Visitor Experience Manager

WADDESDON MANOR; Greater London; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000

Job description

Visitor Experience Manager

Waddesdon is an historic house and garden open to the public. Created by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1874, it is home to the Rothschild Collection. Waddesdon's collections are exceptionally rich in fine and decorative arts of the 18th century, assembled by three generations of the Rothschild family.

Waddesdon welcomes over 350,000 visitors to the property each year and we offer a programme of changing exhibitions, talks and tours, family activities and public events.

Overall Purpose:

The Visitor Experience Manager (VEM) is an integral part of the management team responsible for the oversight of a seamless House visit and visitor engagement programme during varied opening hours throughout the year to ensure that every aspect of the experience is taken into account. With extensive management experience in a visitor facing environment, the VEM will act as an ambassador for our visitors across the property, embedding their needs and expectations at the heart of the visitor experience.

With oversight of the house-based visitor operation and shouldering direct responsibility for the seamless visitor engagement programme throughout the year, they will enable a broad range of audiences to have an outstanding and inspirational visit through the consistent quality of our welcome and the stories we tell.

Working Wednesday to Sunday throughout the year, they will be experienced in supporting and delivering a large daily visitor operation and ensuring the best use of staffing and resources across the property.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Have oversight of the House based visitor operation, supporting the AVEM to ensure;
  • the consistency of visit for all guests
  • presentation standards are exemplary throughout and meet brand guidelines
  • compliance throughout the operation
  • engagement of staff and volunteers with the purpose of their roles and environment
  • visitor feedback is recorded and reviewed, escalating where appropriate
• Responsible for the oversight and daily operational delivery of the public tours and walks programme non-House based, ensuring it is consistently delivered to a high standard and sufficiently resourced with staff and volunteers
• Consistently provide authoritative and motivational line management for guides and volunteers (Specialist Guides, Garden Guides, Wedding Cake Guides, Visitor Insights volunteers and Hosts & Eythrope Guides and Hosts) teams acting as a friendly and approachable point of contact & where appropriate sharing this responsibility with the AVEM
• Work closely with the Head of Visitor Experience, Head of Volunteering and AVEM to expand and develop a year-round integrated Visitor Experience volunteering programme – developing a strategy to grow the volunteer offer and adopt sector best practice
• Act as VE lead on planning annual best practice visitor care training for staff and volunteer teams
• Champion access for all, ensuring that all visitor offers meet best practice guidance for accessibility and supporting the AVEM in developing and delivering visitor facing access initiatives

Benefits of working with us:

• 33 days annual leave (including bank holidays)
• 36 days annual leave after 3 years continuous service
• 38 days annual leave after 5 years continuous service
• 40 days annual leave after 10 years continuous service
• Matched company pension up to 10% of salary
• 50% discount in Catering Takeaway outlets, 20% discount in the Manor Restaurant and Stables Cafe, 20% discount in the shop, 20% discount at The Five Arrows Hotel and The Bow
• Beautiful location working within the charity and heritage sector
• Excellent wellbeing support and a focus on staff engagement and leadership development
• Free parking

How to apply:

In order to be considered for this role, please submit your CV along with a covering letter explaining how your experience and skills match those outlined in the role profile.

We encourage all applicants to visit Waddesdon Manor over the Christmas period to get a feel for the business and to understand in what capacity the role of Visitor Experience Manager functions. In your cover letter, please outline your experience of visiting the house, including open feedback about what we do well and any suggestions on how we can improve or provide alternatives to the operation. We also encourage a visit to Waddesdon as some of the interview questions will be based around the operation.

We are able to provide two complementary tickets for yourself and a guest to visit Waddesdon over the Christmas period, as well as being able to reimburse expenses for travelling over 25 miles. Please contact our application email address for more details on arranging this.