Head of Visitor Services, Retail and Admissions Windsor, South East England, England
Job description
It’s inspiring progress in a team who present magnificence every day…
Our exceptional Visitor Operations teams welcome people from around the globe to enjoy the magnificent buildings, residences, shops and displays of the Royal Collection – including at Windsor Castle.
Windsor is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, open to visitors throughout the year. Founded by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, it has since been the home of 40 monarchs.
You’ll take on an exciting role, with responsibility for day-to-day delivery of public-facing activities at Windsor Castle.
You’ll strive to continually develop and improve our Visitor Services (including Duty Management and Security), Admissions, Retail and Catering operations thorough meticulous planning and exceptional execution - implementing strategies to enhance the visitor experience and engagement, whilst focussing on a number of financial targets and KPIs, to drive secondary spend.
You will be leading large and diverse teams, who are passionate about what they do – supporting them to learn, engage and work together to delight our visitors at every interaction.
This role offers an amazing opportunity to join the senior management team at Windsor, overseeing a team of approximately 150 staff (rising even further during our peak periods) and a total operating budget of £21.2 Million, as well as contributing to the strategic direction of the wider RCT Visitor Operations department.
No two days will be the same for you in this role with accountabilities in a host of areas including operational leadership, strategic planning, commercial and financial management and visitor experience development.
You’ll be an experienced operations manager, ideally having overseen a large tourist attraction (or similar scale of site) and will have the knowledge needed to balance both operational and strategic aspects of Visitor Operations.
- Commercially focused, you're able to provide evidence of managing increasing visitor numbers and associated income, as well as continually seeking to improve the overall visitor experience.
- A people-focused leader with the ability to coach, develop and manage a team with confidence, whilst motivating those around you.
- Strong commercial acumen – able to drive income at key touchpoints, whilst ensuring appropriate control of costs.
- Brilliant communication and interpersonal skills gained through experience of managing multi-disciplinary teams, plus the ability to demonstrate this with both internal and external stakeholders.
- Project Management experience with the ability to identify and mitigate risks, working with third-party partners, manage budgets and drive successful delivery.
- Ability to think creatively and pragmatically, whilst driving improvement and change in a busy environment - combined with the ability to some problems in an ever-changing environment.
- Ability to demonstrate influencing, negotiation, and communication skills, building trusting working relationships quickly
Benefits
We know that to deliver our best work; we need to feel at our best. That’s why at the Royal Household we offer a generous benefits package designed to support your wellbeing and life priorities.
Enjoy 25 days annual leave, rising to 30 days (plus bank holidays) dependent on the length of time you have worked for us.
Our excellent non-contributory pension plan (we’ll contribute 15% and you can contribute more if you wish) is highly valued by our employees, as is complimentary lunch on-site to keep you fuelled throughout the day.
Flexible and hybrid working varies across different roles, and we’ll discuss the options available to you that will suit both your job requirements and individual preferences.
We also offer a range of leave options to support your life priorities, such as parental pay and leave and volunteering days, as well as benefits to support your physical and mental wellbeing
