58/2025 Strategic Lead for Collection Development and Senior Scientist (f/m/d)

58/2025 Strategic Lead for Collection Development and Senior Scientist (f/m/d)

Vacancy

Our Mission: Discovering and describing life and earth - with people, through dialogue.

The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) is an excellent and integrated research museum of the Leibniz Association with an international reputation and globally networked research infrastructure. It is active in three closely interlinked fields: collection-based research, collection development and cataloguing, and research-based public and educational work. Over the next ten years, the Museum für Naturkunde will realise its plan for the future. New laboratories and jobs for cutting‑edge research will be created. At the same time, one of the world’s most comprehensive natural history collections with over 30 million objects will be housed in modern collection buildings and completely digitised in the process. The implementation of the Future Plan, funded with a total of 660 million euros from the Federal Government and the State of Berlin, will only succeed with strong interdisciplinary national and international partners.

Become part of our team as

Position: Strategic Lead for Collection Development and Senior Scientist (f/m/d)

Work schedule: Full-time

Duration: at the earliest possible date; limited to 24 months (we aim to extend the term)

Salary Level: E 14 TV‑L

Code: 58/2025

Your tasks

• Conception and strategic development of the collection infrastructure at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
• Further development of programmatic research with a focus on a future‑oriented physical‑digital object collection
• Strategic application, realisation (as principal investigator), and handling of national and international third‑party funded projects

Your profile

• Completed scientific university degree (preferably biology or paleontology) and doctorate in a natural science discipline
• Comprehensive experience in working with natural science research collections
• Comprehensive knowledge and several years of proven experience in working with natural science collections and their standards of storage, conservation and further development
• Good networking with national and international initiatives and working groups, particularly in the field of physical object collections
• Experience in the creation, further development and implementation of concept papers, guidelines and strategies for processes in physical‑digital collections
• Experience in applying for, conducting and managing national and international third‑party funded projects
• Very good project steering, project and personnel management skills
• Proven leadership qualities
• Very good presentation skills and experience in presenting at scientific events
• Proven scientific publication activity
• Experience of working at non‑university research institutions advantageous
• Very good communication skills in English and German

We offer you

• Exciting working environment in an attractive research museum with varied tasks in a dynamic and future‑orientated market
• Very good public transport connections in the centre of Berlin
• Extensive further training opportunities on a personal and professional level
• Flexible working hours and a wide range of options for balancing work and family life (e.g. flexi‑time or individual part‑time models)
• Depending on the job, mobile working is possible for up to 60 % of individual working hours
• Remuneration according to TV‑L with company pension scheme (VBL), special annual payment and capital‑forming benefits
• Employer subsidy for the “VBB Firmenticket” (company ticket) or “Deutschlandticket Job” (Germany ticket job)
• Employee events, company health management and German and English language courses
• 30 days’ holiday plus 24 December and 31 December off

Special Notes

In support of equal rights applications from qualified women are particularly welcome. Handicapped individuals will be given preference in cases of identical qualifications.

We look forward to receiving your application with the usual documents (cover letter, curriculum vitae, certificates) by , preferably via our online application portal.

For information on the application procedure, please contact

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Family Policy: The Museum für Naturkunde has set itself the goal of promoting a work‑life balance and has been awarded the certificate berufundfamilie audit of berufundfamilie gGmbH — an initiative of the Hertie Foundation. Further information can be found under: