Full Time

Thank you for your interest in the post of Steward with Historic Environment Scotland (HES), based at Blackness Castle.

You will be responsible for delivering the highest standards of visitor experience working across all areas, including in the shop, admissions area and outside, with delivery of information to visitors a core part of the role.

This is a full time, 37 hours per week, year-round, permanent, and pensionable position.

Please note you will be required to work some weekends and public holidays.

Distillery Ambassador Opportunity!

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a fun, energetic and enthusiastic individual to join our family as one of our prestigious Distillery Ambassadors at our Edinburgh Gin distillery. As a Distillery Ambassador, you will be a true advocate of Edinburgh Gin, delivering engaging distillery tours and tastings, virtual experiences, retail and event work.

We have a multi award-winning premium gin and our visitor experience is rated on Trip Advisor as one of Scotland’s top-rated tourist attractions! Our Edinburgh Gin Distillery can be found in the bustling Westend of its home city.

We’re looking for someone who is charismatic, can use their own initiative, has a positive work attitude and a strong focus on providing an exceptional visitor experience. Our experience offering is varied and our visitors come from all over the world to learn about Edinburgh Gin, so the ability to adapt and build rapport with different groups is essential. Typical daily tasks include hosting tours, guiding guests through in-person or online tastings, and assisting with the preparation and clearing down of experience spaces on-site.

Our Distillery Ambassador role is a varied and rewarding role so… if this type of role excites you then we’d love to hear from you!

The working pattern is flexible hours on an annualised basis and will include weekend and occasional evening work. We are an equal opportunities employer, however unfortunately due to the age of the premises the distillery is not currently wheelchair accessible. Candidates must also be able to demonstrate that they currently have the required documents to live and work in the UK.

Edinburgh Gin is part of Ian Macleod Distillers, an entrepreneurial, family owned whisky and spirits business who own other premium and luxury brands such as Glengoyne, Tamdhu, Smokehead, to name but a few! ‘Crafting Spirits With Passion’ is what we do best. This is a rewarding role with a competitive hourly rate and excellent staff benefits. If this role appears to be ‘right up your street’, then we’d love to hear from you…

Please note, the closing date for applications is Sunday 4th June 2023.

JOB PURPOSE

An interesting role responsible for the delivery, either through the supervision of contractors or carrying out the work in house, of the maintenance needs and buildings compliance at Brodie Castle & Estate portfolio that encompasses, Historic Listed buildings, modern visitor centers, tenanted dwellings, holiday cottages and estate infrastructure.

This requires an organised individual with understanding of facilities management and practical maintenance skills. This role would ideally be for somebody with experience of supervising contractors and small projects, and setting up safe, risk-aware working environments.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

Achieve high standards of maintenance and presentation for estate buildings and infrastructure

• Working closely with the regional buildings and property team to deliver an annual programme of planned preventative and reactive maintenance, to time and budget. Property assets include:

o Brodie Castle, Playful Pavillion, Playful Garden structures, Adventure Playground, car parks and surrounding landscapes
o Residential tenanted property
o 4 Holiday lets
o Bird Hides, Agri shed, Gardeners Bothy and buildings
o Sewage treatment facilities and Septic Tanks

• Responsible for the co-ordination and supervision of qualified contractors on site.

• Work with estate tenants and regional Estate Surveyor to ensure that residential properties meet relevant condition compliance standards.

• Enable visitor centres and parking facilities to open all year round through proactive cold weather planning.

• Operate fit-for-purpose workshop and storage facilities, including maintaining and servicing tools.

• Ensure all customer touch points of bins, car parks and back of house areas are kept to an excellent standard.

Work collaboratively with the Operations Manager, all the heads of department and the regional team in ensuring compliance with health and safety, security, managing risks and establishing safe systems of work for the buildings

• Conduct planned and dynamic risk assessment of maintenance tasks, for staff and contractors, adhering to the properties’ safe working procedures and reducing the likelihood of incidents or accidents.

• Manage our preparedness for emergencies, including the testing and maintenance of fire, security and emergency lighting systems and equipment, plus the induction of staff in response procedures.

• Maintain comprehensive documentation of our compliance routines and report on these as required.

• Contribute to cyclical reviews and audits of our risk assessments and emergency processes, and progress with identified actions.

• Prepare COSHH assessments and the safe management of chemicals.

Provide effective financial, people and project management

• Work within agreed budgets, negotiating costs with external contractors, ordering goods and services, and monitoring spend to ensure efficient use of charitable resources.

• Lead a motivated and effective maintenance team, through task-setting, performance management and personal development.

• Develop and deliver projects to make a step-change in our properties’ maintenance, conservation, environmental and visitor experience standards. Work in line with CDM regulations, as required.

• Champion environmentally responsible practices to minimise our wastage, carbon footprint and impact on the landscape.

• Undertake duty management and first aid cover as required, including occasional weekend working.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE

• Essential

• Substantial experience in a wide range of maintenance/DIY tasks, including practical skills in basic plumbing, electrical, joinery and grounds-keeping.

• Experience of leading and motivating staff and/or volunteers.

• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.

• Strong organisational, forward planning and multi-tasking skills with an ability to prioritise and respond to emergencies.

• Experience of risk management and championing health and safety at work.

