Art Gallery jobs

Job Title: Art Gallery Sales Assistant – Contemporary Art

Location: Burford, Oxfordshire, UK
Salary: £30,000 base salary + commission.
Job Type: Full-time or Part-time, Permanent (Includes regular weekend work)

About Us

We are a small, independent contemporary art gallery group with beautiful spaces across The Cotswolds, Cornwall, and Devon. We represent an exciting, curated portfolio of established and emerging contemporary artists, including painters, sculptors, and ceramicists.

Our galleries are warm, welcoming and we encourage casual holiday footfall into lifelong collectors, and we are looking for a charismatic, sales-driven Gallery Sales & Admin Assistant to join our close-knit team.

The Role

This is a hands-on, highly varied role in a small business environment. You won't just be sitting behind a desk—you will be the face of the gallery, driving revenue, and helping to curate a beautiful space, whilst working alongside and supporting the Burford manager.

What you’ll do day-to-day:

• Drive Sales: Greet visitors, share the stories behind our artists, and confidently close artwork sales.
• Build Relationships: Proactively follow up with clients who browsed while on holiday, managing remote sales via phone, email, and digital portfolios.
• Gallery Curation: Assist with monthly exhibition changeovers.
• Logistics & Admin: Wrap and pack artwork securely for transit, manage stock inventory, share delivery run details with our logistics manager and keep our CRM system up to date.
• ART Fairs: Admin preparation for Burford artists. Fair attendance considered after the probationperiod.

What We Are Looking For

The Natural Communicator: You are warm, authentic, and can talk about contemporary art in a down-to-earth, engaging way, with a polished, consultative, and professional approach.

• Sales Motivation: You are comfortable working toward financial targets and genuinely motivated by a commission structure.
• Prior experience in a gallery, auction house, art fair or arts organisation.
• Digital Literacy: Comfortable using basic tech (experience with Artlogic, or artsy is a massive bonus).

· Organizational Abilities: Excellent multitasking, time management skills and ability to treat sensitive information with appropriate discretion.

· Logistics: Understanding of logistics, international shipping, Vat and customs implications.

· Flexibility: Availability to work weekends or evenings for special exhibitions and events

Desireable:

· Monitor and research global and regional art markets, and assist in implementing sales strategies

· Track competitor galleries, auction house results, and secondary market activity

· Monitor market changes and shifts in collector demand and preferences, and report relevant findings to the team.

· Attend gallery and museum exhibitions and art world events to maintain visibility and deepen industry knowledge, where feasible.

· Collaborate with other department heads to ensure smooth operations and harmonious working methods across teams

Benefits

• Competitive base salary + an excellent, uncapped commission structure.
• Generous staff discount on artwork purchases.
• Hands-on mentorship from the Gallery Manager and Director in all aspects of the commercial art world.
• Beautiful working environment in a stunning, creative location.

Working Hours

· Gallery opening hours are 9.30 – 5.30 Monday – Saturday and 10am -5pm on Sundays.

·

To Apply

If you have a passion for contemporary art, very strong supportive administration skills and a track record of closing sales in a premium environment, we want to hear from you. Please submit your CV along with a short cover note telling us about your favourite contemporary artist or a memorable sales experience.

Pay: £25,420.00-£40,251.02 per year

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Free parking
• Store discount

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Burford, Oxfordshire: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (preferred)

Education:

• Bachelor's (required)

Experience:

• Gallery: 1 year (required)
• Art world: 3 years (required)
• Sales: 1 year (required)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Location:

• Burford, Oxfordshire (required)

Work Location: In person