Visitor Services Manager

Location: The Georgian House, 7 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh,

Type of Contract: Permanent. Full-Time, 40 Hours Per Week

The post is subject to the standard terms and conditions provided with the application pack. It will include some weekend and evening working.

JOB PURPOSE

You will be responsible for the onsite operations of The Georgian House. Delivering performance standards and targets to ensure enjoyment of the property by visitors and members is maximised and key commercial, financial and development objectives are achieved to make the property fully sustainable. You will lead a management team responsible for delivering an overall visitor service strategy, care of the site, including retail and membership sales and liaise with colleagues responsible for collections care and conservation. Promoting good communication across the site and a joined-up service provision.

You will lead the development of The Georgian House as an exemplar of volunteer recruitment and management.

This is a complex role requiring a strong background in operational management, balancing staff management, property maintenance and health and safety alongside providing innovative ways for visitors to engage with the site.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

You will lead a team to support the overall experience

• Staff and volunteers - (recruitment, induction, development, motivation, performance management) such that they are fully equipped and motivated to undertake their duties to the required Trust standards and that staffing budgets are adhered to. 
• Instil a Health & Safety culture across the property, managing risk and keeping risk assessments reviewed and relevant to reduce risk of incidents and accidents to volunteers, employees and visitors. 
• Working with the Operations Manager to input into the budget process and manage costs at the sites.
• Create a culture of ‘exceptional service, every time’. Delivering high standards of delivery and a consistently warm welcome within the visitor experiences at all properties. 
• Driving the visitor services experience to achieve its financial targets, maximising income and profitability, including through membership sales, using the Trust’s procedures and instructions. You will strive to be efficient and ensure cost effectiveness in all the work you do. 
• You will ensure high standards of presentation across the property, you may have delegated tasks within other departments and you will understand and help deliver your overall property business plan. 
• Work closely with other VSMs in the Edinburgh cluster to develop visitor strategies for all sites. 
• Taking responsibility for opening and closing and security of buildings as well as emergency procedure implementation, duty management and providing relief cover as required. 
• Designing and developing tours, events and visitor experiences that engage visitors through storytelling. 
• Establishing visitor experiences which are relevant, socially inclusive engaging to all visitor groups. 
• Ensuring that all formal and informal learning experiences are designed and developed in line with the curriculum for excellence and the target audience needs, 
• Managing the promotion and administration of visitor experience and events together with property VSS’s.  
• Ensuring that the longevity of the Trust’s buildings and fittings are maximised through appropriate maintenance and/or replacement regimes. 
• To ensure that the property meets statutory and company requirements of Health and Safety, Food Safety and Environmental legislations and procedures including Waste Disposal and Allergens. 

This role is one for which the duties, responsibilities or accountabilities of the role require you to undertake a criminal records check, specifically a PVG check.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE

Essential

• Have direct experience of managing multi-strand visitor/commercial services in a heritage or tourist-attraction context.
• Experience in working work ‘hands-on’ – including in the kitchen/retail and admissions areas – alongside the team members, demonstrating the customer service skills required of all staff.  
• Experience of managing visitor safety.
• Management of volunteers.
• Possess excellent communication skills (written and oral).
• Good commercial & financial understanding.
• Computer literacy with excellent ability on MS software.
• Excellent leadership and influencing skills.
• Excellent understanding of report writing and financial management.
• Well-developed time management and organisation skills.

Desirable

• Current First Aid certification (or willingness to train and use),
• Hold a valid and recognised SQA Licensing Qualification e.g. Scottish Personal License Holder's Certificate and Personal License or being willing to attain.
• IOSHH Managing Safely.  

DIMENSIONS AND SCOPE OF JOB 

People Management 

• Direct line management of all staff and responsible for volunteering on site. 
• Provision of full facilities with an expectation that you will grow this number and convert secondary spend. To include clean and safe visitor facilities, retail, events, excellent customer care, first aid cover, ticketing and recruitment. 
• Working closely with specialist Trust staff (e.g. in finance, commercial, buildings maintenance, conservation, marketing, health & safety, human resources, learning services) based at central support or other bases to ensure Trust policies and standards are implemented. 
• Will work occasionally with other property colleagues and will have some interaction with other technical/specialist advisory colleagues based in other locations and departments. 
• Will have regular (daily) interaction with members of the public of all ages and abilities. 
• Will have frequent interaction with suppliers and contractors, including procurement and appropriate selection according to Trust requirements (e.g. insurance levels). 
• Developing and maintaining sound relationships with local stakeholders. 
• Occasional leading and participating in multi-disciplinary project teams consisting of in-house staff and external consultants/contractors. 
• Attending meetings, training and updates such as the Cluster Lead meetings, budget meetings and keep professionally informed. 

Finance Management 

• Work within an approved budget, with an expectation that the current deficit will be managed downwards to a more sustainable level.  
• Will be a frequent user of the Trust’s computerised purchasing and weekly reporting systems. 
• May be a Project Manager, adhering to the Trust’s Project Management processes. 
• Weekly banking and adherence to the Trust’s Cash Handling Procedures. 

The Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities, Required Qualifications, Skills, Experience & Knowledge and Dimensions & Scope of Job reflect the requirements of the job at the time of issue. The Trust reserves the right to amend these with appropriate consultation and/or request the post-holder to undertake any activities that it believes to be reasonable within the broad scope of the job or their general abilities.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants should should click the apply button.