Cadw Head of Visitor Experience and Business Development in Cardiff

Cadw is the Welsh Government historic environment service and combines the conservation, maintenance and presentation of a national collection of historic monuments, including two World Heritage Sites, with regulatory, advisory and grant-making functions in the wider historic environment.

This is a new role, tasked with taking a strategic approach to the development of Cadw's historic places so that they maximise their opportunity for improving visitor access, enjoyment and income generation. The post holder will play a key role in helping to plan and

implement Cadw's investment strategy and respond to the needs of visitors from within Wales and beyond.

Reporting to the Head of Cadw, this post will be responsible for providing strategic leadership to the teams responsible for the visitor-related activities at the 131 historic properties in care of which 24 are directly staffed by Cadw. This includes the teams responsible for visitor-facing site operations, public engagement, membership, volunteering, marketing and business development. The overall objective of the branch is to deliver an engaging experience for visitors to our sites, to drive up visitor numbers and membership, and to increase commercial revenue in line with the Cadw Business Plan.

The role will work alongside the heads of the other two operational branches - Historic Environment Branch and Properties in Care Branch - and the Head of Finance and Central Services - to form the Cadw Senior Executive Team (SET). All the members of SET also participate in the quarterly Cadw Board meetings and meetings of the wider Cadw Leadership Team (CLT).

What your organisation will expect?

Professional Roles

• You will be a Principal/Professional Advisor for a specific subject/area, on behalf of the organisation. (This may include a professional qualification or being a member of a chartered profession).

Generalist Roles

• You will have experience in delivering large scale projects. You will lead/manage/ have overarching responsibilities for multiple work-streams (at least four).
• You will be able to deal with complex problems, displaying high levels of judgement with limited precedent/guidance, using creative and innovative thinking to develop new approaches to deliver better outcomes for Wales.
• You will have a detailed knowledge of the organisation together with a clear working understanding of the external operating environment. You will be politically aware and will consider the long-term implications of policy and other changes, interpreting trends and developments, and produce future policies and organisational strategies in the light of these.

What your team will expect?

• You will be a strong leader with experience of building and developing high performing teams, inspiring and motivating in order to deliver results through others. You will be able to build co-operation between teams and provide direction across teams.
• You will have a demonstrable understanding of diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, promoting a culture of inclusion, creating an environment where individuals feel safe to challenge, share ideas and express concerns and embracing new ways of working.
• You will create a culture of continuous self-development, role-modelling self-learning and development, whilst encouraging others to take all opportunities available. You will ensure ensuring that opportunities are available to all staff regardless of their background, supporting everyone to reach their full potential.

What your stakeholders will expect?

• You will establish, build and maintain effective relationships or partnerships with key organisational stakeholders (e.g. Ministers and senior employees in the organisation and external organisations, often with conflicting views).
• You will have high level of representational, influencing, interpersonal and organisational skills together with the ability to negotiate effectively with a range of contacts and/or relationships (e.g. directly advising Ministers and/or the most senior officers externally, acting as a primary/lead contact on behalf of the organisation).
• You will work with a high level of autonomy, demonstrating an ability to take/make decisions (with significant risk/impact) on behalf of the organisation whilst balancing the impact/risk associated with those decisions.

Key Tasks

• To provide strategic leadership for all the teams across the Visitor Experience and Business Development Branch ensuring that the workforce is highly motivated and skilled to deliver excellent visitor and business services.
• To lead on the engagement of new and existing audiences in relevant and inclusive ways, constantly challenging teams to improve access, and to tell stories in authoritative but also meaningful and innovative ways.
• To lead on the regular review and delivery of a commercial strategy - that will maximise current income streams and create new income opportunities to allow the visitor business to grow and contribute to Cadw's wider core purpose to care for the historic environment of Wales for present and future generations.
• To foster a culture of customer service excellence across the branch and in particular across the site-based and visitor-facing teams.
• To provide strategic oversight and support for the teams responsible for the delivery of a creative and engaging programme of visitor interactions – including on-site interpretation, events (whether Cadw-led or through third-party hires), educational activities, and digital content encouraging them to keep ahead of best practice and working with partners wherever possible.
• To provide strategic oversight and setting direction for the teams responsible for the development and growth of the Cadw membership scheme, commercial partnerships, retail, volunteering and participation opportunities.
• To provide strategic oversight and setting direction for the teams responsible for publications, communications and marketing – including digital activities – being a brand champion for Cadw and the 'Wales brand'.
• To be an active member of the Cadw Board, SET and CLT, reporting on the performance of Cadw's visitor business and related matters.
• To work with other members of the Cadw Board and SET to identify opportunities for programmes of strategic capital investment in the visitor infrastructure while allowing continued safe public access – including through participation in the Cadw capital investment board and monument development teams.
• To work alongside the Health and Safety team to manage risk at our monuments and provide a safe environment for our visitors and staff.
• To contribute, alongside the Cadw Board and SET, to Cadw's three yearly business planning cycle, and to work with teams within the Branch in identifying and delivering against key performance indicators and annual priority activities for the Branch.
• To have overall responsibility for the Branch budgets – including income (currently c £9.6m) and expenditure, with appropriate controls in place.
• To represent Cadw at high level strategic meetings with internal and external organisations and stakeholders relating to public engagement, research, marketing and commercial programmes – such as Visit Wales colleagues and the Historic Wales Partnership.
• To provide advice to the Deputy Director for Cadw and to Ministers on all visitor experience and business development related matters.

Development opportunities

This post offers the opportunity to lead the development of Cadw's historic places so that they maximise their opportunity for improving visitor access, enjoyment and income generation. It offers the opportunity to work with both internal and external stakeholders, including Ministers, in maximising the potential of our national collection of historic sites both as tourism visitor attractions and community assets.