Management

The Real Mary Kings Close has an exceptional opportunity for an experienced Operations Manager to join our talented team.

An award winning attraction, The Real Mary King’s Close is buried deep beneath Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. On their fully guided tour, guests follow Edinburgh’s past residents in these underground alleyways and hear the real stories of the people who lived, worked and died there. Join us to experience over 400 years of history and unlock the secrets of Edinburgh’s only preserved 17th-century street.

The Operations Manager will support the General Manager in team leadership. This role will offer the right candidate the opportunity to manage the day to day running of the Attraction. They will lead and develop our established Operational Duty Managers and Storyteller team to deliver exceptional guest service and develop creative and innovative approaches to ensure successful commercial performance, together with a memorable guest experience.

The Ideal Person

You will have previous experience in a similar role within a tourist attraction. We are looking for a strong leader with proven success in managing operational teams. You will demonstrate a high level of thought leadership with a track record of delivering results. You will be passionate about building a career in the Tourism industry and have a strong focus on guest experience.

You will be involved in designing new on-brand specialist tours, creating new scrips and dealing with props, so creative flair is essential.

You will also have a sound understanding of financial procedures and practices alongside effective management of both budgets and people. Some evening and weekend work is required on rotation.

Safety is our number one priority so this role will be responsible for managing immediately any incidents, which may affect the health and safety of other team or guests of the attraction. You will also be responsible for updating and implementing risk assessments so previous experience is a must!

Our attraction’s success revolves around our guests and our guests will expect very high standards, so everything we do will be geared towards giving them an outstanding experience during their visit.

What we offer

Salary: £34,000 to £38,000 per annum plus a non-contractual bonus.
Contract: Full time permanent (40 hours per week)

We also offer an excellent benefits package:

• The opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Company pension
• Employee discount
• Wellness programmes
• Free health cash plan
• Income protection

A full job description can be found on The Real Mary King’s Close website.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

To support the conservation of Culzean Castle & Country Park by generating income through food and beverage, weddings, private & corporate events and always delivering the highest standard of visitor experience for all visitors and guests. This will be achieved by maintaining the highest standards of conservation and adhering to regional and national strategies, policies and procedures.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Visitor Catering Experience
• Overall responsibility for the leadership and management and delivery of the catering facilities at Culzean Castle & Country Park. This includes, but is not limited to, the Home Farm Kitchen, Aviary Ice Cream parlour, Swan Pond takeaway outlet, Old Stables Coffee Shop and Stone Barn.
• Ensuring innovative ideas and current trends in catering are constantly being delivered in all outlets on site
• Setting objectives and being responsible for the overall, day-to-day running of the catering operations
• Leading and managing a team of staff; managing performance, recognising training needs and potential as appropriate
• Managing budgets – ensuring that, as a minimum, the financial targets agreed with, in line with the budget.
• Devising, costing and sourcing menu items and consistently looking at ways of maximising income through effective purchasing and creative merchandising
• Adhering to the sale of alcohol legislation, being a Premises Manager for the park.
• Regularly monitoring customer feedback, Mystery Visitor and Visit Scotland Audits and develop suitable action plans based on the results.
• Being visitor/customer focused by being visible, approachable, and quick to exceed expectations in fulfilling customer needs.

Venue Hire
• With the Operations Manager, property and NTS teams develop and deliver the strategy for venue hire to achieve and exceed annual income targets.
• Managing and leading the team on the sales and marketing of weddings, private events and accommodation bookings at Culzean by:
o Overseeing all aspects of the enquiry handling process for weddings, private parties, corporate events, and accommodation enquiries through to delivery and follow up activities.
o Delivering exceptional visitor experience for all guests at Culzean
o Development of packages for weddings and corporate events.
o Managing and supporting the hospitality sales team to ensure that sales targets are met, and events are delivered to the highest standards.
o Managing and liaison with suppliers/clients
o Designing and the production of relevant promotional material in agreement with local and national standards
o Leading in business development, generating new sales and relationships; including attending trade shows
o Proactively developing relationships with key industry partners including local hotels, VisitScotland Business Tourism, and destination management organisations/companies
o Ensuring that all administration, sales, finance and accounting process and procedures are complied with, and all relative information is accurately recorded.
o Ensuring that all events have a detailed itinerary/running order in place and distributed to relevant parties/departments.
o Actively evaluating and analyzing all events post-delivery to ensure continued improvement.

