Full Time

CONTEXT

Brodie Castle is set within a 75 acre “policies” estate, it is the ancestral home of the Brodies of Brodie and consists of a number of listed buildings including the main 16th century Z plan Castle, stables, walled garden, gate houses and gardeners bothy, as well as a number of estate houses currently used as holiday lets. The Castle consists of dressed rooms used as a guided tour visitor experience and houses a collection worth over £6m. Within the Castle is the main catering outlet and retail facility as well as housing the main estate offices. There is also the Lairds wing, a luxury 7 bedroom holiday let within the Castle.

The wider estate consists of a nationally significant designed landscape with Victorian Shrubbery, tree lined avenues, commercial forestry, agricultural land and mature mixed woodlands surrounding a manmade lake. Within the old walled garden is a Playful Garden, consisting of imaginative play area, formal gardens and the national daffodil collection. This area is served with separate catering and retail facilities.

The VSS Welcome is responsible for ensuring that the Welcome and Visitor Experience at Brodie Castle and Playful Garden is world class.

KEY PURPOSE
To provide operational coordination and supervision of the Welcome Team, Retail and Customer Service at both Brodie Castle and Playful Garden in line with the Trust’s policies, priorities, performance standards and targets to contribute to the enjoyment of the property by visitors and members, and help ensure commercial, financial, and conservation objectives are achieved.

To maximize our visitors’ enjoyment of National Trust for Scotland managed properties by ensuring excellent standards of service, optimizing opportunities to generate income and ensuring that the site and its assets are safe and secure.

Specifically, to assist the VSM and supervise the Welcome Team at Brodie Castle ensuring the smooth and safe operations in all service areas.

Due to the success of the Belhaven Visitor Experience, we are now looking for an additional member to join the team!

This role is very much the face of Belhaven, as the first person visitors to the brewery meet.

It is an exciting role which offers a broad scope of activities that support the smooth and safe operations of our visitor experience and shop, including; Meet & Greet, Admissions, Retail, Food & Drink, Events, Guiding activities and general administrative duties together with promoting Belhaven beers at events, where required.

The role is full time – 5 days p/week – 2 days of which must be a Friday and Saturday. Some evening and weekend work may be required. Working hours are 08.30 to 16.45 with one hour for lunch.

Provide a consistently high standard of visitor experience at all times

· Greet all business visitors and trade customers in a professional and warm manner

· Welcome shoppers and visitors and process their admission/retail purchase in a friendly, efficient and knowledgeable manner.

· Welcome visitors with special needs / impairments and providing a high level of service in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act.

· Provide information about the site, its history, contents, offers and merchandise.

· Handle general deliveries to and enquiries about the site, notifying the relevant Belhaven staff of deliveries.

Maintain excellent standards of site and personal presentation

· Ensure shop is ready to open and welcome visitors by the set opening time.

· Maintain general tidiness of all areas as necessary e.g. toilets, waste bins, shelving, stock items and as appropriate vacuum cleaning, mopping, sweeping, dusting and polishing when required.

· Work in harmony with other departments at the property.

Assist with Retail/Food & Drink/Events/Guiding duties

· Manage the new Belhaven shop, from stock control to sales of beer and merchandise;

· Correctly handle all cash and card transaction, reconciling sales and revenue at the end of each business day.

· Adhere to all financial procedures to include till operation and banking and safeguarding of monies and to implement amendments to standard procedure as instructions may dictate.

· Ensure that retail merchandising is displayed to maximise appeal and purchase.

· Ensure good housekeeping of bar areas, appliances, store rooms and other back of house areas.

· Assist with the set-up, stewarding and break-down of events in liaison with the events coordinator.

· Be prepared to work flexibly across departments and sites as needed.

· Assist with additional hospitality events. Staff may be asked to work late hours and / weekends.

· Provide information on the history and stories of the Brewery, and conduct tastings to visitors as tour guide (training will be given for this).

Competency Requirements

· Delightful “front of house” persona – warm, welcoming, patient, understanding.

· Demonstrable time management skills and the ability to prioritise.

· Flexible, helpful outlook to customers and colleagues.

· Living the values of Belhaven / GK and encourage colleagues to do the same.

· The ability and willingness to learn and try new things, to be flexible and step outside of your comfort zone.

· An open and honest way of communicating, ready to ask others for their ideas and to be open to hear and consider different points of view.

· A pro-active approach to taking initiative and so improve daily operations and deliver an exceptional visitor experience.

Desirable

· Experience in storytelling and a passion for Scottish heritage and history.

On the job experience in existing or comparable role

· Demonstrable experience in a customer-facing retail-based role, ideally food and drink, delivering impeccable customer care through excellent inter-personal skills.

· Demonstrable experience in sales or ticket/event/admissions – ideally in a heritage/tourism context – with experience and confidence undertaking till-work and cash handling/reconciliation.

· Experience in EPOS style till operation and excellent cash handling skills.

· Good selling skills – adaptable to customer type and product.

We are looking for an experienced and forward-thinking individual to join the management team at the vibrant Pitmedden Garden and Museum of Farming Life.

This is an exciting opportunity within the heritage industry and the ideal candidate must be passionate about our vision for the future and what we do every day as a business: Bringing people together and providing them with the greatest visitor experience.

Brilliant design and meticulous maintenance give Pitmedden Garden its unique charm. With almost 6 miles of clipped box hedging, the parterres at the heart of the garden are a masterpiece of intricate patterns and sparkling colours, drawing visitors from near and far.

JOB PURPOSE

You will be responsible for the operational delivery of the overall visitor experience within Pitmedden Garden and the wider Estate.

Delivering performance standards and targets to ensure excellent levels of visitor satisfaction, while maximising key commercial, financial and development objectives, to ensure the property is property fully sustainable.

Your vision and drive will continue to build on our current , from creating fresh visitor numbers, bringing fresh ideas to showcasing our site to a wider audience, to handling initial enquiries and delivering memorable visitor experiences. Ultimately ensuring Pitmedden Garden is recognised as a first-class visitor attraction.

You will be part of a broader management team responsible for delivering an overall visitor service strategy, promoting good communication within the property and across the division as well as a joined-up service provision.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

• 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;
• Responsible for the line management of Visitor Service Supervisors and Visitor Services Assistants, within Pitmedden Garden.
• Instil a Health & Safety culture across the property, ensuring the team work within the properties Risk Assessments to reduce risk of incidents and accidents to volunteers, employees and visitors.
• Budgets – (setting, phasing, monitoring, reporting, pro-active and re-active adjustments together with the Operations Manager, General Manager, Business Manager and Finance Manager) to ensure that the finances are sustainable within the context of the wider property budgets;
• Plan and deliver annual events and functions strategy with support of NE regional office and Visitor Service Supervisors.
• Create a culture of ‘exceptional service, every time’. Delivering high standards of delivery and a consistently warm welcome within the catering department
• Driving the visitor services experience to achieve financial targets, maximising income and profitability, using the Trust’s procedures and instructions. You will strive to be efficient and ensure cost effectiveness in all the work you do.
• Ensure the cornerstones of the National Trust for Scotland are achieved at every property namely, conservation, access and memorable visitor experiences for all guests.
• You will ensure high standards of presentation at all times, you may have delegated tasks within other departments and you will understand and help deliver your overall properties business plan.
• Taking responsibility for opening and closing and security of buildings as well as emergency procedure implementation, duty management and providing relief cover as required;
• The post holder will be designated for the property as the “responsible person” concerning issues around the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. For this element of your role, you will be required to undergo a criminal record check.