Volunteer with Us

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 other 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 or placement requests at this time.

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

Volunteer Visitor Assistant

About us:

Sir John Soane, the son of a bricklayer, became one of the most celebrated architects of his day. When he died in 1837, he left the home that he designed to the public. Today the museum fulfils his wish and presents his collection of art, sculptures, books and furniture as it was in 1837, so visitors can step back in time into his beautiful and unusual house.

About the role:

Volunteering alongside experienced members of staff you play an integral role in the daily running of the Museum, through welcoming, engaging and inspiring our visitors, and helping to safeguard our collections.

We give you full training, and it would suit anyone who might enjoy museums, old houses and interesting collections and speaking to visitors about it all. Every Museum space at the Soane has a welcoming and helpful face, with paid Visitor Assistants based in several rooms, and volunteers based in the Dome, Crypt, Kitchen.

Our shifts run 10.00am to 1.30pm and 1.30pm to 5.00pm, with up to 4 volunteers per session. Volunteers rotate around 3 different spaces throughout the shift. We recommend volunteers offer a minimum of one shift per fortnight, but we ask for at least one shift per month, or a minimum of 6 shifts total over a 12 month period.

About you:

We welcome applicants from all sections of the community and you don’t need to have volunteered before. As an organisation we want to offer opportunities especially to those from our local community and to people new to museums and heritage.

To apply:

Please complete an application via our Volunteer Portal below. We may not be able to take all applicants on and will hold informal chats via Microsoft Teams.

Please contact the Volunteer Manager, Victoria Witty, via volunteer@soane.org.uk if you have any questions about the role or need to apply 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.

Find out more:

Read the role profile here.

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