Health & Safety, Food Safety, the Environment
• Ensuring that the operation meets statutory requirements of Health and Safety, Food Safety and Environmental legislations and procedures.
• Conducting Food Safety and Health and Safety Risk Assessments and ensuring that all standards and procedures with regards to Hygiene and Safety are established and maintained.
• Recording and reporting all accidents within the location, adhering to location and company procedures
• Ensuring all equipment is well maintained and is in good working order.
• Making recommendations for renewal and replacement of equipment when required.
• Establishing and maintaining location cleaning schedules
• Ensuring that all Trust procedures and work instructions are fully understood and practiced by all employees.
• Promoting and encouraging environmental improvement initiatives as appropriate within the business

General Responsibilities
• Liaising with other managers at Culzean to ensure maintenance and access to other buildings is agreed as required for the purpose of holding events.
• Will be part of the out of hours on-call system for the property.
• Will be part of the Culzean leadership team, supporting the Operations manager and other managers across the park.
• Managing hospitality operations including the following:
o staff and volunteers (recruitment, induction, development, performance management) such that they are fully equipped and motivated to undertake their duties to the required Trust standards.
o budgets (setting, phasing, monitoring, pro-active and re-active adjustments) such that finances are sustainable within the context of the wider property budgets.
o health, safety and the environment in line with stated Trust policies and approaches to ensure the health and welfare of staff/volunteers and visitors,
o recognition of the Trust’s Environmental Policy with respect to sustainable activities, including energy and water use, recycling, use of “environmentally friendly” products for e.g. cleaning regimes, food-miles and waste etc;
o daily, weekly, yearly and longer-term operational workplans and reporting in the context of the properties’ statements of significance, annual operating plans and action plans (and contribution to these action plans) to ensure that activities are prioritized and planned to optimize the use of resources.
o administration to enable all activities within the post holders remit to be undertaken and recorded efficiently within Trust policies and procedures.
o assuming the role of “duty manager” on a rota basis as required and working as duty manager within the Eisenhower during peak periods and when holiday cover is required and acting as one of the main key holders,
• Undertake other duties as and when required to support the overall operation of Culzean as instructed by the Operations Manager and deputise for them as required. This will include regular weekends as Duty Manager for the property.

Eden Scott is delighted to be working with Mercat Tours again, one of Edinburgh’s visitor attractions who offer award winning history walks and ghost tours around the city.

Their sister company is Mercat Tours International, a very different operation – an outbound tour operator working with UK schools travelling to the EU. They promise to provide each school trip with a first class learning experience.

Their passionate guides bring 20th century European history to life and take pupils on a journey through events that continue to shape the world that we live in today.

Their service takes school groups to France and Belgium and operationally manages every part of the trip – ferries, coaches, hotels, guides and works really closely with their teacher clients.

A vacancy has arisen as they are now seeking a Manager to head up the team and be responsible for all parts of the business.

Key Requirements
 Oversee the efficient and effective operation of Mercat Tours International (MTI) in the delivery of all services.
 Ensure a consistently high-quality visitor experience through accurate, timely, and efficient administration.
 Maintain and nurture client relations
 Manage the performance, responsibilities, and development of the MTI Admin Assistant, while ensuring external suppliers continue to deliver a high standard of service that supports MTI’s strong reputation.
 Manage the responsibilities of the MTI Guides, ensuring all essential materials and resources are prepared, maintained, kept up to date and shared.
 Create, implement, and monitor improvements to systems, processes, and operational practices to ensure the company runs as efficiently and effectively as possible, both operationally and financially.
 Consolidate existing business while proactively exploring opportunities for growth and new business development.
 Work collaboratively with the Marketing Executive to promote MTI’s services to a wider audience, including schools and adult tour groups.
 Responsible for forecasting and sales reporting as member of Leadership Team
 Identify opportunities for internal efficiencies, partnership working and sales growth
 Develop pricing strategy alongside Finance Manager to ensure competitive offer securing business and reputation

We are seeking an individual who has tour planning experience and is:
 Positive and effective communicator with strong interpersonal skills.
 Excellent organisational ability and meticulous attention to detail.
 Methodical, logical, and thorough approach to tasks.
 Ability to remain calm, focused, and responsive under pressure.

This role offers a salary circa £35k plus significant company benefits including many health & wellbeing and lifestyle benefits.

Eden Scott is dealing exclusively with Mercat on this vacancy, so to be considered for this unique opportunity, please submit their CV online and for an informal please call Sally on 07776 662506 or email sally.rae@edenscottt.com
This role is hybrid working.

