Visitor Experience Duty Manager in London

As a Visitor Experience Duty Manager, you will be the operational manager for the Visitor Experience and Events Operations. You will have the responsibility to ensure that the Visitor Experience team provide exceptional standards of customer experience, that all Japan House London guests are welcomed warmly, encouraged to learn about and engage with the exhibitions, programmes and products and have a safe and enjoyable visit.

You will be line-managing the Visitor Experience team and responsible for managing staff levels in line with the requirements of the business as well as assigning their duty roster. You will motivate the Visitor Experience team to maintain a positive and safe work atmosphere and lead to achieve the goals.

• Provide a positive, exceptional and accessible service to all visitors and staff
• Manage and motivate the VE team to ensure a focus on excellent visitor experience, customer service, smooth Front of House operations and achieving daily targets
• Stay up to date with and ensure VE team promotes all Japan House London facilities, exhibitions and events
• Lead on the delivery of excellent customer service by being knowledgeable, friendly and efficient
• Ensure the VE team is up to date with our programme, exhibitions, events and activities
• Be a visible managerial presence in the venue, present on the floor at most times. Available for staff and visitors
• Encourage proactive service, teamwork, excellence and consistency
• Maintain a Japanese aesthetic and refined environment, ensuring excellent presentation of the VE team and all public spaces
• Lead by example, ensuring the Values of Japan House London are embedded and upheld within the VE team

Operations and Event Operations:

• Carry out daily operational checklists to ensure efficient and safely operation of public spaces and team
• Ensure promotional materials are replenished and well-presented across all public spaces
• Plan the rota to ensure appropriate staffing levels throughout each day
• Provide the VE team with a morning briefing and handover briefing at the beginning and end of both shifts
• Represent the VE team at FoH morning briefings
• Handle visitor inquiries and complaints
• Cover the floor and lead by example
• Support the operational success of public, private and internal events and meetings
• Liaise with the cleaning and maintenance teams to ensure all public and back of house areas are pristinely presented at all times
• Manage the creation and maintenance of effective systems for operations.
• Chair weekly Visitor Experience meetings and manage agenda
• Manage logistics, calendars, CRM and recordings for VE-related events, such as recruitment, training, VEA presentations and Family Workshops
• Manage the tour enquiries and bookings
• Manage the uniform stock
• Aim to be a world class expert in your field by improving day to day operational experience of the venue
• Problem-solve issues on the spot, where possible. Identify and report problems and issues in the venue, discuss with teams and action changes
• Identify opportunities for improvements, collaboration and development
• Cross-departmental collaboration
• Responsible for event operations and client/stakeholder liaison
• Cover for Special Events Manager, when needed

Team Management:

• Lead and motivate the VE team
• Provide daily supervision of the VE team to ensure operational requirements are met at the highest standard
• Manage rotas, daily schedules, 1:1 meetings, performance management, annual leave and sick leave requests
• Process timesheets for payroll
• Lead on recruitment for the VE team
• Induct and train the VE team on all aspects of the role, including providing excellent customer service, achieving targets, event operations, reporting of issues and delivering tours and workshops
• Monitor daily targets and VE performance and ensure targets are achieved
• Train the VE team on operational and policy processes ensuring these processes are followed at all times
• Line manage members of the VE team including 1 to 1s, reviews, disciplinaries and holiday requests
• Organise and manage team building activities and motivational activities

Health, Safety & Security:

• Ensure that all VEAs in the team complete induction and compliance training
• Ensure accident and incident reporting procedures are understood and complied with by the VE team
• Report incidents and near-misses
• Support front-of-house security and safety and liaise with the security team according to procedures
• Acting as Fire Marshal and assisting in evacuation during an emergency, and ensure the safety of visitors and colleagues
• Ensure that the Front and Back of House areas are always fully compliant with H&S standards legislation, health & safety legislation, fire and security standards and any other legal requirements

Skills, Knowledge & Experience:

• Over 3 years' experience in customer service including of team management experience
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent
• Other relevant training, licences and certification are advantageous including First Aid, Food Hygiene, Health & Safety and Fire warden training beneficial
• Experience of working in a managerial or duty manager role in a customer service and/or art/events industry
• Experience in and ability to lead and motivate a FOH team
• Excellent interpersonal skills and lead by example to ensure a welcoming visitor experience
• Know how to resolve incidents and resolve customer and visitor complaints to a satisfactory outcome
• A sensitivity to and understanding of Japan and Japanese cultures, as well as multi-culturalism
• Experience in CRM beneficial
• Good level of proficiency of all MS Office suite systems
• Exceptional attention to detail and focus
• Effective collaborator, able to work with colleagues across the organisation
• Ability to create a climate where professional learning and personal growth are actively encouraged and valued
• Excellent written and spoken English, proficient to high business language standard is essential
• Exceptional standard of customer service through well-established and effective communication skills
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize work, whilst paying attention to detail
• Strong organizational, planning, and problem-solving skills and excellent time management skills
• Other language skills, including Japanese, would be advantageous
• Event management or understanding of event operations, is advantageous

Work Environment:

• Most duties carried out in Japan House London public spaces. Approximately 80% of duties will be carried out on the floor duties and approximately 20% will be administrative related duties
• Standard hours are 8 per day
• Rolling rota will include weekends and evenings, and Bank Holidays when the venue is open
• Additional after-hours project and event-related work or off-site work may be required