Visitor Services

JOB PURPOSE
This is an exciting and varied role within the Visitor Services Team at Weavers Cottage as part of the Tenement House, Holmwood and Weaver’s Cottage cluster. We are looking for energetic, cheerful, and talkative individuals to join our team this season.
Working at all 3 sites will be required on a rota basis, but this role will be based primarily at the Weavers Cottage. Through engaging and informative interactions, you’ll help share stories about these iconic sites and build support and understanding for the National Trust for Scotland.
As a heritage site, Weavers Cottage provides visitors with an immersive experience of Scotland’s textile past. The cottage has been carefully restored to represent the living and working conditions of an 18th–19th century Scottish handloom weaver, featuring the last working handloom remaining from a peak of several hundred looms once operating in the village. The working loom demonstrates the craft of weaving—particularly tartan and wool textiles, which were central to Kilbarchan’s thriving industry.

• You’ll help welcome visitors from across the globe and ensure they have an enjoyable and memorable experience here from the moment they arrive to the moment they leave.

• You’ll work flexibly and with an eye for detail, ensuring the smooth and safe operations in Admissions, Retail, and Events activities whilst making the property the best possible place to visit and work.

• By maintaining excellent standards of service, optimising opportunities to generate income, and ensuring that the site and its assets are safe and secure, you will be a vital part of furthering the valuable work of the National Trust for Scotland.

• You will contribute to the team property targets and work well within a team.

• You will work with staff and volunteers by understanding of the property establishing and maintaining the Trust’s reputation as a guardian of Scotland’s heritage, and as the organisation that actively wants people to engage with and enjoy the properties it cares for. Training will be provided.

Our ideal candidate, you should be an excellent storyteller with a knack for customer service. An outstanding tour guide will perform minor alterations to each itinerary to suit the unique interests of each group and will lead daily demonstrations for visitors on a cottage loom. You will have excellent presentation skills and be able to communicate the importance of Scottish heritage and its preservation and work well within a team.
Someone who wants to help us generate the income and recruit the members that enable us to care for all the unique and valuable properties within the Glasgow cluster. They will enjoy the variety and exciting challenges that come with working across several different sites and areas.
An interest in Weaving, heritage crafts, or textile history is desirable.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
Provide a consistently high standard of visitor care
• Engage with and make our visitors feel welcome at all times, exploring the unique exhibitions and experiences each site has to offer.
• Be responsible and proactive. Ensuring all day-to-day tasks are completed as instructed.
• Provide a responsive, friendly and efficient service tailored to the needs of both individual visitors and tour groups.
• Be passionate about our sites. Develop a thorough understanding of the sites within the Glasgow Cluster, enabling you to share stories with visitors, offer ideas to help them enjoy their visit and answer common questions. Training of each property will be provided.
• Have a flexible approach to working hours and days including working weekend and Bank Holidays as appropriate.
• To work across departments when necessary, supporting the wider Tenement House and Holmwood House teams.
• Promote other local properties and the work of the Trust.
• Focus on the details. Ensure retail displays remain stocked, tidy and enticing throughout the day.
• Assist with the set-up, running and clean-up of functions and events.
• Work flexibly and in harmony with your colleagues across sites and departments, supporting each other to make best use of team resources, especially at busy times.
• Take the initiative and address problems or deal with tasks as they arise.
• Listen and respond open to visitors’ comments to ensure that visitors leave happy and looking forward to their next visit. Feedback on any issues as they arise to ensure the smooth running of the site.
• Help gather photos/videos for social media to promote our activities and encourage visits.
• Be able to take responsibility for your own development and learning.

Generate the income that enables us to look after special places
• Be aware of the team’s targets for generating income and other key objectives and aim to achieve and exceed them.
• Work with the Visitor Services Manager and property staff to deliver financial targets and other KPI’s.
• Be proactive in upselling our shop and membership products and services by seeking to understand customers’ preferences.
• Share the benefits of membership with ticket holders and actively seek innovative ways to encourage recruitment
• Actively promote the work of the National Trust for Scotland and the value of membership to existing and potential members
• Be responsible for accurate and secure till operation and sales processing and support the reconciliation of end-of-day takings. Handling cash accurately and processing sales.