Eden Scott is delighted to be working with Active Kids Adventure Park, a 5-star children’s play center and visitor attraction nestled in the heart of rural Perthshire. Located just off the A9 adjacent to the village of Stanley, approximately 8 miles to the north of the City of Perth.

The park is open all year round and features an 11-acre outdoor park with a wide range of outdoor children’s activities and farm animals, plus an indoor bespoke tree-house themed playground, café and retail outlet.

There are over 50 outdoor attractions from giant jelly belly bouncing pillows and pedal powered go-karts to their 18m long pirate ship and zinging zip line, there’s so much for kids of all ages to enjoy.

The business underwent significant refurbishment in 2022 and re-opened in 2023 as a leading visitor attraction in the Perthshire area. They pride themselves on providing a high-quality experience for the 60,000 customers that they welcome to the park each year.

A newly created opportunity has arisen at Active Kids Adventure Park as they are now seeking an experienced Operations Manager to head up the team and be responsible for all parts of the business.

This role will lead an established team of employees and maintain their high standards across the business.

Key Requirements
• Management of all on-site operations on a day-to-day basis, together with the recruitment, training and development of all employees of the business
• A detailed approach to Health and Safety and industry legislation, ensuring full compliance of all site operations
• Effective marketing of the business, including the use of social media and the Active Kids website to promote the business
• Purchasing and managing stock within agreed budgets, ensuring cost efficiency and operational results
• Working closely with suppliers to establish relationships and develop business opportunities
• Development of new initiatives and events to increase footfall and profit across the business, along with the potential wider development of the park and site.

What We’re Looking For:
This role requires previous experience within the leisure and hospitality industry and an understanding of commercial performance, legislative compliance, health and safety and leading and developing a large team. The successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, a creative outlook, a problem-solving approach and the desire to deliver a positive experience to all those who visit the park.

This role offers a salary of £45,000 with significant company benefits including 9% employer paid pension contribution and death in service.

In addition, the business can provide accommodation: a nearby three bedroomed house or a one bed flat at a negotiable rate.

Eden Scott is dealing exclusively with Active Kids Adventure Park on this vacancy, so to be considered for this unique opportunity, please submit their CV online and for an informal please call Sally on 07776 662506 or email sally.rae@edenscottt.com

Closing date is Friday 1st May 2026 at 5.00pm
Interviews w/c 11th May 2026

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a world class centre for plant science, conservation and learning, with four unique Gardens across Scotland. Our work supports global biodiversity, sustainability and research, while providing welcoming, safe and inspiring spaces for colleagues, communities and visitors. We are committed to creating inclusive environments where people, plants and places can thrive.

We are seeking an Estates Maintenance Manager to play a key role in maintaining and protecting RBGE’s diverse estate. This role provides leadership across planned and reactive maintenance activities, helping to ensure our buildings, infrastructure and assets are safe, compliant, resilient and fit for the future.

You will lead the delivery of maintenance programmes across the four Gardens, overseeing electrical, mechanical and building fabric assets, contractor performance and service delivery. Working collaboratively with internal teams and external partners, you will ensure high standards of safety, quality and value for money, supported by robust planning, performance monitoring and budget management.

With a strong focus on safety and sustainability, you will promote a proactive health and safety culture, contribute to carbon reduction initiatives and support effective asset and lifecycle management. You will also act as a key point of contact for maintenance services across sites, building positive relationships and helping to create well maintained environments that support RBGE’s long term mission.

For more information including job description, person specification and to apply, please visit our website.

Interview date:         5 / 6 May

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a world leading centre for plant science, conservation and education. We are committed to creating inclusive, sustainable and welcoming environments across our four Gardens, supporting colleagues, communities and visitors alike.

We are seeking a Facilities and Workplace Manager to lead the delivery of high quality facilities and workplace services across RBGE. This role plays a key part in shaping effective, inclusive and future focused workspaces, working closely with teams and stakeholders throughout the organisation.

You will oversee Soft FM services, workplace operations and performance management, ensuring services are delivered safely, efficiently and within budget. You will also manage contracts, facilities data and reporting, supporting sustainability commitments and continuous improvement.

Working collaboratively across RBGE, you will help ensure our workspaces support hybrid working, wellbeing and operational needs, while contributing to capital planning and space forecasting. Leading and supporting the facilities team, and deputising for the Health, Safety and Sustainability Manager when required, you will help foster a positive, inclusive culture and effective service delivery.

For more information including job description, person specification and to apply, please visit our website.

Interview date:         5 / 6 May 2026