Management

Visitor Experience Manager

Inveraray Castle, Argyll Estates

An extraordinary opportunity to shape the future and expand the offering of one of
Scotland’s most iconic and visited historic castles.

About Inveraray Castle and Argyll Estates

Nestled on the shores of Loch Fyne in Argyll, Inveraray Castle has been the ancestral home of the Dukes of Argyll and Clan Campbell since the 18th century and remains their family home today.
A Category A listed Gothic Revival masterpiece, the Castle combines remarkable architecture, historic interiors and centuries of Campbell heritage with a warm and accessible visitor experience.
Argyll Estates extends across approximately 200 km² of Argyll & Bute, encompassing forestry, farming, renewable energy, holiday cottages and a caravan park. It is a progressive working estate, firmly rooted in its history and traditions.

The Opportunity

We are looking for an energetic, capable and commercially minded Visitor Experience Manager to help lead, develop and grow the visitor operation at Inveraray Castle. Working closely with the Duchess of Argyll, as well as the Duke, Factor and wider Estate team, you will take responsibility for the day-to-day visitor operation while helping to identify new opportunities to increase visitor numbers, develop relationships and enhance the Castle’s appeal.

This is a broad, hands-on role encompassing the Castle visitor experience, guiding, shop, tearoom, gardens, marketing and digital activity as well as relationships with tour operators, coach companies, cruise operators and other tourism partners.
We are not necessarily looking for someone who has already held overall responsibility for a major visitor attraction. This could be an excellent next step for an experienced deputy, assistant manager or operational No. 2 who is ready to take on greater responsibility and develop their career.
You will need the confidence to bring forward ideas and find new contacts, whilst being willing to learn new systems, ask for help when you need it and master the practical detail required to keep a busy visitor attraction running successfully. Clear, timely communication with colleagues at every level will be essential to success in this role. You will be expected to keep the right people informed, raise issues when they arise and ask for guidance when needed.

The Team and Culture

Inveraray is a highly collaborative environment where kindness, professionalism and long-term relationships matter. Many members of the team have worked at the Castle for a considerable time and bring invaluable knowledge and experience. Building strong relationships with them will be fundamental to your success.
You must be a genuine team player, comfortable working with colleagues across every
department and at every level of responsibility. There will be times when you lead and others when you support a colleague or simply help get something done.

Key Responsibilities

Visitor Experience and Operations
During the visitor season, from March to October, you will:
• Help lead the day-to-day operation of all visitor areas, including but not limited to
guiding, retail, catering, parking and visitor access.
• Ensure consistently high standards throughout the Castle, gardens, shop and tearoom.
• Help organise, motivate and support a team of approximately 46 people, comprising
around 40 seasonal and six permanent members of staff.
• Work closely and communicate effectively with the Head Guide, Shop and Tearoom
Manager and other colleagues on staffing, programming and service.
• Be visible and accessible throughout the season, dealing calmly and practically with the challenges of a busy seasonal visitor attraction.
• Work with the Marketing Executive to streamline the Castle’s offering both internally
across the Estate and externally to the global visitor market.
• Learn and confidently operate the Castle’s key administrative and operational systems,
including banking, ticketing and web management systems.

Developing the Business

An important part of the role will be helping Inveraray Castle reach new visitors and develop it’s existing relationships.
You will:
• Maintain and develop relationships with existing tour operators, coach companies, cruise operators and tourism partners.
• Research and identify new tour operators and potential partners in the UK and
international markets.
• Identify practical opportunities to increase visitor numbers and revenue, contributing
ideas for exhibitions, programming and improvements to the visitor experience.
• Along with the Marketing Executive, help develop the Castle’s digital presence and
visitor communication.
• Support appropriate awards and accreditation, including organisations such as Visit
Scotland, ASVA and Green Tourism, and help maintain a strong reputation across visitor
review platforms.
• Use visitor information, feedback and commercial data to understand what is working
and where improvements can be made.

We do not expect the successful candidate to arrive with every contact or every answer. We do expect them to have the curiosity and initiative to find them.

People and Leadership

You will:
• Help recruit, train, motivate and retain an excellent seasonal team.
• Support and manage permanent visitor-facing staff throughout the year.
• Prepare rotas and help ensure appropriate staffing throughout the season.
• Provide approachable, collaborative leadership and work constructively with colleagues in the Castle and wider Estate.
• Be prepared to listen, learn and understand how Inveraray works before introducing
change.

