JOB PURPOSE

This role has two purposes:

To support the fulfilment of the Membership Strategy, drive and lead a membership engagement and recruitment re-focus across the region as a whole, providing support at an individual property level.
In support of the Membership Strategy, feed a from-the-ground perspective into current and future campaigns, initiatives and offers to optimise their success.

CONTEXT

Audiences & Support (A&S) oversees a contribution of more than 50% of the Trust’s income through membership and fundraising. It plays a vital role in managing reputation and building profile which underpins every single aspect of our activity. We have ambition for it to generate more.

Membership represents a third of our income and it is a strategic and budget priority. With around 346,000 members we are the largest membership organisation in Scotland. It is a stable base of engaged advocates who understand our purpose and mission.

In 2024, we committed to undertake a comprehensive review of membership, the first of its type for at least 12 years. The key recommendations from that review were developed into the Membership Strategy, which was approved by our Board in April 2026.

Our Strategy is to grow and sustain an engaged and loyal supporter base of members who feel connected to the Trust and a deepen their relationship to us by visiting, donating and speaking up for heritage. This will be achieved through three core pillars, aligned with the Trust’s ten-year strategy, growing our membership base to 415,000, contributing over £32m per annum to our organisation by 2031.

Below the pillars sits an implementation plan which lays out the activity required to unlock growth potential. These strategic activities require resource to plan, coordinate, implement and evaluate to ensure that the aims of the strategy can be met.

This role is to support our membership growth out at our properties in our Edinburgh & East region. This role is to pilot adding additional support and focus to drive membership recruitment and engagement, with particular focus to investigate and implement strategic changes that enable our growth plan. Its success may lead to similar roles being adopted in other regions across the Trust.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

At a property/regional level:

In fulfilment of the Membership Strategy, drive and lead a membership re-focus across the region as a whole. Supporting individual properties with specific action plans.
Understand the challenges and opportunities for membership engagement and recruitment for the region and at each property, and use this knowledge to give context to driving the pragmatic operationalisation of Membership Strategy campaigns and initiatives through bespoke property membership recruitment plans – including:

** implementation activities supporting campaigns and initiatives

** development and delivery of staff training (employee and volunteer

agreeing milestones for achieving agreed targets

Actively seek opportunities to challenge current property thinking and delivery of membership engagement and recruitment, and help the property “do things differently” if this will have a positive impact.
Support the Membership Marketing Manager with the roll-out of campaigns – including developing collateral to support properties achieve membership recruitment targets, local media messaging etc.
At a regional-level, contribute a membership perspective to cross-regional/cross-functional projects – for example in collections & conservation-in-action, events & formal learning, functions, food & beverage, gardens, holidays, nature conservation, retail, new systems and processes
Across the region, drive income generation in year and drive conversation of visitors to members from 2.5% towards 9%, through developing tools and practice to support and sustain income growth beyond the fixed-term period.

At a central Membership function level

Using insight and performance data, review target achievement, test new approaches, monitor results, evaluate effectiveness, and identify opportunities for continuous improvements – and, as appropriate, feed these back into central the Membership team to influence future approaches, campaigns, and initiatives for roll-out to other regions/properties.
Contribute to projects that improve the member journey at our places, including: online and in-person sign-up processes, data collection, membership administration, digital cards, and EPOS till related service improvements.
Build a network of peer membership organisations as a forum for exchanging initiatives, information, best practice etc.

The current duties of this job do not require a criminal records (Disclosure Scotland) check to be carried out.

SCOPE OF THE ROLE

Tools/Equipment:

Will use a wide range of digital tools:
Microsoft 365 Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook etc
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
EPOS system

Financial Management:

Not a budget-holder, but responsible for a delegate portion of the Head of Membership’s/ Regional budget
Will need to understand – and train others on – the financial processes of membership (in particular the handling of direct debits and Gift Aid sign-ups)
Whilst Operations Managers are accountable for attaining (and exceeding) their membership targets (numbers and income), this role is critical in influencing and shaping the context within which properties deliver

People Management:

not a line manager

Key internal relationships:

Regional Director and Regional Business Manager
Membership Marketing manager (sits in Marketing team)
Operations Managers
Property teams
Membership Operations Lead and Membership Strategic Lead

Other key internal relationships include:

The Membership team, the CRM team, and the wider Audiences & Support team
Regional and property-based teams
Support teams in Finance, Digital, Fundraising, and IT

key external relationships include:

Members, potential members, and visitors
Representatives of peer-organisations

Working conditions:

Will be required to travel regularly to Trust properties and sites across the Edinburgh, Lothian and Scottish Borders areas
Can expect around 70% of its time supporting region/properties and 30% of its time supporting centralised Membership functions

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE

Essential

A genuine and demonstrable enthusiasm for membership as an organisational-critical contribution to a charity’s success.
Sound experience of working in membership, stakeholder engagement, or fundraising roles that have had positive impacts on tactical and operational delivery.
A degree-level qualification in a relevant subject area or relevant equivalent knowledge of the theory and practice of fundraising, membership, supporter care etc.
Highly proficient at using data to support thinking and inform decisions in a results-driven environment.
Highly-developed inter-personal skills with a confidence to engage and enthuse others; lead, coach, and develop; and have hard or difficult conversations.
Flexible working approach, with a keen eye for problem-solving, analysing situations, and making sound judgements about the way forward.
Proficient and confident in the use of digital products.
Driving licence and access to own vehicle as will have to travel between properties

Desirable

Experience of working for a charity, specific to heritage, cultural or conservation fields.
Sales background
Knowledge of Data Protection legislation, PECR and PCI compliance and its adherence in all direct marketing activity
Background in training or educating team members
Microsoft Dynamics experience

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