Head of Visitor Experience

If you have a background developing and delivering outstanding visitor experiences and visitor programmes and want to transform experiences for millions of people across three nations: look no further than this role. The National Trust plays a pivotal role in connecting people with nature, beauty and history. At the heart of our strategy is a commitment to providing great experiences, ensuring our places and collections are more relevant, useful and deliver more benefit to more people across the nations we serve.

Leading a small but dynamic team who work collaboratively with others across the Trust to establish how visitor experiences and programmes at the places in our care should evolve into the future. You and your national team will lead projects and programmes to re-imagine the visitor experience we offer outdoors, at our pay-for-entry cultural heritage properties, and through our visitor programmes. Crucially, you will lead through others, commissioning work from other teams, and influencing other directorate’s plans. You will also provide inspirational professional leadership to the hundreds of people outside your direct line management in experiences and programming roles at properties, regions and countries. You’ll help others understand how - through the evolution of our visitor business and visitor experiences - they can enable everyone to feel welcome, have an equally positive experiences, and play their full part in tackling the climate and nature crisis.

**Salary: £64,311 - £68, 400 Dependent on experience
***Internally you'll be known as Head of Experience Development.**

What it's like to work here:Your contractual location will be our head office in Swindon, however there will be an opportunity to explore and agree hybrid working arrangements which strike the right balance for you and the Trust. The role will involve regular travel to our head office and various locations across the UK to meet with stakeholders and to carry out work.

You'll be part of the national Visitor Experience leadership team, working alongside the Head of Visitor Experience Delivery (leading our day-to-day visitor experience) and Head of Public Engagement Programming (leading our multi-channel creative and cultural programmes). The national VE team works across all areas of the organisation to champion the voice of the visitor, establish a shared direction and priorities, and provide the support to properties to make it happen.

What you'll be doing:You'll need the energy, vision, brilliant leadership and relationship management skills, strategic thinking, and the ability to think both creatively and practically in order to help us design engaging and relevant visits that genuinely meet audience needs. You'll also need the commercial understanding to help us ensure that our offer is financially sustainable. This role offers you the opportunity to influence at a high level across other areas of the organisation: creating a shared vision for the future of visitor experiences and visitor programming and the roadmap for delivery so teams across the organisation can turn that vision into reality.

In a truly dynamic and influential role, you'll lead the way in delivering ground-breaking initiatives to provide our visitors with experiences they'll never forget.

Who we're looking forJoining us from a high-level role, preferably with a background in the recreational, cultural or visitor attractions sectors, you are:

- An inspirational leader adept at leading and motivating large teams; able to inspire others to drive forward new ideas and approaches
- A brilliant influencer and networker, confident and capable at building relationships with leaders, partners, and teams who you'll hand over delivery to
- A visitor experience professional with significant experience and an impressive track record of developing new experiences and programmes for visitors, in multi-disciplinary contexts
- Led by audience, able build and share a deep understanding audience and market insight and use this to inform your work.
- An experienced strategic thinker, able spot and develop opportunities for the Trust
- Able to demonstrate an understanding of visitor business models driving growth and constructing business cases

The packageThe National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.

Wherever you’re from, and whatever your background, we want to hear from you - and it doesn’t matter if you’re jam first, cream first, or even if you don’t like scones at all. Everyone is welcome.

Benefits for working at the National Trust include:

- Flexible working whenever possible
- Free parking at most loc