The Punjab government has announced 110 job vacancies in its Tourism, Archaeology and Museums Department, offering monthly salaries of up to Rs450,000. The posts are part of a project to set up a Tourism and Heritage Development Force for the revival of the province's built heritage, and they cover everything from administration and photography to the traditional crafts that keep old buildings alive.
According to the official advertisement, the department is hiring for the project formally titled the Establishment of Tourism and Heritage Development Force for Revival of Built Heritage. Candidates who hold a Punjab domicile can apply through the Punjab Jobs Portal, and the last date for applications is November 20, 2026.
Punjab Jobs 2026
The department has announced 110 vacancies across 31 positions. At the professional end there is a single post of Cultural Heritage Expert and Project Coordinator, the senior role that will lead the work, along with an Admin Officer and an Accounts and Procurement Officer. There is also a post for a Photographer, who will document heritage sites and the restoration work, and three Field Supervisors who will oversee activity on the ground.
The heart of the recruitment, though, is the crafts: master artisans, known as ustads, senior craftspeople and working artisans in the trades that built Punjab's historic buildings. There are posts for fresco painters, called naqqash, at master, senior and ordinary levels, with four masters, four seniors and six painters in all. Tile mosaic work, known as kashi kari, has the same three-tier structure, while brick masonry, stone masonry, known as sang tarash, and stone variegated work follow the same pattern.
Woodwork and carving, lime plastering, known as munabbat kari, and pottery complete the list, each with masters, seniors and working craftspeople, along with two senior draftsmen. The craft posts account for the great majority of the 110 vacancies, which says something about where the department believes the real work lies: not in offices, but in the hands of people who know how to paint a fresco, lay a glazed tile or carve a wooden screen.
Monthly Salaries
Salaries are fixed under the Project Pay Scale, known as PPS. The Cultural Heritage Expert and Project Coordinator, the only post on PPS-9, carries the highest salary at Rs450,000 a month. Posts on PPS-7 pay Rs200,000 a month. Senior craftspeople and the Senior Draftsman posts on PPS-6 pay Rs150,000 a month, while the working artisans, the Field Supervisors and the Photographer on PPS-5 receive Rs100,000 a month.
Those are fixed monthly salaries rather than the usual government basic-pay scales, normal for project posts, and they reflect the fact that the department is competing for people whose skills are scarce.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must hold a Punjab domicile and meet the educational qualifications, experience requirements and age limits set for the position they want. Professional and administrative posts require relevant bachelor's or master's degrees, diplomas and experience ranging from two to fifteen years or more, while the artisan posts are judged mainly on practical experience.
Most artisan positions require between five and twenty years of relevant hands-on experience, with the master posts demanding the longest record. Age limits vary from post to post, and the general age relaxation allowed under Punjab government rules will apply. The message is clear enough: the department wants people who have actually done this work, whether that means a degree in archaeology, or two decades spent restoring the frescoes and tilework of an old mosque, shrine or haveli.
How to Apply
Interested candidates must apply online through the official Punjab Jobs Portal at jobs.punjab.gov.pk; the department will not accept hard-copy applications. Applicants should register or log in, complete their profiles, and search for the vacancies advertised by the Tourism, Archaeology and Museums Department. After selecting a suitable position, they provide the required information and submit the application before the deadline of November 20, 2026. Only shortlisted candidates will be called for tests or interviews.
The recruitment fits into a much larger push by the Punjab government to turn its heritage into a living asset rather than a set of crumbling monuments. In October 2025 the province launched a Rs1.5 billion heritage and tourism revival drive, run jointly by the Tourism Department and the Directorate General of Archaeology. The government has also earmarked Rs60 billion for 60 archaeological and heritage sites, including a Rs511.9 million expansion of the Taxila Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a major redevelopment of the Lahore Museum.
A Tourist Force of 600 personnel is already being recruited, with 200 deployed in Murree, and the Lahore Heritage Areas Revival programme is restoring the Lahore Fort, the tombs of Jahangir, Nur Jahan and Asif Khan, and the Walled City. The new Heritage Development Force is the next step in that plan, and its success will depend on the people hired now. Restoring a fresco or a glazed tile panel is not work that can be learned from a manual in a few weeks, and the craftspeople who still hold those skills are ageing. Bringing them into a structured project, with decent pay and a clear purpose, is how Punjab hopes to keep its built heritage standing for the next generation.