Maintain excellent standards of site and personal presentation and safety
• Help with behind-the-scenes tasks to prepare for opening at the start of the day and close-down at the end.
• Share responsibility for housekeeping duties at the beginning of and end of each shift (e.g. hoovering, rubbish removal) including staffroom and staff bathroom
• Take pride in your surroundings by maintaining high standards throughout the day and helping to clean public and staff areas.
• Report all instances of damage, wear and tear or maintenance promptly.
• Ensure you are clearly identifiable and appropriately dressed by wearing uniform, name badges, and PPE as required.
• Share responsibility for the health and welfare of property staff, volunteers and visitors by adhering to NTS Health, Safety and Environment policies and guidelines.
• Work in cooperation with other departments; gardening, grounds maintenance, contractors and NTS staff.
• Be mindful of the security needs of the property and its contents, minimising opportunities for theft or damage through diligent monitoring of visitors and the implementation of security measures (e.g. locking up procedures etc.)
• Participate in the safe evacuation and management of colleagues and visitors in the event of fire, security alert or alarm

SCOPE OF JOB
People Management
· Will have regular (daily) interaction with members of the public of all ages and abilities and with our team of volunteers.

Finance Management
· Share till reconciliation duties, as appointed by Visitor Services Manager.

· Assist Retail/Catering with stocktaking and goods receipting.

Tools/equipment and cleaning chemicals
· Will be a user of cleaning chemical while supporting housekeeping of staff and visitor areas.
· Is expected to work and ensure compliance within the property’s ‘safe systems of work’ (the system for managing health and safety)

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE
Qualifications

• No formal educational qualification required. Relevant training provided.

Desirable Skills, Experience & Knowledge
• Experience in a customer-facing role
• A passion for weaving, heritage crafts, and social history
• Excellent story-telling skills, the ability to lead a tour and make alterations to suit each itinerary
• Understanding and commitment to the aims and objectives of the National Trust for Scotland
• Excellent “front of house” persona – warm, welcoming, helpful, patient and understanding
• Excellent communication skills, a passion for sharing stories and offering memorable experiences
Confident, enthusiastic verbal communicator with excellent interpersonal skills
• Persuasive selling skills, tailoring conversations to customers’ needs and product knowledge, Strong selling skills, particularly for membership and guidebooks
• Ability to work within a team or independently to a high and safe standard
• Caring and helpful attitude towards visitors and colleagues
• Comfortable with being flexible and adapting working patterns to meet property needs
• Excellent time management skills and the ability to prioritise
• Attention to detail and pride in presentation standards
• Ability to be flexible, in particular to adapt working patterns and tasks to meet day-to-day variations in visitors, catering and general property needs.
• Ability to adjust pace to match customer flow without compromising quality of service
• Warm, welcoming front-of-house presence

September to December

What do we do? Buccleuch is a diverse and innovative business with a passion for sustainable land use in rural Britain. At Bowhill House, one of our four unique heritage destinations and a hidden treasure in the Scottish Borders, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Visitors can take a woodland walk, marvel at our beautiful gardens, explore the adventure playground, join a guided tour, and treat themselves to home baking and delicious lunches in the Old Kitchen Café or refreshments from The Horsebox.

The role? This is a varied role supporting all aspects of our seasonal events and helping us to deliver a memorable visitor experience. You’ll find yourself welcoming guests, answering queries, ticketing, serving food and drinks, and helping our younger visitors enjoy our facilities and events safely.

