Curator Ethnographic Collection 80%

About the job

The Bern Historical Museum is one of the most important cultural history museums in Switzerland. It is a growing repository of knowledge and experience for the culture and history of Bern and the world. The collections on history, archaeology, and ethnography comprise around 567,000 objects. They offer insights into living environments from different historical periods and cultural contexts. The integrated Einstein Museum places the life and work of the physicist in the context of world history.
The museum is facing major changes and exciting challenges with the planned renovation and comprehensive museal renewal. The goal is to reopen the museum in 2032 as a vibrant house of history with diverse mediation formats, new access to the Bern museum quarter, and a high quality of stay.

We are looking for a

Curator Ethnographic Collection 80%

with a focus on Africa and an additional focus on orientalist collections. In the team, you will manage the third largest ethnographic collection in Switzerland, which comprises around 65,000 objects from Asia, Africa, America, Europe, and Oceania. You are a historian or cultural scientist with an interest in museological questions and have proven expertise in Africa and/or Central Asia. Experience with provenance research is a welcome plus.

You will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Contributing to the definition of collection policy
• Accessing and researching the collection holdings
• Maintaining the collection inventory and object documentation
• Ensuring the proper storage of the collection holdings in collaboration with the conservation-restoration team
• Content curation and collaboration in designing and implementing mediation offers, such as exhibitions, events, participatory offers, especially with regard to the exhibition/mediation programme for the museum's reopening in 2032
• Cooperation with partner institutions and source communities regarding the BHM collection
• Preparing and conducting tours through permanent and temporary exhibitions
• Writing texts for a specialist audience and the general public
• Managing objects in loan traffic, including courier services domestically and abroad

What you bring:

A completed university degree (at least Master’s level) in history, cultural and social sciences, or social anthropology, as well as a broad interest in the subject area and in-depth knowledge of Africa and/or Central Asia, are prerequisites for application. Thanks to your several years of professional experience in museums, you are well acquainted with curatorial practice and current discourses in the museum world. You maintain a global-historical approach to the collection, reflect on the function and significance of museal collection holdings, ideally already have a relevant network for the role, and are also willing to engage with new subject areas.

You also bring experience in project management and collaboration on exhibitions. As a communicative personality, continuous exchange within the scientific team as well as interdisciplinary cooperation with specialists from all other museum areas is important to you. You greatly enjoy passing on your knowledge vividly to professionals as well as to our museum guests. Very good foreign language skills in French and English (additional collection-relevant languages are a plus), a structured working method, a high awareness of quality, and a confident handling of museum databases complete your profile.
We look forward to receiving your complete application (cover letter, CV, certificates) by 25 October 2026. In the cover letter, please briefly describe your professional and personal competencies, your museum experience, as well as your expectations and goals for the advertised position.

Further information is provided by Saskia Klaassen, Head of Collections, 031 350 77 54.

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Helvetiaplatz 5, PO Box 149, CH-3000 Bern 6, Telephone +41 31 350 77 11, www.bhm.ch