Driver/ Tour Guide in Edinburgh

Scottish Odyssey is founded on the idea that visitors didn’t come to Scotland to sit in a car or on a tour bus and take in Scotland passively. What our clients really want is to spend time in nature, soak in the culture and getting to know Scotland authentically with the help of a friendly guide who is just as excited as them to be there. They want to be charmed and wooed by all that Scotland has to offer, and that starts with our guides. You are the beating heart of our business and so we pride ourselves on having passionate, personable guides who love Scotland as much as we do.

We’re also very lucky that we get some of the best clients going! Our clientele sit in a sweet spot where they’re curious, engaged, and generally lovely humans. This means that we get rave reviews and we often walk away from a tour feeling overjoyed at having gotten to meet some amazing people. Our guides are effusive, friendly, have a deep curiosity for meeting new people, and learning more about them. So our guests often feel like they’ve been taken on a tour by a local friend rather than by an employee.

We’re based in Edinburgh because we love this city. It is a hub for tourists coming to Scotland and the wider UK, but we think that there’s so much to see just beyond the city limits. It lets us be within striking distance of the Trossachs, Fife and Perthshire, for our day tours, and have good routes to almost all of the best bits of this country on our multi-day tours. Our team is small but mighty, and it’s growing fast with outstanding guides, customer support, and operations professionals each doing their bit.

Our aim with our guides is to make you as excited to come to work for us as we are to have you as part of the team. We do this by picking exceptional people, briefing them properly on each individual tour, and then trusting them to deliver while we support from the sidelines. This also fosters a culture of trust and communication which we find to be essential for delivering tours to international and domestic guests.

We deliver many different types of tours; private day tours, private multi-day tours, small group half day tours (9:30am-2pm) and small group single day tours. If you need to be home every day and not be away overnight, can only work during school hours or would enjoy delivering a mixture of all different tours, please let us know during the interview process. We try to accommodate our colleagues as much as possible, as we know that work must fit around our lives!

We believe in different kinds of guides for different tours. While we’d always love for you to have outdoor tickets and qualifications, or want to gain them, these aren’t essential for most of our tours. What is essential is that you are personable, engaging, safe, and the sort of person that can problem solve in the moment. We believe that by having a broad range of guide backgrounds and personalities while keeping to our core traits makes for a better guest experience and a better company to be part of. That’s why we are a fully inclusive guiding company which welcomes a diverse guide cohort.

If the idea of showcasing your Scotland to our guests excites you, and would consider it an honour to make someone's holiday the best it can be, apply to be a Scottish Odyssey tour guide today.

Current available positions:

• 1 full time contracted tour guide to join the team and deliver tours 4 days a week, all year round.
• 2 contractor guides. One interested in full day and multi-day tours and one interested in half day tours or two people that want a mix of both!

What we’re looking for you to have:

• A local’s knowledge of Scottish culture, nature, and history.
• Full driving license, D1 licence not necessary but is always good to have.
• Personable and approachable personality.
• Must have held your driving licence for a minimum of 3 years.
• Able to start tours in Edinburgh or Glasgow.
• Ability to implement an itinerary as directed and problem solve on the fly.
• Good timekeeping to coordinate and manage group activities on a busy day.

What we offer:

• A lively, warm and friendly team that sits behind you to support your working day.
• 90% of our private tours are maximum 10 hours long, if a tour is over 10 hours, you will be paid accordingly/ overtime.
• For overnight stays on multi-day tours, you will get £120 for expenses (many of our guides choose a hostel and bank the additional money, it's up to you!)
• Social events twice a year with drivers and office staff.
• Discounted Tours for Family Members.
• Cross-company working opportunities.
• Support gaining additional outdoor qualifications.
• Potential for growth & experience working on various aspects of the business.