Grant Development Officer

As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history.
We’ve set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring.
That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.
Job Overview
Salary: £34,882 per annum
Contract type: Permanent
Band: E / Higher Executive Officer
Closing date: Monday 12th October 2026 at midnight
About us:
The Grant Development Officer will sit within The National Archives’ Research, Grants and Academic Engagement department, the central locus for our:
1. Research strategy and delivery
2. Research impact, culture and engagement
3. Grant fundraising and philanthropy
4. Management and assurance of external funding
5. Grant-making to the archives and GLAM sectors.
The National Archives has a strong track record of securing external funding and holds a grant portfolio of over £16m. Our per-annum grant income has grown by nearly 500% since 2022-23, and in April 2026, we consolidated our fundraising operations with The National Archives Trust. The National Archives has a strategic priority to secure new charitable and philanthropic funding, and this post is one of three new roles being advertised in Autumn 2026 to deliver on that goal. We want to grow our research income, including particularly beyond the arts and humanities; reach a wider breadth of funders both nationally and internationally; and raise our profile, through more creative and targeted public engagement and learning programmes with national reach.
About the role:
The National Archives (TNA) is looking for an enthusiastic and creative Grant Development Officer to support the development of grant-funded projects, partnerships and fellowships. Working with the Grant Development Manager, Head of Grant Development and colleagues across TNA, the Grant Development Officer will play a critical role in supporting grant fundraising, consolidating and expanding our grant-winning capability.
The Grant Development Officer will be responsible for a varied range of tasks across TNA’s grants development portfolio, including supporting multiple applications at one time. Working with specialists from across our institution, you will develop a wide range of skills in grants administration, bid development, finance and communication. We are a UKRI-accredited Independent Research Organisation, and the majority of our grant proposals are for our research, however we also have a strong and growing portfolio of applications and projects in progress for digitisation, capital infrastructure, public engagement and learning. The postholder will work closely with our new Philanthropy team and with The National Archives Trust, a registered charity that supports The National Archives to engage and educate the public, and conserve and preserve the collection.
As well as providing support to the Grant Development Team’s pre-award processes, the postholder will have the opportunity to refresh our grant development communication for internal and external audiences, working with colleagues across the department and wider organisation to ensure that our staff and external partners have all the information they need to develop winning grants at TNA.
This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.
A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.
Application Process:
We ask all applicants to submit work history details and a personal statement addressing the 4 criteria below:
- Graduate-level education or equivalent experience, with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- An understanding of grant funding in the research and/or cultural heritage sectors.
- Good communication skills, including face-to-face, over videoconference and written, with ability to understand and explain information (including financial information) clearly.
- Good judgement as to when to progress an issue independently, and when to escalate to line manager or other senior staff.
Selection for interview will be based on these 4 criteria so please ensure that your application demonstrates in detail how you meet these requirements. You may find it helpful to use each criteria as a subheading, or to use the STAR method to structure your statement. We suggest candidates write between 250-300 words per criteria.
If we receive a large number of applications candidates will initially be assessed on one criteria:
- An understanding of grant funding in the research and/or cultural heritage sectors.
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please visit the Civil Service Careers website where you can find further information on the use of AI in the application guidance section.
Interviews will be held on-site, ideally during week commencing 2nd November.
Applicants invited to interview will be assessed against ALL of the essential criteria (see full job description below).
We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
Job Description
Role and Responsibilities
Fundraising and Project Support
Proactively support the Grant Development Team in the management of grant applications, from ideation to submission to various funders, including (for example) UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) or The National Lottery Heritage Fund, using collaboration and influencing skills to work across different teams and contribute to the timely completion of quality bids.
Conduct prospect research, identifying new funders, calls and opportunities, matching them appropriately with internal initiatives and expertise, and communicating them across the organisation.
Support the delivery of our internal Strategic Research Fund, providing guidance for applicants at pre-award stage and administrative support at post-award stage, advising on project design and delivery, supporting financial processing where necessary and identifying solutions to project challenges where required.
Managing the administration of demand-managed funding calls, designing and delivering an internal process to select applicants from within The National Archives, and developing bespoke bids that deliver on institutional strategic goals while supporting the needs of the funders programme.
Lead the approval, drafting and submission of institutional letters of support.
Administration and Process Delivery
Lead the administration of TNA’s pre-award process, collating necessary documentation for internal approval, peer review and submission to funder. Communicate internal decisions on proposals, ensuring that applicants and the Grant Development Team receive timely guidance, templates, and documentation.
Support with the compilation of activity reports and statistics, to assist with reporting of institutional grant activity to the Head of Department and TNA’s Executive Team, Finance and Performance Committee and Board.
Manage the Grant Development Team’s information and documentation, maintaining an accurate and auditable filing system.
Communications and Events
Lead the Grant Development’s team internal and external communications and messaging, communicating with TNA’s internal and external audiences through various channels, in collaboration with the Research Impact, Culture and Engagement (RICE) team.
Identify and communicate funding opportunities across The National Archives. Using our internal intranet, email, events, person-to-person liaison and other communication channels as appropriate, ensure that relevant staff are informed of and engaged by opportunities to generate external funding.
Support external meetings and events for TNA’s grant development portfolio (in-person and online), including preparing agendas and materials, booking spaces and catering, organising technical support, publicising and marketing, and taking minutes, including in hosting and liaising with senior or Board-level external stakeholders.
Co-ordinate the set up and delivery of grant development training and knowledge dissemination workshops, making a proactive and meaningful contribution to our Research Pathways researcher development programme.
Finance
Assist with project budgeting and grant proposal costings, including for complex proposals of over £1m, ensuring that proposal budgets are robust and compliant, and that value for money is demonstrated in fundraising proposals.
Understand funder financial regulations and support Grant Development Team in meeting key financial compliance requirements in bids.
Support the financial processing of the Grant Development Team as required.
The post-holder