Summary

If you love providing an exceptional visitor experience for everyone that has brilliant service and story-telling at it's heart, then this is the role for you!

What it's like to work here

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal is one of 1154 sites globally recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Surrounded by the beautiful countryside of Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and close to the city of Ripon, the estate is iconic in the North of England.

The River Skell winds its way through an 800- acre estate of contrasts and surprises. The abbey ruins tell the story of 400 years of monastic life, years of riches, ruin and revival, brought to a close by the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. Studley Royal Water Garden, with its elegant canals, follies and eye-catchers was the height of fashion in Georgian times, with the designers cleverly incorporating the abbey ruins into their grand vision.

Together with a deer park, Cistercian Mill, Victorian Church and an Elizabethan style manor house it’s clear why the estate is one of the most popular National Trust places to visit.

Providing a great visitor experience and looking after this special place is at the heart of what we do, and we’re passionate about getting the details right. Whether you’re giving our visitors a warm welcome, caring for our buildings or collections or improving conditions for wildlife, every contribution ensures that nature, beauty and history continues to thrive at this special place.

Click here for more information about this location

What you'll be doing

This role is responsible for the visitor journey and smooth operational running of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal- from high standards of presentation, orientation and service, to the telling of this amazing place’s story through core interpretation.

You will be responsible for the line management our Visitor Experience Officer and delivering our core seasonal activity and engagement programme as well as be responsible for the development of a team of volunteers to help ensure that every visitor feels welcome and has a wonderful day with us. 

You will also work as part of the wider Visitor Operations and Experience team as well as with the wider Estate team to bring the stories of this amazing place to life for our visitors and ensure that we’re remaining relevant, inclusive and welcoming for all.

You will develop a thorough understanding of our audiences and deliver engagement that will influence behaviours and help manage risk. 

This role will have Duty Management responsibility, with some evening work required for events and wider estate management.

Please also read the full role profile, attached to the end of this advert.

Who we're looking for

This job is all about providing a service. To be fantastic in this role, you’ll need to;

• Experience of delivering inspirational engagement activities

• Have good people skills, enabling good working relationships with those in your team and across the property

• Understanding of how to interpret significant collections to varied audiences.

• Excellent organisational skills, and the ability to time manage projects successfully

• Have good interpersonal skills, able to deal with visitors in a variety of situations

• Have a flexible customer focused approach with experience in delivering high standards of customer service

• Experience of working with and supervising volunteers

• Empathy with aims of the National Trust, with genuine interest and knowledge of the work of the Trust

The package

The National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.

Wherever you’re from, and whatever your background, we want to hear from you – and it doesn’t matter if you’re jam first, cream first, or even if you don’t like scones at all. Everyone is welcome.

Benefits for working at the National Trust include:

• Flexible working whenever possible

• Free parking at most locations

• Free entry to our properties for you, a guest and your children (under 18)

• Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary

Click here to find out more about the benefits we offer to support you.