Welcome Team Leader

As Welcome Team Leader you will work as part of the Engagement team, leading a team of Welcome Hosts to provide a warm welcome and overall excellent visitor experience at Southwark Cathedral. Acting as a central point of contact, you will lead, support and develop the Welcome Team to deliver a friendly and engaging visit and ensure a high standard of customer service. You will work closely with the Head of Engagement to support the development of the Welcome Team through training and support, organise rotas and ensure adequate cover of all positions, and support the overall goal to increase visitor numbers, donations and visitor engagement.

If you have experience in:

• Managing a team, supervision and team training
• Working within a heritage, public engagement or visitor attraction setting
• Dealing with customer feedback or complaints

And are:

• Customer focused, passionate about excellent engagement and welcome
• A skilled and engaging communicator
• Committed to continuous organisation improvement and the ability to act as an agent of change, with an understanding of and enthusiasm for the Cathedral’s overall vision and values, and sympathy with the Christian faith.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Act as main point of contact with Welcome Team acting for daily visitor engagement operations, liaising with other onsite teams, including Vergers, Retail, Property and Enterprise;
• Line manage the paid Welcome Team, ensuring a high standard of welcome and visitor service is provided;
• Carry out regular walk rounds of the site to support Welcome Team members, collaborate and provide feedback and ensure standards are consistently met;
• Cover Welcome Team positions as and when required, providing a welcoming, friendly and engaging visitor experience to all visitors to the Cathedral;
• Organise monthly rotas for the Welcome Team to ensure all days are adequately staffed, managing annual leave, sickness and overtime requests;
• Work alongside the Head of Engagement to develop and maintain training sessions and ensure mandatory training is up to date;
• Attend weekly Cathedral Diary meetings and manage daily service sheets and promotional materials;
• Handle complaints procedure and any difficult customers;
• Manage the recording of daily visitor numbers and donation figures;
• Take the lead on card payments for on the day ticket sales for public and group tours, and other engagement events;
• Attend the Health and Safety Committee and ensure the Welcome Team are confident and compliant with all health, safety, security and safeguarding policies and procedures;
• Take an active role in providing visitors with information about the Cathedral and its history, upcoming events, donation points, services and more;
• Communicate with pre-booked and un-booked tour groups requiring access to the Cathedral;
• Refer any visitor in need of pastoral care to the Day Chaplain or clergy;
• Encourage visitors to donate to the Cathedral through the various platforms available in the Cathedral and online and to encourage those making a donation to Gift Aid it should they be eligible to do so;
• Direct visitors to the Cathedral Shop and Café encouraging secondary spend;
• Promote the sale of information products such as the Visitor Map and Guidebook.

Southwark Cathedral has been a place of Christian worship for over 1400 years. Now it stands on the vibrant and exciting regenerated south bank of the Thames surrounded by cultural venues such as Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe and Borough Market, the offices of major companies as well as schools and diverse residential communities. It is an inclusive Christian community that offers a welcome to all.

The Cathedral’s mission, ministry and musical tradition are core to its life as a Cathedral and a parish church serving the community. It also relies on the valuable financial contribution made by its income generating activities such as its shop, café, conference rooms, corporate events and concerts. It is a very busy place, attracting 290,000 visitors a year to the Cathedral, its churchyard and medieval herb garden. The Cathedral relies on a small but dedicated team to be inclusive and welcoming to all.

Southwark Cathedral is committed to being an Equal Opportunities Employer. We believe in promoting and building a diverse and inclusive team, and workplace, culture and governance structures that are welcoming to and respectful of all. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified people whatever their ethnicity, background, age, disability, long term condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law. Southwark Cathedral is committed to a culture of safeguarding, especially for children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

The Cathedral has adopted the Church of England policy statement ‘Promoting a Safer Church (2017)’; Safeguarding Learning and Development (2024) and the Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance (2021). Every member of our team is recruited according to these policies and is required to complete safeguarding training. Appointment to this role is subject to satisfactory references and the right to work in the UK.