Senior Visitor Experience Officer
| Posting date: | 26 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £26,793 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 08 February 2026 |
| Location: | Western Valleys, The Lodge, Wasdale, CA20 1ET |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | National Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | IRC170614 |
Summary
As our Senior Visitor Experience Officer, you will play a pivotal role in delivering and leading for consistently good, inclusive and engaging visitor experiences across the property. Taking an audience-focused approach that adapts to seasonal demands and visitor needs, this role blends operational leadership and delivery with creative programming, community participation and ensuring high presentation standards.
If you have any questions about this vacancy please contact bruce.hardy@nationaltrust.org.uk
Interview date: Thursday 19th February
What it's like to work here
The North and West Lakes is a large countryside portfolio which includes Wasdale, the home of England’s deepest lake, Buttermere where the Rannerdale bluebells bloom and Borrowdale, where Derwent Water plays host to millions of visitors every year. Our visitor offer is extensive and there are many stakeholders with competing needs. Delivering positive outcomes in this challenging environment will be key to success.
You'll play a key role in ending unequal access to nature by working to improve equity of access and use of nature helping a broader range of people to benefit from our outdoor sites on their terms.
You'll ensure all visitors feel welcome, safe and inspired by our work to love and care for the natural world around them.
What you'll be doing
Working across the busy portfolio, you'll lead the day-to-day delivery of visitor operations and programming, adapting between operational and programming responsibilities depending on seasonal and business needs. You'll work proactively across departments and with external partners to co-create visitor engagement initiatives and support community and commercial partnerships.
You'll support visitor operations through recruitment, workforce planning, tracking performance against targets, managing budgets, compliance tasks and training and development. You'll lead for the development of the visitor offer and infrastructure ensuring the offer is of the highest standard.
You can view the full role profile for this role in the document attached. You don't need to have all of 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 for
Applications from redeployees are assessed against the minimum criteria for the role. In your application, please provide details of how you meet the minimum criteria below:
knowledge of audience engagement and inclusive programming in heritage or cultural settings
strong leadership and team co-ordination skills
ability to respond to operational challenges with agility and professionalism
ability to effectively monitor budgets and track performance
deep understanding of health and safety, safeguarding, and compliance in public environments
We’d love to hear from you if you have:
experience of audience engagement and inclusive programming in outdoor settings
experience of operational planning, rota management, budget monitoring and performance tracking
excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder engagement skills with an understanding of how to use marketing channels effectively
ability to handle varying pressures, responding to operational challenges with agility and professionalism
skilled at communicating, and building good working relationships with people in your team and beyond with experience of working collaboratively across departments and with external partners
well-organised, and able to work at pace and keep to time
The package
The 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
Season ticket loan
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
If you have any questions about this vacancy please contact bruce.hardy@nationaltrust.org.uk
Interview date: Thursday 19th February
What it's like to work here
The North and West Lakes is a large countryside portfolio which includes Wasdale, the home of England’s deepest lake, Buttermere where the Rannerdale bluebells bloom and Borrowdale, where Derwent Water plays host to millions of visitors every year. Our visitor offer is extensive and there are many stakeholders with competing needs. Delivering positive outcomes in this challenging environment will be key to success.
You'll play a key role in ending unequal access to nature by working to improve equity of access and use of nature helping a broader range of people to benefit from our outdoor sites on their terms.
You'll ensure all visitors feel welcome, safe and inspired by our work to love and care for the natural world around them.
What you'll be doing
Working across the busy portfolio, you'll lead the day-to-day delivery of visitor operations and programming, adapting between operational and programming responsibilities depending on seasonal and business needs. You'll work proactively across departments and with external partners to co-create visitor engagement initiatives and support community and commercial partnerships.
You'll support visitor operations through recruitment, workforce planning, tracking performance against targets, managing budgets, compliance tasks and training and development. You'll lead for the development of the visitor offer and infrastructure ensuring the offer is of the highest standard.
You can view the full role profile for this role in the document attached. You don't need to have all of 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 for
Applications from redeployees are assessed against the minimum criteria for the role. In your application, please provide details of how you meet the minimum criteria below:
knowledge of audience engagement and inclusive programming in heritage or cultural settings
strong leadership and team co-ordination skills
ability to respond to operational challenges with agility and professionalism
ability to effectively monitor budgets and track performance
deep understanding of health and safety, safeguarding, and compliance in public environments
We’d love to hear from you if you have:
experience of audience engagement and inclusive programming in outdoor settings
experience of operational planning, rota management, budget monitoring and performance tracking
excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder engagement skills with an understanding of how to use marketing channels effectively
ability to handle varying pressures, responding to operational challenges with agility and professionalism
skilled at communicating, and building good working relationships with people in your team and beyond with experience of working collaboratively across departments and with external partners
well-organised, and able to work at pace and keep to time
The package
The 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
Season ticket loan
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