Heritage officer and conservation officer jobs

Heritage officers, also called historic buildings officers or listings officers, inspect historic buildings and monuments and advise on what work they need. The National Careers Service puts pay at £25,000 for a starter and £48,000 with experience, for a 37 to 40 hour week. Most entrants have a degree or several years in a related field, such as surveying or archaeology.

What the work involves

The National Careers Service describes the role as inspecting historic buildings and monuments to assess what work is needed, answering public enquiries, reviewing building plans and giving technical advice on conservation projects. In practice that means reading proposals for a listed building, visiting the site, and saying what would harm its character and what would not.

This overlaps with the work of a council planning officer, who decides applications as a whole, and a building control surveyor, who checks that building work meets regulations. A heritage officer advises on the historic side of that work.

Employers

The profile mentions local councils and national parks among the places that employ heritage staff, and it points to English Heritage, Historic England and the National Trust for volunteering. It also refers to a scheme for finding private firms that provide historic environment services. Pay and grade depend on the employer, so a council post will follow local government pay, and a charity or private consultancy will set its own.

The profile warns that progression can mean moving employer or location. If you want a council career, how to get a council job covers the application process.

Routes in

• A degree, usually asking for 2 to 3 A levels, or a postgraduate course after a relevant degree. The profile does not name a required subject.
• An apprenticeship, with entry requirements set by the employer.
• Direct application, which usually needs several years of experience in a related field.

Volunteering helps. The profile names Historic England’s Emerging Talent Placements Programme as an internship route, and it lists the Association for Heritage Interpretation and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation as professional bodies.

The IHBC

The IHBC describes itself as the lead specialist body for conservation practitioners. Its site lists membership categories and routes to entry. Check each advert to see whether an employer asks for membership.

Applying for a heritage post

Advertised heritage posts often ask for a mix of qualifications and experience, and the National Careers Service says direct entry usually needs several years in a related field. Treat the person specification as a checklist and match each point to something you have done. Our guide to reading a job description and person specification walks through that, and how shortlisting works shows why evidence against each criterion matters.

Because the profile names unpaid routes such as volunteering and Historic England’s Emerging Talent Placements Programme, you can build the experience while you are still studying or in another job. If you are already working in a related field, applying while employed covers time off for interviews and what to tell your current employer.

Council terms to check

A council heritage post sits under the National Joint Council (NJC) Green Book unless the authority has its own terms. The May 2024 copy sets a standard full-time week of 37 hours (36 in London) and a minimum of 23 days’ annual leave from 1 April 2023, with a further 3 days after five years’ continuous service and two extra statutory days. The 2026/27 award of 3.3 per cent on NJC pay points 3 to 43 was agreed on 24 August 2026. Which grade a conservation post gets is a local decision, and our NJC pay spine guide shows how the spine works.

Questions to ask before you accept

Useful questions to ask are how many cases a heritage officer handles at once, whether the post covers one authority or several, and whether the employer supports professional membership through the IHBC. Ask who you would report to, since heritage officers can sit in planning teams or in separate conservation teams. If you are moving from another field, ask what training the employer offers for the historic environment side of the job.

Career path

With experience the National Careers Service lists heritage project manager, historical building manager, senior inspector and heritage consultant. For anyone moving sideways, a planning enforcement officer role uses related skills with a different emphasis.

Work out the monthly value of an advertised salary with the take-home pay calculator. Council employees are normally covered by the Local Government Pension Scheme, described in our LGPS guide.