Visitor Operations Team Leader

This exciting role is responsible for leading the customer facing teams at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, welcoming around 2 million visitors each year to our UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sitting within our Visitor Operations Team, the Visitor Operations Team Leaders will help ensure the delivery of world class customer service through supportive leadership, training and coaching of their team members.

This is a fast-paced and engaging role in an outdoor environment where no two days are the same, overseeing the visitor facing operation across each of the four entrance gates, at key attractions including the Kew Explorer land train, and at locations across the Gardens for our visitor programmes, events and exhibitions.

Visitor Operations Team Leaders work as part of a Leadership Team, responsible for ensuring customer service excellence, revenue generation and secondary spend, and ensuring a safe environment for visitors and staff. Our Team Leaders work on a rotating duty manager roster basis, which will include weekends and bank holidays, working an annualised pattern which averages at 36 hours each week.

Successful candidates will have a passion for customer service and for teamworking, and will love working outdoors. To be successful you will need to have proven experience of leading customer focused teams with high customer volumes within a similar venue to Kew, such as a visitor attraction, a botanic garden, a museum or heritage venue, an art gallery, or any other leisure or retail environment.

In addition to the above, experiences in ticketed venues and in cash or card handling are of real value in this role. You will also need to adopt a collaborative and proactive approach to problem-solving as part of a team, and will be able to demonstrate an inclusive approach to team working. You will love training, coaching and developing teams, and will champion a growth mindset in your day to day work.

Finally, successful candidates will need to hold a full UK driving license or an ability to obtain one within first three months for this role in order to drive vehicles on site such as buggies or the Kew Explorer land train, if required.

About Us: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) is a leading plant science institute, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and major visitor attraction. Our mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth. We are working to end the unprecedented extinction crisis and to help create a world where nature is protected, valued by all and managed sustainably.

We will achieve these goals by drawing on our leading scientific research, unrivalled collections of plants and fungi, global network of partners, inspirational gardens at Kew and Wakehurst, and our 260 years of history. Join us on our journey as protectors of the world’s plants and fungi.

Our fantastic benefits package includes opportunities for continuous learning, a generous annual leave entitlement, flexible working to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, an Employee Assistance Programme and other wellbeing support such as cycle to work scheme and discounted gym membership. We also offer a competitive pension, an employee discount scheme and free entry into a wide range of national museums and galleries, as well as access to our own beautiful gardens at Kew and Wakehurst.

We are dedicated to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We are committed to interview disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post.