Assistant Visitor Experience Manager

Assistant Visitor Experience Manager

Salary: £28,000 - £29,000 per annum depending on experience.

Contract Type: Permanent, Full-time

Hours: A minimum of 37.5 hours per week (exclusive of breaks), Wednesday to Sunday. You will be required to work occasional shifts outside your normal working pattern to meet operational needs and visitor expectations. Reasonable notice will be provided wherever possible, and time off in lieu (TOIL) will be given.

The Role:

We are looking for an experienced and dynamic Assistant Visitor Experience Manager to lead our House based Visitor Experience team at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire. At Waddesdon Manor, our values are rooted in Concordia, Integritas and Industria; working together, acting with integrity, and taking pride in what we do. We value collaboration, respect and a shared commitment to achieving the best for Waddesdon Manor, our visitors, colleagues and the collections in our care. We act with honesty, openness and professionalism, taking responsibility for our decisions and treating others fairly. We are ambitious and purposeful in our work, bringing energy, care and commitment to everything we do, while continually looking for ways to learn, improve and make a positive contribution. Whatever our role, we are united by a belief that our individual contribution matters and that, by working together, we can help Waddesdon thrive.

Our mission is to create meaningful work and ensure our team reflects the diversity of the visitors we serve and the communities we support. We are committed to providing an environment free from discrimination and every team member feels valued, respected and has a true sense of belonging.

What you will do:

You will act as the duty manager for the House, acting as the main point of contact for and lead operational presence in the area, managing, motivating and supporting a large team of Visitor Experience staff and volunteers. You will be heavily embedded in the daily operation, ensuring consistency of access, presentation and service, embedding the needs and expectations of visitors at the heart of the operation.

You will lead and implement visitor facing accessibility initiatives, promoting a culture of accessibility for all visitors throughout the House. You will play an active part in Waddesdon's Access Committee, be responsible for the completion of access audit recommendations and devise a strategy for ensuring access and inclusion form an integral part of House based operational projects. Working Wednesday to Sunday throughout the year, you will be experienced in supporting and delivering a large daily visitor operation and ensuring the best use of staffing and resource.

Although this role has some office based responsibilities, a large proportion of the time is spent on the floor, supporting the team and developing relationships with volunteers. The distribution of the role is 50% office based work, 50% on the ground in the house.

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Daily Management of the House Visitor Operation

• Provide motivational line management for House based staff and volunteer teams, acting as a friendly and approachable point of contact
• Motivate teams to be inspired by, engage with, and safely manage historic surroundings - demonstrating a particular interest in the house, its history and collections
• Implement staffing plans to ensure all aspects of the visitor operation are sufficiently resourced using the Planday and MyVolunteering rota systems.
• Identify and resolve shortages in good time.
• Create daily operational rotas for staff and volunteer house teams, with an awareness of individual operational and personal requirements
• Proactively managing House staff team performance, maximizing resource and efficiently using staffing budget.
• Offer support and coaching to the team where required to help with performance and development, encouraging staff to find solutions and develop their problem solving skills
• Conduct daily briefings for staff and volunteer teams, ensuring consistent operational and experiential messaging
• Alongside the Visitor Experience Manager, recruit talented and enthusiastic people, develop and coach them, driving strong performance through setting clear objectives and giving regular feedback and reviews
• Play an active part of the recruitment and induction of new volunteer House Hosts.
• Build strong positive relationships and manage retention of volunteers.
• Receive and act on volunteer feedback, where required
• Lead on ensuring that all of the House visitor route is open on time, and be responsible for proactively ensuring consistently high standard of presentation.
• Establish what a high standard of presentation looks like and ensure the team understand this fully.
• Pro-actively identify issues with presentation and work to find a solution and implement it within an agreed time frame
• Liaising with security, lead on ensuring the closing and lock up procedures are completed to the requisite standard daily, with all keys returned and external alarms set
• Act as the lead Fire Warden for the House during opening hours.
• When you are required to leave the building, actively ensure cover is available
• Proactively troubleshoot any issues or problems in the visitor operation as they arise, liaising with other departments where necessary
• Act as a escalation point for staff and volunteers to escalate issues and confidently respond to any in-person visitor feedback or complaints, resolving any issues raised
• Lead on developing volunteer and staff collection resources and training and encourage ongoing learning and engagement with the collection
• Be responsible for the operational delivery of all house-based tours
• Working with the VEM to enhance the existing visitor engagement programme
• Train as a tour guide for all tours to be able to step in if a scheduling issue occurs.
• Feed into the tour development process when required by the VEM

Managing Access and Risk

• Working closely with the Community Engagement Programme Manager, develop and deliver visitor facing access initiatives throughout the House visitor journey
• Champion access for all, ensuring that all visitor offers meet best practice guidance for accessibility, striving to become a recognized center of excellence
• Ensure that all existing access provisions are adequately maintained and available, whilst developing and broadening access initiatives
• Play an active part in the Access Committee
• Working closely with the Health and Safety Manager, proactively ensure that all health and safety procedures are consistently adhered throughout the House
• Be responsible for completing departmental risk assessments and method statements pertinent to the House

Delivering Training

• Play an active part in developing and delivering inspiring induction and training programmes for Visitor Experience House based staff and volunteer teams
• Alongside the VEM, develop role specific induction and training materials
• Alongside the VEM, provide regular role specific training for staff and volunteer teams
• Deliver emergency and evacuation training for Visitor Experience and other teams where appropriate.
• Develop a programme of training, taking into account all learning styles
• Carry out feedback survey for training and act on any feedback received, developing the programme towards best practice

Other Duties and Responsibilities

• Act as a First Aider for Waddesdon staff, volunteers and visitors (training will be provided)
• Act as a Fire Marshall (training provided)
• Work "front line" at busy times such as major events (Easter, Chili Fest, Christmas), or to help cover unexpected or unforeseeable staff or volunteer shortages if required
• To support some out of hours events by acting as a Duty Manager responsible for the operation of the event on the day or night as required (appropriate notice will be given and TOIL will be provided)
• Develop collaborative working relationships and co-ordinate activity with colleagues in other departments to ensure the holistic delivery of excellent visitor care
• Complete 'White Hat' training and participate in the rota to cover this role which leads the site in emergency situations. Respond to emergencies as covered by your training.
• Carry out any other reasonable task as requested by the Head of Visitor Experience or the line manager

You will be a great fit if:

You're a people person who is skilled in managing front-line teams, enhancing visitor experiences, and ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of busy, public-facing sites. You're a role model for our values and actively encourage others to follow your example. You're a confident communicator and team leader who thrives in fast-paced environments, inspires high performance, and is passionate about making heritage accessible, engaging, and memorable for all audiences.

Your areas of knowledge and expertise that matter for this role (used for shortlisting)

To help us select candidates for interview, we will be looking for evidence of the following experience and skills within your application:

• Operational Excellence: Proven experience in an operational supervisory or managerial role in a visitor-facing environment. Hands on operational approach, leading by example
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