Purpose of Role
A significant senior leadership opportunity to shape, lead and deliver the current and future customer-facing businesses across the Windsor Estate and wider Rural portfolio, including Windsor Great Park, the Savill Garden, the Savill Building Visitor Centre, Virginia Water, Windsor Adventure Play and the Windsor Farm Shop.
The Windsor Estate is internationally recognised for its ecology and history, but it also attracts over 5m visitors per annum and is recognised by ALVA as the most visited outdoor destination in the UK. The recent development of Adventure Play won an International THEA Award for outstanding achievement.
The role is responsible for bringing these offers together as a coherent, high-quality portfolio, ensuring consistently excellent service, presentation and customer care while protecting and enhancing the environmental and historic character of each location.
Working as part of the Windsor, Rural & Coastal senior leadership team, the Director of Customer Operations will lead the customer strategy for the portfolio, strengthening the visitor, retail and hospitality offer, improving operational effectiveness and supporting sustainable revenue growth from existing and future audiences. The role will balance stewardship, customer experience and commercial performance in line with The Crown Estate’s purpose of creating lasting and shared prosperity for the nation.
Context of Opportunity / Main Accountabilities
The Windsor Estate is a complex, multi-site customer environment with a distinctive mix of visitor destinations, retail, hospitality, leisure and heritage-led experiences. This role will provide strategic vision and operational leadership across those businesses, ensuring each location contributes to a compelling, consistent and commercially effective customer offer.
Key accountabilities include:
Leading the development and delivery of the customer strategy across the Windsor Estate, aligning business planning, operating models and investment priorities with wider organisational ambitions.
Developing distinctive visitor, retail and hospitality experiences that reflect the environmental and historic character of the Windsor Estate while maintaining high standards of service, presentation and customer care.
Identifying and progressing opportunities to enhance the customer offer, improve performance and support long-term revenue growth through existing audiences, new audiences, future developments and acquisitions.
Holding accountability for commercial and operational performance, including P&L, budgets, forecasting, capital planning and delivery against agreed targets.
Preparing clear, evidence-led business cases for new initiatives, investment proposals and change programmes.
Leading, coaching and developing a capable, engaged and accountable team across a complex operating environment.
Working collaboratively with colleagues across Estate Management, Sustainability, Marketing, Development and other specialist teams to enable joined-up delivery.
Building effective relationships with contractors, suppliers, partners and stakeholders, ensuring standards, contractual obligations and commercial outcomes are met.
Ensuring operations are delivered safely, responsibly and in line with relevant legislation, standards and The Crown Estate requirements.
Promoting an inclusive, professional and high-performing culture that can evolve in line with changing customer expectations and strategic priorities.
Most Important Skills Based Requirements
We are looking for someone with:
Significant experience providing strategic and operational leadership in a multi-site, customer-facing business, ideally within visitor attractions, heritage, destination retail, hospitality or another premium experience-led environment.
Outstanding commercial and financial acumen, with experience managing budgets, P&L performance, capital planning, people planning and business performance against agreed targets.
Experience shaping and delivering customer strategies, business plans and change programmes that improve performance and strengthen the customer offer.
A track record of growing revenue through improved customer experience, stronger conversion, new propositions or new sources of income.
Experience developing premium visitor, retail or hospitality experiences with consistently high standards of service, presentation and brand alignment.
The ability to balance stewardship, customer experience and commercial performance within a purpose-led organisation.
Proven leadership capability, including coaching, developing and motivating teams, creating clarity and building a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to work across functions, manage upwards and present considered recommendations at senior level.
Sound judgement, resilience and diplomacy, with the ability to operate effectively in a complex, fast-moving and high-profile environment.
Strong analytical and business planning skills, with the ability to turn insight, data and performance reporting into practical action.
A collaborative, inclusive and values-led leadership style, with a commitment to creating long-term value for customers, communities, the environment and the business.
Our Offering / benefits:
As well as a competitive salary, pension and performance related bonus offering, we have a wealth of benefits available ranging from flexible working; market leading family policies and shopping discounts in the West End, to private healthcare; life and critical illness cover and 28 days holiday with the option to buy more. We value work life balance and your wellbeing highly, enabling you to be your best self to work.
Disability Disclaimer:
We are a proud disability confident employer and operate the offer of interview scheme Disability Confident employer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We are happy to offer alternative application methods or formats and can be flexible on our process to enable you to have the best opportunity.
If you have any questions about our recruitment process or would like to talk about adjustments, please contact us directly, or at [email protected]
Please note that if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close this advert early. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
