Vacancy – ORCA Senior Projects Manager

cancy at the UHI Archaeology Institute is a fantastic opportunity to get involved in the world-renowned archaeology of Orkney and northern Scotland.
ORCA Logo

A job vacancy at the UHI Archaeology Institute is a fantastic opportunity to get involved in the world-renowned archaeology of Orkney and northern Scotland.

The Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) is the UHI Archaeology Institute’s archaeological projects unit and part of Orkney Islands Council. Based at Orkney College UHI, in Kirkwall, ORCA is highly active and provides a wide range of land-based and marine archaeological services across Scotland’s Highlands and Islands and beyond.

We are looking for applications to the post of Senior Project Manager at the busy unit. So, if you are suitably qualified and experienced, we’d be delighted to hear from you.

School pupils involved in ORCA outreach excavation in the heart of historic Kirkwall. (ORCA)

The successful applicant will be responsible for managing ORCA’s commercial, outreach and grant-funded activity, delivering archaeological contract services – from tendering and project initiation to dissemination.

They will be able to promote ORCA and extend the current client base and be responsible for ORCA’s staff, in all aspects of their work and professional development and their involvement in a wide variety of archaeological projects. The successful applicant will also be responsible for overseeing ORCA’s systems and procedures, working with the team to identify where possible improvements could be made.

ORCA’s highly motivated staff have years of experience in all types of archaeological work throughout Britain and abroad, but particularly in and around Orkney and the Highlands and Islands. All team members are suitably qualified professionals with a variety of academic qualifications at various levels.

Excavation under way at the Burn of Swartigill, Caithness. (ORCA)

ORCA’s current active portfolio includes the provision historic environment scoping documents, EIAs, baseline assessments, desk-based assessments, walkover surveys, geophysical surveys, excavations and watching briefs, post-excavation programmes to publication, collaborative community projects, and involvement in grant-funded research projects from local to international levels.

This is a truly exciting opportunity to develop and steer a well-respected unit, known for the quality of their work. For full details, including how to apply, click here.

The closing date for applications is March 6, 2022.


For further information, or to discuss any aspect of the position, contact Professor Jane Downes, director of the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute at jane.downes@uhi.ac.uk