• Driving license and competence with winter driving, use of trailers and ATVs.

• Computer literacy, including email, internet, word-processing and spreadsheets.

Desirable

• Awareness and interest in heritage buildings or landscape conservation.

• Experience of designing and executing projects.

• First Aid certification (or willingness to train and use).

• An appreciation for the work and mission of the National Trust for Scotland.

The Purpose, Context, Key Responsibilities, and Person Specification reflect the requirements of the job at the time of issue. The Trust reserves the right to amend these with appropriate consultation and/or request the post-holder to undertake any activities that it believes to be reasonable within the broad scope of the job or his/her general abilities.

JOB PURPOSE
To provide operational coordination and supervision of catering, retail, visitor services, and events at 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.
The Visitor Services Supervisor at a Trust property plays a pivotal role ensuring that the management objectives are achieved through excellent customer service. With delegated responsibility for catering, retail, events and duty management this job is very often the “face” of the Trust to visitors and suppliers, directly influencing public perceptions of the Trust and is crucial to developing and maintaining the property’s local/national reputation.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
Supervising/undertaking the day-to-day operation of the property and environs to ensure an excellent customer/visitor experience. This includes supervision of:
 Visitor services, events, catering and retail offer (including ordering, merchandising, sales targets).
 Line management of Visitor Services Assistants and volunteers.
 Supervising staff in the café.
 Upholding food and hygiene standards and preparation of food.
 Duty management and oversight/maintenance of the property.
 Ensure the property social media is managed to generate interest, engagement and help drive visitors.
 Deliver the schools programme to meet the targets for number of visits, revenue generated.
 Support the informal learning and community engagement / outreach activity, e.g. public events.
 Ticketing & Membership sales (to targets) and general customer service (individuals, education visits, other groups).
 Security of the Property.
 Health & Safety procedures, emergency procedures, and environmental procedures.
 Deputising for the Visitor Services Manager on-site and off-site as required.

Responsible for day to day financial administration at the property, including:
 Ensuring the completion of Cash/till reconciliation.
 Week-end reports and reconciliation.
 Completion of the banking and all cash handling processes.

Supporting the Visitor Services Manager with:
 Recruitment; induction; development; and management of all visitor services employees and volunteers such that they understand and are equipped to fulfill their roles to the standards required and that they feel valued, respected and supported.

Working closely with other managers across the Property to deliver a programme of visitor events, which increase visitor numbers, drive secondary spend and support overall Property targets.

Instil a Health & Safety culture across the property, ensuring the team work within the property’s ‘Safe System of Work’ to reduce risk of incidents and accidents to volunteers, employees and visitors.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE
Qualifications
 No formal educational qualification required (but see “Experience” below).
 A full, clean driving license for driving in the UK.

Desirable
 Food & Hygiene Qualification.
 Current First Aid certification (or willingness to train and use).
 A formal qualification in Catering, Hospitality, Tourism or Event Management.
 A recognised SQA Licensing Qualification e.g. Scottish Personal Licence Holders Certificate and Personal License.

Skills, Experience & Knowledge
Essential
 Significant previous experience of working in an operations role in the visitor/heritage attraction industry – including supervision of staff and/or responsibility for specific activities.
 Previous event coordination/management experience.
 Excellent customer service skills.
 Excellent organisational, administrative and time-management skills with the ability to prioritise and re-prioritise workload to meet changing demands.
 Proven sales skills with the ability to achieve targets.
 The ability to think and act quickly when confronted with emergencies.
 Competent user of Microsoft Office products.
 An understanding and commitment to the aims and objectives of the National Trust for Scotland.
 Access to own transport.

Desirable
 Experience of volunteer management.

DIMENSIONS AND SCOPE OF JOB

Finance Management
 Share responsibility for achieving the income budget together with the Visitor Services Manager.
 Monitor commercial performance and adjust activities to capitalize on sales opportunities and run a cost-effective operation.
 Supervise daily till operations and perform end-of-day income reconciliation.
 Assist the Visitor Services Manager with menu costing and stock-taking.

Tools / equipment / systems
 Access to laptop and relevant online people management, training, financial monitoring and stock ordering systems, including NTS intranet and Microsoft 365.
 EPOS tills and chip and pin machines.
 Fully equipped commercial catering kitchens.
 Use of internal finance and banking systems.

Performance indicators and targets
 Weekly, monthly and annual sales and cost of sales targets.
 Food compliance standards and record-keeping.
 Visitor enjoyment reviews and ratings from visitor surveys and visitor feedback.

The Key Responsibilities, Scope of Job, and Required Qualifications, Skills, Experience & Knowledge reflect the requirements of the job at the time of issue. The Trust reserves the right to amend these with appropriate consultation and/or request the post-holder to undertake any activities that it believes to be reasonable within the broad scope of the job or his/her general abilities.

The VEA will work closely with the Visitor Experience Supervisor to ensure the Club’s standards are always met. Museum tours, Ibrox Tours and customer service within the gift shop will form most of this role. The successful candidate will be one of the first points of contact for visitors. Having the knowledge and ability to respond effectively to inquiries, sell tickets, discuss events, and have product knowledge of the retail goods, will be vital. Having a deep understanding of Ibrox tours and the museum content will also be essential. This role will be best suited to individuals who share a passion for football and football heritage.