exciting time for us, as we move forward with our engaging strategic vision: Art for Scotland: Inspiration for the World.
We’re putting our audience at the heart of what we do. Matching Scotland’s rich collection, our expertise and creativity with the needs and wants of our visitors. Finding new ways to connect with more people and create an innovative, inclusive organisation that can meet the challenges of our ever-evolving world.
We’re committed to looking at how we operate as well as how we engage our audiences. We will play our part in tackling the Climate Emergency, and we’re embedding Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in the way we work. We want everyone to feel a sense of belonging and freedom to be themselves at work or at play with us.
What’s on offer for you
Our colleagues will tell you great things about working here. We aim to ensure the National Galleries of Scotland is a great place to work, where our people thrive in a culture where we are trusted, empowered, and engaged to achieve our true potential. We offer a range of benefits to promote healthy working lifestyles for all our colleagues. Details specific to this role are:
Salary £61,688 – £71,542 per annum. Starting salaries will depend on experience.
Hours 35 hours per week, excluding a one-hour unpaid lunch break each day Monday to Friday. We’re also committed to supporting flexible working options for everyone which includes flexible working, working remotely and flexitime policies.
Holidays When you first join, you’ll get 36.5 days holidays per year (including public and privilege holidays). After 5 years your annual leave will increase to 41.5 days.
Where you’ll be based
You will be based at Modern One, 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR where free car parking is available on site. However, you’ll work across all of our Galleries based in the heart of Edinburgh – the National, Portrait, Modern (One and Two) and Granton.
Pension We are a Civil Service Pension employer. You get to choose if you want a defined benefit or stakeholder pension. The benefits of joining the scheme include generous employer contributions to your future pension, life assurance, and options to increase your pension. If you join the alpha Civil Service pension scheme our contribution will be 28.97% for this role.
Other benefits
Family friendly working policies, free or discounted entry to various visitor attractions, staff discount at our shops and cafés, Cycle to Work Scheme, wellbeing support and services including our Employee Assistance Programme.
The closing date for completed applications is 12 noon on Monday, 07 September 2026.
Interviews are likely to take place week commencing 21 September 2026.
Please note that the successful candidate will be subject to Basic Disclosure Scotland security clearance.