Winter Programme and Planning
Between November and March, the focus shifts towards preparation and development for the following season.
You will:
• Learn about the role in its entirety in preparation for the Summer season. This knowledge will be crucial to ensure systems are second nature and accurate when the Castle becomes far busier.
• Recruiting and training for the forthcoming season including a thorough review of the
previous season to identify practical improvements.
• Along with the Marketing Executive analyse data from the previous season to identify
effective use of resource, both in maintaining and growing revenue stream.
• Progress improvements to signage, interpretation, visitor flow and digital systems,
coordinating with Estate colleagues as required.
• Working closely with the Marketing Executive both on the website development and
advertising initiatives for visitor experiences for the forthcoming season. This needs to be incorporated in the six-month programming calendar.
• Develop ideas for exhibitions, programming and new visitor initiatives.
• Maintain momentum and motivation within the permanent team.

Events and Wider Estate

Throughout the year, you will:
• Help oversee smaller events, occasional weddings, filming and private or high-net-worth visits.
• Liaise with external suppliers and contractors as required.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across Argyll Estates, including the Factor,
conservation and archive specialists and garden and maintenance teams.
• Learn and take sole responsibility for monthly reporting across various data platforms.
• Analysis of visitor numbers, commercial performance and operational matters.
• Work closely with the Duchess on the continued development of the Castle’s visitor
experience and business.

About You

You are likely to have experience in a visitor-facing, tourism, heritage, hospitality, cultural or leisure environment, although we are open-minded about your precise background. You may already be managing a visitor attraction, or you may currently be the person immediately below the senior manager and ready for the next step.

You will bring:
• Experience of working in a busy visitor or customer-facing operation.
• Some experience of supervising, managing or coordinating people.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work comfortably with people at every
level.
• Strong organisational skills and close attention to detail.
• Commercial curiosity and an interest in developing visitor numbers and revenue.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft 365, particularly Excel, together with the
confidence and ability to learn new systems quickly.
• Initiative and the willingness to research, make new contacts and follow opportunities
through.
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to share information
clearly, raise concerns promptly and keep colleagues and senior management
appropriately informed.
• Sound judgement and a practical approach to problem-solving.
• Resilience and the ability to remain calm during busy periods.
• An appreciation of the standards appropriate to both a significant heritage destination
and a private family home.
You do not need to arrive knowing everything about heritage tourism or with an established
international network of tour operators. You do need to be keen to learn, confident enough to ask questions and determined to build your knowledge and contacts. You must be ambitious enough to learn on the job and wish to ultimately take sole responsibility of this role.

Above all, we are looking for someone with energy, warmth, initiative and a genuine willingness to become part of the Inveraray team.
In short, this is a unique opportunity to learn from the leading team behind one of
Scotland’s most extraordinary and historical destinations. The team are wishing to “home-grow” a candidate who, in turn, will be expected to thrive and contribute.

Location and Working Pattern
This is a permanent, full-time role based at Inveraray Castle. The Castle operates seasonally and the working pattern reflects this. During the visitor season, flexibility is essential and the role will include weekends and bank holidays.
During open season annual leave would not normally be taken off other than in exceptional circumstances. Days off, during this period, are taken on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A full, clean driving licence and your own suitable transport are essential.
Remuneration and Package
• Competitive salary, commensurate with experience and suitability for the role.
• Estate accommodation provided as part of the package.
• Council tax paid.
• Mobile phone provided and work calls paid.
• 28 days’ annual leave, plus 4 public holidays over Christmas and New Year. Dates are
subject to the requirements of the peak visitor season and pro-rata during the first year
of employment with the leave year running January-December.
• Permanent employment following successful completion of the initial probationary
period.
The Visitor Experience Manager is employed by Argyll Estates and will work particularly closely
and report into the Duchess of Argyll.
How to Apply

This is a rare opportunity for someone who wants to take the next step in their career and become closely involved in the future of one of Scotland’s most distinctive historic visitor attractions.
If you believe you could bring the energy, warmth, initiative and team spirit we are looking for, please send your CV and a covering letter explaining why you would like to join Inveraray Castle
to: katharine@boldnewrecruitment.co.uk

We believe everyone deserves a great Glasgow life and that starts with the people who work here.
Glasgow Life is a charity like no other. Our vision is to improve the lives of everyone in our city. To help us achieve that, we are looking for a Senior Commercial Manager to join our Retail team.
Our teams focus on making a real difference through culture and sport in Glasgow. If you’re excited by the idea of being part of that, this could be the job for you.

What you need to know
Hours: 35 per week.
Contract type: Fixed Term 3 years until January 2030
Location: Hybrid. You will spend part of your week at home, and part of your week in one of our offices including our head office based in Merchant City which has access to great public transport and discounted parking nearby.

