Jobs

Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott in the Scottish Borders, is one of Scotland’s most important heritage sites, one hour south of Edinburgh by road and rail.

We need your help to delight our visitors every day, helping us grow our income through admissions, retail, and self catering accommodation. You will be responsible for delivering an established commercial development plan, and will bring your own creativity and style to our gift shop. Your team includes an experienced self catering manager and housekeeping staff, admissions and retail staff & volunteers.

We are particularly interested in hearing from people with a retail background who excel at leading people, realising commercial potential, and thrive on variety. We do not expect applicants to have experience in the full range of responsibilities, anticipating that support will be provided as appropriate. As a small independent charity operated by staff and volunteers, a positive approach to team working and problem solving is a must.

Duties:
• To manage the Trust’s principal trading activities, providing leadership to staff and volunteers, achieving profit and customer satisfaction targets in all areas of responsibility
• To foster productive teams, motivated and skilled individuals through excellent staff and volunteer management
• To lead on the development of the arrival and admissions experience, maximising revenue and contributing to marketing objectives
• To drive retail growth through ongoing improvements to the retail environment and offer, ensuring costs are controlled
• To maximise accommodation revenue and profitability, while achieving consistently high levels of customer satisfaction
• To manage the Visitor Centre and accommodation wing, ensuring the provision of a high quality environment throughout, including facilities management and Health & Safety

Experience & Qualifications:
• Management experience within a customer service environment
• Experience of managing retail operations functions, including knowledge of how to increase retail profitability in line with brand values and customer service excellence.
• Experience of budgeting and financial management, including a good understanding of profit margins
• Excellent understanding of and commitment to high quality customer relations
• Practical and hands on management skills and ability to problem solve on the spot

If you are passionate about providing outstanding service and have the skills necessary to lead a dynamic team, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity as our Visitor Services Manager. Full details on our website.

Application Deadline: Monday 28/04/2025