We’re looking for someone with great people skills, who loves to inspire and delight by providing top-quality experiences for visitors, to join us as a Senior Visitor Experience Officer at Kedleston Hall near Derby.
You'll support the Visitor Operations and Experience Manager in making sure everything runs smoothly in what is a complex and lively visitor business, welcoming over 250,000 visitors each year. You'll manage a Programming Assistant as well as event volunteers.
You'll be required to work occasional evenings, regular weekend working as part of a duty manager rota and bank holidays.
This is a fixed term contract due to end when the postholder returns to the role. At this point we cannot confirm exactly how long this contract will last, but it is unlikely to be more than 12 months.
Interview date: 10th September 2026
What it's like to work here:No day is the same, and through the year you'll be leading on planning and delivering a range of engaging events and activities for a range of target audiences, including families. These events could be in the hall or outdoors in the 800 acres of parkland surrounding the hall. You'll be evaluating visitor feedback and events, and striving to make the visitor experience accessible to all and highlighting the key stories of Kedleston's history.
Current seasonal programming at Kedleston includes Easter, South Asian Heritage Month, Summer of Play, Diwali, Christmas as well as seasonal nature focused activities.
You'll work closely with other teams on site, supporting high presentation standards, championing inclusive customer service and ensuring income generation targets are met through events. You'll support writing interpretation and signage for use across the property, following brand guidelines.
This is an active operational role which includes duty lead responsibilities on a rota system.
What you'll be doing:As part of the visitor operations and experience team of 16 staff, you'll be focused on achieving the highest standards of presentation and service, helping everything to run smoothly during projects, events and busy school holidays throughout the year. This will include working with third party suppliers and local community organisations.
You’ll work alongside colleagues in the Welcome team to make sure everyone who visits has everything they need to enjoy their day.
You'll work closely with the Communications and Marketing Officer to ensure the events you have planned are marketed to the intended local audiences and encourage visits to Kedleston.
As duty manager, you'll be responsible on the day for the smooth running of the property during opening hours, acting as the main contact point for staff, volunteers, and customers in case of emergency, enquiry or complaint. Sometimes you may need to get stuck in and help wherever you’re needed, to keep the whole place running smoothly. This might include car parking supervision, driving visitors to the hall in the access buggy shuttle, or supporting other teams with deliveries.
You can view the full role profile for this role in the document attached. You don't need to have all the knowledge, skills and experience listed in the role profile; this is just to provide a full picture of what’s possible in this role.
Who we're looking forWe’d love to hear from you if you’re:
- experienced in devising and running activities to inspire and engage people
- skilled at communicating, and building good working relationships with people in your team and beyond
- aware of ways to interpret precious collections of art and objects to a wide variety of people
- well-organised, and able to work at pace and keep to time
- confident that you can deal with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations
- flexible, yet with a focus on always giving high standards of customer service
- used to working with and supervising volunteers
The packageThe National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.
- Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary
- Free entry to National Trust places for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
- Rental deposit loan scheme
- EV car lease scheme (for roles that meet the salary criteria)
- Perks at work discounts such as gym memberships, shopping discount codes, cinema discounts
- Holiday allowance up to 32 days relating to length of service, plus holiday purchase scheme, subject to meeting minimum criteria.
- Flexible working whenever possible
- Employee assistance programme
- Free parking at most Trust places
Requirements :Compliance.Eligibility to Work in the UK
Fixed Term f/t (37.5 hrs pw to 15/10/27)