Seasonal work will be available across selected dates, including weekends in September, from 10th – 18th, 23rd – 25th and 30th – 31st October for Halloween, and selected Christmas event dates from 4th – 6th, 11th – 13th, 18th – 20th and 22nd – 24th December. You don’t need to be available for every date, but ideally, you will be able to offer good flexibility across our events, with weekend and occasional evening availability.

The person? You will be great with people, enthusiastic, and happy to get involved in a busy visitor services environment. Previous customer-facing or catering experience is a plus, but training will be provided. Due to our rural location, access to your own transport is required. This role could be a great fit if you have flexible availability, are looking for extra income, or the chance to gain experience in a stunning visitor attraction.

Why work for us? This is a unique opportunity to work in the beautiful setting of Bowhill House, in a friendly, fun and supportive environment.

How to apply? Please email your CV and covering letter to the Recruitment team at recruitment@buccleuch.com.

The closing date for applications is 30 August 2026.

JOB PURPOSE
A Visitor Services Assistant is crucial to our visitors’ “first impression” of the property and in establishing and maintaining the Trust’s reputation as a guardian of Scotland’s heritage and as the organisation that actively wants people to engage with and enjoy the properties it cares for. As you will be working in a customer-facing role, this means you will directly engage with visitors on arrival (and often at departure) so excellence in customer care is paramount, as you will be responsible for ensuring you are providing our Visitors with the best entry options (Memberships, admissions tickets, guidebooks). The Visitor Services Assistant is expected to meet (if not exceed) sales targets for the selling of memberships and Guidebooks. You will also be expected to be knowledgeable and actively engage with our visitors and provide general “tourist information” for the locality and other nearby Trust properties.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
To always provide a consistently high standard of visitor care.
Ensuring the site is ready to open, welcoming visitors to the site and processing their admission or catering 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.
 Welcome International visitors and aiding with specific needs.
 Welcome groups in an efficient and warm manner.
 Answering visitors’ queries about the site, facilities, and the local area.
 Providing information about the site, its history, contents, offers, and merchandise.
 Promoting the National Trust for Scotland brand to include our Membership scheme, events, upselling other properties and any promotional campaigns.
 Being proactive in the selling of Membership and Gift Aid.
 To support the operational needs of the business with occasional cross department working such as guiding and retail.

JOB PURPOSE

As a front-line member of the Culloden team your job is give an amazing welcome and tell the story of this iconic site. You will be responsible for welcoming our visitors to the site and making sure that they are greeted and maintain parking facilities. You will be part of our Visit Scotland 5-star team acting as an ambassador for the site and the National Trust for Scotland.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

This role will assist the wider Welcome team to deliver high quality visitor experience at Culloden Battlefield (including but not limited to):

• To provide excellent customer service.
• Be responsible and proactive. Ensuring all day-to-day tasks are completed including responding to customer enquiries, maintaining car park machines, and keeping our facilities clean from litter.
• Working with the Visitor Services Manager (Welcome) to deliver an excellent visitor experience from arrival to departure.
• Cash handling duties including emptying of car park machines. Ensuring cash is handled accurately.
• To ensure perpetually high levels of accuracy are maintained for all transactions and data recording.
• To actively drive-up selling opportunities through strong product knowledge and an excellent customer service to maximise sales of admission tickets, membership and donations.
• Be able to take responsibility for your own development and learning.
• Answer basic questions about operating hours.
• Have a flexible approach to working hours and days including working weekends and Bank Holidays as appropriate.
• To work across departments when necessary, supporting the wider Culloden Cluster team
• To develop a working knowledge of the history of the site and being able to relate that to visitors in a friendly and engaging way.
• To provide consistently excellent customer service when dealing with high volumes of customers.
• Adhering to the property’s quality standards including wearing of uniform.
• Ensuring health, safety and welfare of property staff, volunteers, and visitors by adhering to the Trust’s Health, Safety and Environment policies and guidelines. This includes working within the property’s “Safe System of Work” (the system for managing Health & Safety).

• The current duties of this job do not require a criminal records (Disclosure Scotland) check to be carried out.