Visitor Services Supervisor

Overview

Organisation:
The National Trust for Scotland

JOB PURPOSE

To provide operational coordination and supervision of visitor services (including Food & Beverage, Retail & Admissions, Holiday Accommodation) 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, and with delegated responsibility for all visitor services areas and duty management is very often the “face” of the Trust to visitors and suppliers. As such, they directly influence public perceptions of the Trust and are crucial to developing and maintaining the property’s local / national reputation.

• Supervising / undertaking the day-to-day operation of visitor services areas to ensure an excellent visitor experience. This includes supervision of:
• F&B (main area of focus) – food preparation and baking, menu development, costings, stock management, food safety management system, tearoom serving and seating areas.
• Retail & Admissions – ticketing & membership sales, stock management, visual merchandising.
• Holiday Accommodation – cleaning and setting up property in advance of guest arrivals, stock management, liaising with external laundry service.
• Line management of Visitor Services Assistants and supervision of Visitor Service Volunteers.
• Ensuring property social media is managed to generate interest, engagement and help drive visitor numbers.
• Health & safety and emergency procedures.
• Security and maintenance of the property.
• Duty management and oversight of the property.
• 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 completion of daily cash / till reconciliation.
• Weekly reports and reconciliation.
• Completion of 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 supervisors / 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 employees, volunteers and visitors.

Qualifications
No formal educational qualification required (but see “Experience” below).
A full, clean driving license for driving in the UK.

Skills, Experience & Knowledge
Essential
Significant previous experience of working in an operations role in the hospitality industry – including supervision of staff and / or responsibility for specific activities.
Food preparation / baking in a commercial kitchen environment.
First class 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
Food Hygiene Qualification.
A formal qualification in Heritage Management, Hospitality, Tourism or Event Management.
Previous event coordination / management experience.

Finance Management
Share responsibility for achieving property budget together with the Visitor Services Manager.
Monitor commercial performance and adjust activities to capitalise on sales opportunities and run a cost-effective operation.
Supervise daily till operations, reconciliations and reporting.

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 kitchen.
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.