xr creative director jobs

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 1100 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

The Natural History Museum is seeking an exceptional Head of Design to lead the creative vision and design delivery of the NHM’s Design Studio. This is a senior leadership role for a creative leader who can balance strategic vision with design resolution, delivering this through multiple outputs including exhibitions, galleries, public space of the museum and graphics in support of the Museum’s strategy.

The Head of Design will champion high quality design (both 3D and 2D) supporting a variety of audiences to engage with the Museum. They will play a key role in the successful delivery of the Museum’s ambitious plans across multiple strategic areas, influencing the application of sophisticated design approaches that build brand, showcases the Museum’s collections and science and builds reputation with external stakeholders.

The Head of Design will lead an internal Design Studio and commission external designers, providing strong design leadership to deliver coherent approaches across all programmes of engagement and acting as guardian for the Museum's brand.

About you

You will be an experienced leader combining creative rigour and design ambition who can inspire teams, shape creative direction, and deliver exceptional visitor experiences through design.

You will have extensive experience of leading projects that encompass 3D and 2D design across a range of outputs including graphics, and spatial design for cultural spaces. Experience of working with collections, heritage spaces, shaping outputs for audiences and delivering designs for galleries, exhibitions and public spaces is an advantage.

Your experience of leading and managing design teams will have resulted in a culture of development, high performance and team cohesion, with a clear design direction and ethos. You will bring an innovative and flexible approach to leading teams and projects which embeds sustainability, accessibility and design excellence.

Your ability to communicate and influence will have enabled you and your team to deliver outstanding experiences and to effectively advocate for design at all levels, and across all of its touch points.

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.

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. For this role the expectation will be a minimum of 3 days a week on site.

How to apply

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 1 January 2026

Interviews expected: In-person interviews on 12 January 2026.

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.