What you’ll do
As a Senior Commercial Operations Manager, you’ll be a part of an established team, reporting to the Head of Commercial and Business Growth. You’ll play an essential role in driving sustainable growth in our retail, catering, and venue hire functions. Your work will make a visible and lasting difference. This could be:
• Forming strategic commercial direction for the critical business units of retail, catering, and venue hire, where customer centricity is a pivotal priority,
• Leading best in class operational standards, objectives, and measurement.
• Bringing an attitude that seeks to constantly improve how the organisation operates commercially.
• Inspiring, leading, and coaching colleagues to deliver shared objectives.
• Aligning commercial priorities with cross functional teams within finance, supply chain, marketing, procurement, driving cross-functional initiatives to achieve shared goals.
Who you are
We’re looking for someone with the right skills who brings energy to the role. If the following sounds like you, apply today!
We’re looking for:
• An astute commercial leader who can both define growth strategy and own the actions linked to operational excellence.
• Experience in leading dynamic and customer orientated teams from sectors such as retail, hospitality, or sales.
Download the Person Specification in the Job Attachments section on MyJobScotland. Use this to shape your application and show how your experience aligns with the job.
When selecting candidates for interviews, managers will look for candidates who meet all the ‘essential’ criteria listed in the Person Specification. If there are many candidates, they may also consider desirable skills. So, include those if they apply to you.
If you still have questions about the role, please contact us at paul.menzies@glasgowlife.org.uk to arrange an informal chat.

What we offer
At Glasgow Life, our work changes lives. As a charity, we bring communities together and support wellbeing through sport, culture, heritage, and learning.
Learn more about Glasgow Life in our 10 Facts video in the Further Information section on MyJobScotland.
We support you to live a great life. Inside and outside of work. Some of our benefits include:

Holiday
When you join, you’ll get 30 days’ holiday. Plus 6.5 public holidays if you’re full-time. This increases to 35 days after 5 years of service.
Fancy a bit more time off? You can buy extra holiday too!
Pension
Join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) – a Defined Benefit scheme that provides you with a secure pension for later life.
Support
Sometimes we all need support and a listening ear. Our free and confidential Employee Assistance Programme can support your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.
Discounts
As a colleague, you can enjoy discounts on the things you love, from Glasgow Club memberships to our museum shops and our online store. We are also part of the cycle-to-work scheme, helping you stay active.
Flexibility and development
We are proud of our flexible and inclusive work policies, which help you balance work and life. We also offer support for learning, development and career progression.

Please note that Glasgow Life is an Arm’s Length External Organisation to Glasgow City Council. We are currently completing a Job Evaluation exercise and introducing a new pay and grading structure. This may impact current salaries quoted in job adverts. To learn more, visit – https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/jobevaluation.

What’s next
To get started, complete our short application form. In this, you’ll fill out:
• Work history
• Qualifications/training
• Key questions like “Why are you a good fit for this role?”
Use the Person Specification in the Job Attachments section to guide your answers.

Important Dates:
The closing date for this job is 11.59pm on 25th October. Interviews are provisionally scheduled for week commencing 2nd November.

Who We Are
Our Corporate Services teams keep Glasgow Life running at its best. From Business & Strategy, Finance, HR, Infrastructure, Commercial, Marketing, they deliver the behind-the-scenes work that powers everything we do. Whether it’s shaping strategy with sharp insights, crafting compelling messages, supporting our people, managing over 100 venues, or generating vital income—this team makes it happen.

Diversity and Fair Work at Glasgow Life
We’re working to build a team that reflects the rich diversity of Glasgow’s communities — where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to be their full, authentic selves at work.
We’re proud to be a Disability Confident and Carer Positive employer, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. Learn more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/the-small-print/an-inclusive-employer
We’re also committed to Fair Work First principles, including effective voice, opportunity, security, fulfilment and respect for all our staff. Learn more about our approach to Fair Work First here: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/about-us/fair-work-first

We’re working hard to address underrepresentation in our workforce. We especially welcome applications from people with disabilities and from ethnic minority communities.

Ready to apply?
Once you apply, add noreply@myjobscotland.gov.uk to your safe sender list so you don’t miss important emails.

We’re excited to hear from you. Let’s shape a great Glasgow life — together.

To apply for this vacancy online please visit https://myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/glasgow/glasgow-life or https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/join-our-team

We are seeking an enthusiastic and experienced Area Manager to lead and support operations across our visitor attraction venues. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in delivering exceptional visitor experiences, driving operational performance, and leading high-performing teams.

