Volunteering with Sir John Soane’s Museum

At Sir John Soane’s Museum we are extremely grateful to our wonderful volunteers for sharing their time, passion and inspiration with us.

Volunteering with us is an opportunity to learn and to deeply enjoy our Museum and collection. Our volunteers contribute their time, sharing their enthusiasm and developing their skills in an inspiring and supportive environment. 

We offer full training and provide support, supervision and learning materials to make the most of volunteering with us. Best of all, we welcome our volunteers into a warm, friendly and passionate team. 

Our Volunteering Roles

At Sir John Soane’s Museum we recruit sporadically through each year with a variety of opportunities to Volunteer with us.

Volunteers at the Soane support Visitor Experience, helping us to inspire visitors, and interpreting our unique and fascinating spaces. We also have volunteers helping in different ways, such as supporting our learning team, research library, exhibitions and facilities teams.  

We welcome applicants from all sections of the community and nurture a diverse and widely-skilled team. We encourage applications regardless of class, race, ethnicity, age or gender, and no particular education is necessary prior to volunteering. Our training gives you confidence, comfort, and a big welcome to the team, and you will learn more with every volunteering session at the Museum. You definitely don't need to learn everything before you start, and at the heart of volunteering with us is simply enjoying the amazing spaces and objects here.     

For volunteering related general enquiries please email volunteer@soane.org.uk.

Please note - Volunteers must be over 18 years. Please see below for details of our Youth Panel. 

Work Experience/Placements and Internships 

We are not able to accept work experience requests currently.

We offer other ways for young people to get involved with the work at Sir John Soane’s Museum, including our Youth Panel.

Current opportunities

 

Drawings catalogue data cleaning volunteer

Sir John Soane’s Museum is undertaking a large-scale project to catalogue its 30,000-strong architectural drawings collection for online publication. Following transfer of the data to a new collections system the catalogue requires data cleaning and proof reading. Ensuring that the catalogue entries are accurate and formatted correctly for our new system requires attention to detail and consistency.

This role would suit someone with an interest in architecture, art history or architectural history, and museums and cataloguing. This position offers a rare opportunity to develop a basic understanding of a museum collections management system and the finer points of drawings cataloguing. 

How to apply

If you require further information on this role please contact Frances Sands, Curator of Drawings and Books at fsands@soane.org.uk 

If you are interested in applying for this role please send your CV and a brief covering letter to Victoria Witty, Volunteer Manager, volunteer@soane.org.uk no later than 22nd September 2025. Informal interviews are scheduled for 3rd October 2025.

Please contact the Volunteer Manager, Victoria Witty, via volunteer@soane.org.uk if you need the registration form in a different format. If you have an access need you would like to let us know about at this stage, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to answer any questions.

Read the role profile here.

 

For further information about volunteering please click below to enter our Volunteer Portal.

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