Education Manager – Kent in Herne Bay

This role leads our Education Team, creating, delivering and refining Wildwood’s education programmes and ensuring we meet all statutory requirements. Education is at the heart of our mission, and this position plays a key role in driving and delivering on our organisational purpose, inspiring the next generation of rewilders, and continuing to build our educational profile. This role is also the Safeguarding Lead for the Kent site.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and deliver a range of unique educational experiences, programmes, courses, and activities for a variety of audiences including schools, groups, colleges and universities.
• Ensure the education provision is linked to the national curriculum or other regulated courses, where appropriate.
• Engage and enthuse learners about history, nature, and the environment, encouraging the next generation of rewilders.
• Ensure that all Health & Safety, safeguarding, timetabling, curriculum specifications for assessing risks, and any other necessary requirements are met to facilitate a safe learning environment.
• Line management responsibilities for the education team; leading, coaching, and mentoring to further departmental success, as well as ensuring all necessary training and DBS checks are completed and up to date.
• Careful management of departmental budgets and resources.
• Carry out all administrative duties, including answering telephone and email enquiries, taking and managing bookings, organising rotas, collating feedback and reporting as necessary.
• Work with other departments to enhance the visitor experience, both generally across the park and for specific public engagement activities such as night tours, junior zoo keeper, holiday clubs, visitor animal experiences, and other events.

The Working Week

Your working week will be varied and busy, with no two days the same. As Education Manager you will manage the delivery of the Education Department’s programmes and experiences at the Kent park, with the support of your dedicated team. Some of your time will be office based, taking initial enquiries/bookings, liaising with individual schools, invoicing, and all administration surrounding bookings, session plans, dietary requirements and staff rota etc. You will ensure that bookings are staffed with the correct ratio of instructors, including yourself. You will need excellent communication skills to deal with a variety of people, including customers, teachers, parents, children, young people, vulnerable adults, and other Wildwood departments. Working with the Director of Zoological Operations and the Director of Finance, you are responsible for the overall financial wellbeing of the department, ensuring that all aspects of expenditure and income are in keeping with budgetary expectations. Along with other managers, you will be included on the park Duty Manager rota at weekends. Core working hours are 09:00 until 17:00 with an unpaid half an hour for lunch. This post is 37.5 hours per week over 5 days. The job will involve overtime, including some evening, weekend and bank holiday working as part of your normal duties. You may be required to occasionally travel between parks.

This job involves undertaking duties which include the following health, safety and wellbeing considerations:

• Regular use of Display Screen Equipment (DSE)
• Use of machinery / tools
• Lone working
• Conflict resolution
• Pressure to meet key deadlines such as might be integral to high profile projects
• Use of company vehicle

Mandatory training for this role includes:

• Enhanced DBS check
• Manual Handling
• Equality & Diversity
• Safeguarding Level 3
• GDPR / Data Protection Awareness
• Fire Safety Awareness
• Ladder Safety
• Cyber Security
• First Aid
• Customer Service
• Food Allergen Awareness
• Animal Escape

Skills, Knowledge, Qualifications & Experience

All Wildwood staff are passionate, committed, and resourceful. To succeed in this specific role, you will be a natural leader, well organised, and a great team player.

Essential

• Teaching qualification; PGCE/PGCAP equivalent or relevant experience.
• Educated to at least degree level or demonstrable equivalent experience in ecology and conservation or similar field.
• A ‘can-do attitude’, confident to complete tasks independently and efficiently without supervision, whilst also knowing when to delegate.
• Excellent team working skills, with proven experience of fostering positive team relationships and working well with both internal departments and external stakeholders.
• Good verbal and written communication skills, with experience of producing formal education programmes, report writing, and accurate data entry.
• A pragmatic problem solver, able to quickly adapt and find solutions under pressure.
• Excellent organisation and time management skills.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office and Google equivalents.
• Demonstrate a genuine love of British wildlife and belief in Wildwood’s Mission; to protect, conserve, and rewild British wildlife.

Desirable

• Experience of managing budgets and an understanding of financial processes.
• Experience of working in a charity or similar role.
• Experience of organising events.

Why work for Wildwood

Wildwood is a native species conservation charity established in 2002 to push the boundaries of innovative conservation and rewilding. We work with nature to fight the biodiversity crisis, to halt the extinction of species and to create resilient habitats in which nature thrives. We focus on nature-based solutions to return native species and recreating truly wild spaces. Wildwood has a proud culture of respecting and valuing all colleagues. Our people are integral to our success; their expertise enables us to achieve our ambitions, their professionalism creates strong collaborations, and their integrity upholds our organisational values. We believe in Equal Opportunities and the benefits of a varied work team.

Employment Package

• Annual salary of £31,000.
• Annual leave allowance of 30 days a year, including statutory holidays.
• Workplace pension (auto enrolled after three months).
• Inclusive and family-friendly working policies.
• Training & development opportunities.
• Selection of staff benefits including discounts.
• Free or reduced price entry to BIAZA accredited zoos and aquariums.