Working collaboratively with colleagues and stakeholders, you will ensure the effective day-to-day management of attractions, maintaining high standards of customer service, safety, and commercial performance while supporting the strategic objectives of OneRen.

The Trimontium Trust (a registered charity SCO16646) is an independent Trust which has been successfully running an Accredited Museum in Melrose, displaying artefacts (many on loan from National Museums Scotland) and interpreting the fascinating story of the Roman fort at Trimontium.

Over the last five years the Trust has completed a major refurbishment and extension of the museum (increasing its visitor numbers from 3000 to c11,000 p.a.) and now runs a lively programme of learning and engagement activities. The museum has been awarded a five-star grading from VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance Scheme. The Trust has recently secured funding to run a three-year project, Revealing Trimontium, which will connect the museum to the Roman fort site at Newstead, through the creation of a cinema space and the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality. The Trust is now seeking to appoint a Heritage Innovation Manager to lead this project and Digital Engagement and Interpretation Manager to develop the offer, working alongside our Volunteer and Visitor Experience Manager and volunteer team.

Please see attached document for full job description.

To apply: please send a covering letter explaining your suitability for the post and CV demonstrating appropriate experience, to: recruitment@trimontium.co.uk

Closing date: 16th October
Possible interview date: 9th November

Job Purpose

The Estate Supervisor will lead the estate team at Mar Lodge. The role will primarily involve responsibility for delivering all aspects of estate maintenance, including buildings and utilities, vehicles, tracks, forestry and farmland infrastructure. We are therefore looking for a candidate who is highly organised with general abilities who values working within a flexible and supportive team culture, and who would uphold the values of the Trust. The ideal candidate will be passionate about promoting nature recovery in the largest National Nature Reserve in Britain.

Context

Mar Lodge Estate is made up of more than 29,000 hectares of inspiring Scottish landscape: heather covered moorland, Caledonian pine forest, towering mountains and the Quoich wetlands, home to wading birds and otters. There are 15 Munros here, including 4 of the 5 highest mountains in the UK. The wild beauty of Mar Lodge Estate unfolds around our 19th century shooting lodge, which is used for both holiday accommodation and events.

The beautiful ancient pinewoods that surround the Lodge are home to red squirrels and pine martens as well as birds such as the crossbill and black grouse. We have a wide range of landscape conservation projects underway, including woodland regeneration through deer reduction, footpath repair and peatland restoration.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

Planning
• Manage maintenance and compliance master sheets so that all works are planned according to priority, recorded in terms of progress and accurate costings tracked.

Building Maintenance
• Carrying out property condition/safety and fire safety checks and inspections in line with Safe Systems of Work.
• Identifying, initiating and monitoring contractor repair work, both in house and by external contractors, in line with contractor management procedures, and legislation.
• Maintaining on-line records in relation to the elements above to ensure compliance with legislation.

Forestry interventions.
• Plan felling and thinning rotation in accordance with the Mar Lodge Estate management objectives and long-term forest plan in conjunction with the ecology team. The estate supervisor will be involved in the periodic review of the aforementioned documents.
• Manage thinning, timber harvesting and transport operations. Manage the periodic safety inspections of trees and any subsequent necessary interventions.

Infrastructure maintenance and compliance.
• Oversee operation and maintenance of infrastructure on the estate, including roads, bridges, private water supplies, district heat network, solar panels, sewage treatment and biomass heating system.

Asset Control
• Keep an inventory of all estate tools, plant, vehicles and equipment and ensure they are securely stored and audited periodically

Grounds/Farmland maintenance.
• Work with the estate manager, conservation manager and the visitor services manager to update and deliver a landscape plan for the Mar Lodge Policies/designated landscape.
• Provide practical support on the delivery of conservation projects, such as peatland restoration.
• Erect and maintain fencing, manage conservation hay meadows and wetland interventions, manage hedgerows, manage formal lawns and garden shrubbery.

Health and Safety
• Prepare risk assessments for all activities undertaken by the estate team in accordance with Health & Safety legislation tasks. Record and report accidents, incidents and near misses as appropriate. In conjunction with others (Estate Manager, VSM, NTS H&S Team), prepare Fire Risk Assessments for estate buildings. Lead on delivery of remedial actions. Other necessary H&S administration (COSHH, HAVs recording, etc).
• In line with stated Trust policies and approaches to ensure the health and welfare of staff/volunteers and visitors in compliance with legislation.
Advocacy
• Contribute where appropriate to Trust membership recruitment.