About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 900 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.

We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

Development Group generates philanthropic and sponsorship income to help us create a Natural History Museum for the future – investing in capital development, attaining vital acquisitions for the collection, transforming our galleries, developing innovative exhibitions and undertaking ground-breaking scientific research on issues that affect us all.

The Museum is looking for an ambitious and self-motivated individual for the role of Legacy Manager. The role will be key in securing the future of the Museum for years to come, building on and delivering a comprehensive legacy strategy, creating compelling marketing campaigns, and building meaningful relationships with legacy supporters.

Working alongside an approachable and highly successful Philanthropy team, reporting into the Senior Philanthropy Manager (HNWI), the role will be leading and delivering our legacy programme, building on and driving forward our legacy strategy. You will develop relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels to deliver the legacy strategy, as well as promote legacy giving to a wide audience and cultivating new legators. The role will also steward existing legators, developing relationships and planning events to steward and cultivate. You will also work closely with a Philanthropy Executive to manage legacy administration and ensure best practice stewardship.

About you

The appointed person will have extensive experience in legacy fundraising and marketing, and successfully soliciting legacy pledges and a proven ability to develop strategy, manage budgets and deliver results. They will have exceptional written and oral communication skills, with an ability to convey detailed information in a concise and engaging manner and be able to establish productive relationships with a variety of funders, prospects and colleagues. This person must be able to work proactively and constructively with colleagues to develop high-quality project proposals and act as an ambassador for the Natural History Museum amongst a range of high-profile external contacts. Finally, they will possess exceptional attention to detail and organisational skills and have an ability to prioritise and meet regular deadlines whilst working under pressure.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here

What we offer

• 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
• Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
• Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
• Life insurance
• Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
• Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
• We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
• Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit https://www.cssc.co.uk
• Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in-house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi

Hybrid working

We are working towards a vision where both people and planet thrive, and nothing gives a greater connection with this, than seeing first-hand, the visitors, scientific research and collections that all of our work is inspired by and working side by side with the teams delivering the visitor experience and events. We also recognise the benefits and flexibility that hybrid working brings. We operate a hybrid working model that requires regular, weekly attendance for this role, with the precise pattern of days on site and worked from home to be agreed with your manager.

How to apply

If this sounds like you, please apply below by clicking on Apply for job.

Please note that as part of our commitment to anonymised shortlisting, panels do not view CVs during the recruitment process. If you choose to upload your CV, our system will automatically pull information from your CV into our application form. We advise you to double-check your application form data before submitting as the tool may interpret CVs differently.

Closing date: 23:59 on 31 August 2025

Interviews expected: w/c 15 September 2025

Please note that this role does not qualify for Museum sponsorship so the successful postholder will need to have a valid right to work in the UK at the point of offer.